I was reminded this week to take stock of just how far Grey has come in the last few months. I went out with a friend for a few lead walks and she mentioned how different he is now. So much calmer and pulling less. More able to manage himself and focus. So, yes, mr monkey, I'm very proud of you. Even though you did nick the sugar bowl off the table and had an attempt to swallow all of his dad's mashed potato last night.
We've done a lot more lead walking the last few weeks. All on the halti and occaisionally heelwork on the flat collar. He can now do heelwork with sits when I stop. This is obviously really hard work for him to keep up with and so I only use it in short bursts. I'm not interested in him heeling all the time. That would be really stressful. Heeling to me is very tight to my leg with him looking up at me. For general walking around town leadwork, a slack lead is the goal. I've started having my lead long again from yesterday, so I can cue him to 'go sniff' occaisionally to give him some freedom and variety on the walk. 'Go sniff' can also be a reward as well as the food.
We have been playing hide and seek in the park when it was empty. Doing lots of fast changes in direction with him off the lead. Getting him to follow me and see where I'm going. Then a few times we've been up to the lido with a walk round the highstreet to keep working on his experiences around distractions. He has improved loads. He still has the odd lunge at vans, but are becoming infrequent. He seems to be ignoring motorbikes now. But if a van or vehicle appears near the beach or park, he will still take off chasing. So still got to work on that.
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