Knitting Together

I live with my husband, two cats, a dog, and a leopard gecko. I am never in any room of my house alone, including when I knit. Cats may be famous for playing with yarn, but my dog has been the hardest to knit around. My cats tend to lay on my lap when I knit or on the knitting project itself. My dog, on the other hand, will try to grab my knitting project or ball of yarn and walk off with it in her mouth.

It took about a week to train my dog a command when she is around my knitting so that she does not walk off with my project or yarn. Whenever I would knit, I would invite my dog to walk over to me. I used a clicker and mini liver treats to train her to smell what I am knitting. I would say “Smell” in the same tone every time. If she only smelled my work, I would click the clicker and give her a treat. By the end of a week, she no longer needed the clicker nor treats when I said “Smell”.

Now a days, she walks up to me to smell my project and yarn. She usually walks away with nothing in her mouth after about 5 minutes. She has begun to even jump onto the couch next to me to lay down while I work to watch me.