Lots of situations to work thru last night on our walk- things that we've been working on and things went real well. We haven't been training a whole lot outside of the yard lately. Gunnar's paw/wrist is still sore and he limps from time to time, so we've been taking it easy. He's dying to play ball, so at home I've been making him heel, then down/stay, I walk away, drop the ball, go back to him, and make him heel back to the ball, where I releast him and he grabs it and prances around the yard. More mental work than anything. He had been doing much better but at my daughters grad party 2 weeks ago he got WAY too much activity on it with all the kids that were there, so he had a bit of a setback in his recovery. He's been doing much better the last few days, so I decided to take him down to the school and play some ball. Nothing with jumping or anything, just chasing the ball.
The 1st thing that happened on our walk was a lady with a big boxer was coming down the same narrow side street, towards us. We saw this lady before when Gunnar was a pup, and she had commented on what a "tough guy" Gunnar was when he was barking at her dog. Even back then, Gunnar was walking nice on the leash until he saw her dog, while her dog was dragging her down the street, so her comments sorta pissed me off. At least my dog wasn't dragging me all over the place. I was surprised at how much bigger Gunnar was than the boxer now. This time, as we passed, Gunnar was much better. His hair went up and he barked twice, but he didn't pull on the leash or lunge or anything. I was able to redirect him away and we kept walking. The boxer was being a boxer, jumping around and pulling on the leash trying to get to us, either for good or bad reasons. I think the woman wanted to stop and talk but I wasn't going to do that and torture the dogs. Since her dog was straining at the leash to get at Gunnar and they are both males, so we moved on- into the next situation. A family right across the street from the boxer lady has a really vocal Beagle. He was running his fence barking his head off, but Gunnar didn't make a move towards him. Not one. Right at the end of that yard, on the other side of the street, a little doggie wanna be was running their fence, barking at him the same way the beagle was. He ignored that dog too. So- running the gauntlet of dogs- successful! He got LOTS of praise at the end of that street.
Off to the schoolyard for some OB and ball play. He totally knows when we are going there and gets super excited. I don't even have to tell him to sit to take his leash off, thats how ready he is to play. We start doing our thing. I'm going back to a little more basics with him because we haven't worked as hard lately. Lots of down/stay, I back away about 20', call him too me, sit/stay, I back up again, etc. I finally worked him up to me going about 100', recalling him, having him down on the way back, recall him the rest of the way into a sit, I back up again the same distance, etc. Also doing alternate sits and downs with hand signals from about 50' away. In between this he was getting his rewards for being good by my throwing the ball for him. While this is going on, the basketball court and playground is full of kids- maybe 30 of them, all making noise. Then the ultimate test- he's about 100' away, bringing the ball back, and some guy comes into the yard and starts to walk across with a Greyhound. They were maybe 100 yards away- about a 7 second sprint for Gunnar. He looks at the dog, and then continues back to me for more ball play- this was the best part of the session, him off leash, a good distance away, with a huge distraction of another dog nearby, and he did what he was supposed to. When he came back, I held his collar till the guy cleared the field, he gave me a wave, and we went back to our thing. On the walk home, we took the long way, and I had him dragging his leash nearly the entire way. I only picked it up one time when we approached the main street in town, I wanted to make sure he didn't drift out into the road or anything like that. It was probably a half mile walk home with him walking right by my side. Of course, he was wiped out by now!
The 1st thing that happened on our walk was a lady with a big boxer was coming down the same narrow side street, towards us. We saw this lady before when Gunnar was a pup, and she had commented on what a "tough guy" Gunnar was when he was barking at her dog. Even back then, Gunnar was walking nice on the leash until he saw her dog, while her dog was dragging her down the street, so her comments sorta pissed me off. At least my dog wasn't dragging me all over the place. I was surprised at how much bigger Gunnar was than the boxer now. This time, as we passed, Gunnar was much better. His hair went up and he barked twice, but he didn't pull on the leash or lunge or anything. I was able to redirect him away and we kept walking. The boxer was being a boxer, jumping around and pulling on the leash trying to get to us, either for good or bad reasons. I think the woman wanted to stop and talk but I wasn't going to do that and torture the dogs. Since her dog was straining at the leash to get at Gunnar and they are both males, so we moved on- into the next situation. A family right across the street from the boxer lady has a really vocal Beagle. He was running his fence barking his head off, but Gunnar didn't make a move towards him. Not one. Right at the end of that yard, on the other side of the street, a little doggie wanna be was running their fence, barking at him the same way the beagle was. He ignored that dog too. So- running the gauntlet of dogs- successful! He got LOTS of praise at the end of that street.
Off to the schoolyard for some OB and ball play. He totally knows when we are going there and gets super excited. I don't even have to tell him to sit to take his leash off, thats how ready he is to play. We start doing our thing. I'm going back to a little more basics with him because we haven't worked as hard lately. Lots of down/stay, I back away about 20', call him too me, sit/stay, I back up again, etc. I finally worked him up to me going about 100', recalling him, having him down on the way back, recall him the rest of the way into a sit, I back up again the same distance, etc. Also doing alternate sits and downs with hand signals from about 50' away. In between this he was getting his rewards for being good by my throwing the ball for him. While this is going on, the basketball court and playground is full of kids- maybe 30 of them, all making noise. Then the ultimate test- he's about 100' away, bringing the ball back, and some guy comes into the yard and starts to walk across with a Greyhound. They were maybe 100 yards away- about a 7 second sprint for Gunnar. He looks at the dog, and then continues back to me for more ball play- this was the best part of the session, him off leash, a good distance away, with a huge distraction of another dog nearby, and he did what he was supposed to. When he came back, I held his collar till the guy cleared the field, he gave me a wave, and we went back to our thing. On the walk home, we took the long way, and I had him dragging his leash nearly the entire way. I only picked it up one time when we approached the main street in town, I wanted to make sure he didn't drift out into the road or anything like that. It was probably a half mile walk home with him walking right by my side. Of course, he was wiped out by now!
