I had an idea. Why not ask Zelador to take something to another person? I know he can figure out their names. So, we tried this Monday. Ann Clifford was here and so was Amy Harris who manages the blogs for the horse-canada site.
To start with, I showed Zelador a new toy: a large dog-toy wrench that squeaks. I told him it was a wrench and asked him to take it from my hand. He did. Click/treat. We did this a few times. Then I placed the wrench a bit away from us and asked him to get it and bring it to me. He did. Click/treat.
Then I introduced him to Ann and asked if he’d take the wrench to her. He took a few steps towards her (she was about 8 feet from him), then turned to me. I realized I’d missed a step in teaching him. He needed me to walk to the person with him, so I accompanied him to Ann. She rewarded him with kind words and a treat. We did this a few more times and he didn’t need me to walk with him.
About an hour later after we’d done many different things I introduced him to Amy and asked him to take the wrench to her. He did!