The new distance kind of freaks him out, so I've pretty much been teaching him the "Go down your slide!" trick from scratch. At first I was having him go down it laying down to hopefully help, and I've been working on easing him into more of a sitting position.
He'll go down it all on his own without me physically guiding him, now, but only if I'm standing right there. If I take a step backwards away from the slide, he panics and jumps off the side of it. It kind of reminds me of when someone is trying to teach a little kid how to ride a bike; First you have to have one hand on them or the bike the whole time, and then they get a little more confident so that you don't have to be touching them, but they still need you to run along side them. Hopefully in the future, I'll be able to say "Gizmo! Go down your slide!" and he'll run and go sliding down it without me having to go stand right next to it to reassure him.
What's kind of funny is that sliding down it doesn't make him nervous when he's playing on his own. One of his favorite games is to take one of his balls to the top of the slide, throw it down the slide, and then go skidding down the slide after it to catch it. I think he just over-thinks it when treats are involved.
Picture Taken On: October 7, 2008
My dog used to follow my daughter down the slide, any slide really. All the other kids thought it was hysterical. You'd think little things like maybe a ladder would put a dog off, but no. I never taught her to do it, she just did it.
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