Thanks for your analysis Kristin!
It’s true, I do like enthusiastic, high-drive dogs. 🙂
You guessed right, Dottie does know a bunch of tricks and has been taught to do stuff with props, so this is part of why she plays so much with the boxes. She is just as silly with the tea balls, batting at them and chasing them around.
You are right–I don’t want her to retrieve truffles, and didn’t have any intention of teaching her to do that. So why was I trying to get her to retrieve the box? I have no idea. I just wasn’t thinking!
We will keep practicing 🙂