Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Remi Dog Walking

Fuzzy picture, I know. We were walking!
 
This story is a bit of miracle I must share with you.  If you've never had a dog that pulls when you walk, you probably won't appreciate this post.
 
We adopted Remi a little over a year ago. She had terrible separation anxiety and she is quite bitchy at times. The problem is, she can be the sweetest dog I've ever had on my lap. She is smart and entertaining.  And, challenging.
 
I love smart, entertaining, challenging dogs. And, men.
 
Over the winter, I took her to a couple of classes to see about getting her Good Canine Citizen's title. We didn't finish the class.  To get her in the truck and across the parking lot was a) embarrassing, and b) exhausting.  This dog was is crazy. When I'd put a leash on her, she would pull so hard I swear she could pull a dog sled. Perhaps she has a little husky in her.
 
Recently I ran across a blog written by a woman who has 5 dogs. She is also a trainer and one of her posts addressed our problem. She suggested a few things I had not tried.  I'm not a quitter.  I already had a harness. I have hot dogs. I even have a clicker (one of those cricket sounding toys you get from the dollar store).  I set out a little over a month ago with my tricks in hand. If I could just get around the block without her pulling my arm out of the socket I promised myself and her that I would get up every day and take her walking.
 
IT WORKED!!!!!  
 
I am happy to report that for a couple of weeks now we have been walking around just one block. The trick to dog training is to go steady but don't skip ahead too fast or you might lose your dog's interest.
 
This week, I decided to skip ahead and today we completed our second 2 mile walk. Am I happy?  Yes!
 
Have you had a great success recently?  Tell me about it!
 
love, susan

7 comments:

  1. Any ideas on how to get the dog to stop eating cat food? We're at our wits end with Sisko. Just bought a baby gate to keep him out of the kitchen, but running our kitty hospice is taking a toll on me AND hubby. We're going to the vet today with Scooter and I think we've succeeded at creating a wet food monster and getting some weight on him. I'll post updates later. My furkids are going to be the death of me.

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    1. We put our cat food up on the bathroom counter.

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    2. Susan, tell Amanda she should be lucky if all her dogs eat is the kitty food....our dog delights in dining on kitty poo....ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

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    3. PS I hope her sick cat is not the beautiful calico you sent me a picture of! I still have that on my fridge....

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    4. Dumb Mama, it was not the calico who was sick. And yes, I agree with you. There is something about cat poo that makes it like a treat to my dogs too.

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    5. Just a quick update:

      The baby gate is helping quite a bit. Sisko stares at us as if he's been locked out of the promised land, but I'm not stuck policing the cat food. Scooter isn't doing so well, but it is what it is.

      @Dumb Mama: Unfortunately, Sisko loves cat food (not to be crude) in all its forms. He's a pretty gross dog. I didn't know that Mom sent you a photo of Cali. Isn't she just the prettiest?

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    6. I had made some prints of a good picture of Cali and made greeting cards with it. My friend LOVES cats!

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