MeetUp #2

One thing I've learned over the years, is the more time a dog spends around other dogs, the less he/she will be distracted by them. 


By a show of hands, how many of you get excited about seeing another human? Not someone you know, or haven't seen in a while, but just another human?
Now if you'd been living on a desert island for months and months, and only saw another human every once in a while, how much more excited would you be?
You see my point? You don't? Well just pretend you do ok!? 

David, sits before he saw the other dogs...or more, before he realized the other dogs were, dogs!
Meeting the group!
A loose leash! Hallelujah 
The rest of the group, while we fell behind
Obviously I was paying great attention to my dog here. lol. Gotta make sure we'd checked into Foursquare!
Sleeping David
Exactly, and since I have "all this time" now.. I thought to myself, why not go on some of these walks that i get emails about on a weekly basis? Not only does it force me to get out of the house, but it'll be great for David to get used to "working" around other dogs calmly!

So I RSVP'd and we set out this afternoon for the park.

It went, pretty much as I expected, at first he didn't realize these were dogs his brain was seeing, but once he did it was on. Once the group started walking, I quickly realized we were going to have to lead the 'pack' in order for David not to practice a lot of pulling.

Ahead of everybody, Dave walked nicely, glancing back everyone once in a while to make sure everyone was still following. We walked about a mile or so, before David was tired enough to walk beside the other dogs without jumping on them. The other dogs seemed to realize he was a "baby" and didn't so much as grumble at him, so it was up to me to let him know this was not acceptable.

After we broke off, I drug Dave through a couple more stores before heading home for the day. 

While at the park, we were able to identify other areas to work with him on, so we definitely will be doing this as often as we can! 




Comments

Erin said…
I wish I could say I knew what you were talking about. Haha! If only Hilly would have taken that to heart. To bad that Hilly only got used to labs, goldens, and labradoodles (mind you...not goldendoodles or poodles). Haha! Glad that David is doing so well. :D
Erin said…
umm.. taken what to heart?  Why is it bad that Hilly only got used to retrievers? I'm a bit confused here, lol. :) 
Erin said…
I hear you on this...Alfie was always my best "loose-leash" walker when he was in the guide dog program, but now that he's cc'd and I don't practice being around other dogs as much...guess what, he's all pull-y again around them!  Wish our dog park were closer!  ;-)  Ah well.

I love David!  He seems like such a great puppy...best of luck to you both!  :-)

Popular Posts