Welcome to the November 2022 edition of ZENFUL Dog of the Month featuring the ever-curious, world-of-fun Newfie—Bo Diddley!
Bo Diddley (Bo)
Meet Bo’s Family: Bo Diddley is the heart of his family of four. The other members of his family are retirees—Cathy, Grant and Erik—who are always smiling thanks to Bo!
Erik Describes Bo's Personality: Erik describes Bo as a fantastic companion and a loving boy. Bo’s personality is that of a curious kid, he wants to see everything that is happening and needs to check out and smell anything Erik has in his hands.
Erik Describes The Most Unique Thing about Bo: “What is unique about Bo is how much I need his friendship.”
Bo's Favourite Treats/Foods: Bo loves just about every food on the menu. He especially loves dog cookies and veggies—notably:
Carrots
Peppers
Cauliflower
Lettuce
Bo’s Favourite Activities: Being a Newfie, Bo’s favourite activity is swimming—water draws him in like a magnet.
Erik Describes How Bo Unwinds After a Full Day of Activity: “Unwinding for Bo Diddley, say after a class at ZENFULdog or an exhausting day at the park (exhausting more for me than him), would be just enjoying nothing more than laying on the floor beside one of us and snoozing.”
If Bo had a human voice: Erik thinks that if Bo sounded like a human, his voice would resemble “Gilligan’s” from the television show Gilligan’s Island—laid-back, a little goofy, means-no-harm and makes his family laugh.
Bo’s Training
Bo and Erik participate in private sessions, semi-private sessions, and in parkour classes at ZENFULdog Training. With Kendra’s help, they have focused on skills, socialization and fitness—especially proprioception and parkour.
How Training has Shaped Bo: Going into training, Bo was already happy, curious and willing to learn. Erik explains that he himself had to learn— “it’s up to me to find the way to express what I am asking of him so that he understands.”
Bo’s Biggest Training Challenges: Erik explains that Bo’s nose “runs the show” so it can be challenging to get him to pay attention because his urge to sniff is so strong. This challenge has piqued Erik’s interest in pursuing sniff training with Bo.
Bo’s Biggest Success and Most Rewarding Training Moment: Erik feels that Bo’s most rewarding moment and success in training are one and the same—the mutual bond and trust they’ve formed.
Kendra’s Reflections on Bo: “Bo Diddley and Erik are the coolest team! Bo is a big boy who accomplishes skills and obstacles most would not think him capable of—he blows them out of the water!
Erik helps him succeed at everything they tackle; he is very patient and consistent, and he understands his dog. Erik and Bo are a true team and I love training with them. Bo can walk backward up stairs and rock a tic tac. He can also perform amazing loose-leash walking and recalls with high distractions.
Bo and my dog Ren are good friends. It's funny to watch Ren try to tackle Bo to no avail; Bo is so patient and such a gentle soul. Training with them makes my heart happy.”
Don’t forget to follow ZENFULdog Training on Facebook where you can stay connected to your like-minded dog-loving community every day. Also, a very special “Thank You!” goes out to Erik for providing so much of the content for this feature.
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