I was pleased and surprised when I saw the 5 by Dune’s name on the phase report today. Now she is right on track with the other dogs assigned to training strings at the same time she was. If she moves forward one phase each week, Dune could theoretically graduate on May 10th. Odds are against her graduating that soon though. Here is a short description of what Dune is learning in phase five.

With a basic nature that is both analytical and adventurous she has been the only puppy out of 8 so far to learn to use the dog door into the garage. Puppies in training don’t get to have free access to the backyard, but we have a dog door that we put in when we had a pet dog and our cat still uses. As a puppy she happened to put her paws up on the door and it flapped outward. The next day she tried it again and this time pushed her head on through. The door is high enough off the ground that her belly got high centered and she tittered for a moment. But she was determined and managed to get herself on through. Thank goodness Bill was right there on the outside to snag her. It took a few weeks to teach her that the dog door was not an option for her, but she caught on.