A week's a long time in puppy world

I've not been updating on daily Grey the last week. Bad of me, as he's been up to quite a lot! But I did go back to work a couple of days this week, leaving him with his favourite person, L.

Some things sort of slipped me, which reminds me to remember that some things are not to panic about and just a phase that he went through. One instance is barking. He went through about five weeks of barking at night, barking at things that spooked him. So for the last week, we've managed to get through the night without him reacting to every single noise he hears outside the house by rushing round barking. I'm glad we more or less just ignored him throughout this. It's thankfully a lot quieter now.

Other news is that he's now on a strict regime of LLW training. That's loose lead walking. We don't go on walks anymore where he's allowed to pull. If we have to go from A to B he's on the Gencon. But mostly I try not to take him anywhere except training. It still feels like an unending uphill struggle and that the little monkey relly won't ever get it. Two days ago I was reminded to return to one of the first books I bought: Ian Dunbar's Before and After You Get Your Puppy. There was quite a nice process for getting out of the house. Ian recommends showing the pup the lead, cue excitement, wait and wait for pup to quiet and sit on his own. Strictly no asking him to sit. Then clip on the lead, cue excitement, wait for a sit, then take a step to the door, wait for a sit and so on. Get out the house, wait for a sit. Go back in and repeat, until you have a calm process for this. He then uses this approach for the walk. Only trouble I have with this is that when I take a step forwards, Grey does too. We really didn't get past the one step forward and stop. But it was an interesting couple of sessions. Lots of whining and crying from Grey out of sheer frustration at not getting what he wanted. It was a milestone I think.

Then the next day, my copy of Helen Philips' Clicker Gundog arrived. Her LLW method is to stop dead when the dog hits the end of the lead and lean backwards. Click for dog looking back and feed at the side. Then a crucial difference. She says the walk has ended and so count to ten, then regather yourself and start again. This is to stop the yo-yo action of the dog boinging forwards after taking the treat. I tried this method. I did see a little improvement, but by today, I've still got a dog who shoots forward after my first step. Will he ever learn?