Follow up on Big Day. We did training in the drive way, off lead heeling, he's doing SO WELL on that, plus other tricks then went for our walk.
Saw some people I know sitting on their verandah, so stopped to speak, their dogs (unsighted but NOT unheard) started to bark, went into the click/treat oh brother I'm getting to be the fastest food dispenser on the planet
Ra Kismet responded REALLY WELL in the end he was just sitting blinking a bit sleepily and looking at me all the time. Seemed to 'forget' the existence of three madly barking dogs completely
Did some 'parking' a bit further along the way, we did this a few times, LOL it was very hot so at shady spots we "parked', ignored him (aren't I good, click/treat for Mom
) just 'watched him out the corner of my eye' - oh
"it's a bit boring YAWN but hey if Mom wants to just stand and do nothing, well guess I just lie and do nothing'.
Looking for shade to walk in spotted a small patch of trees did NOT realize that there were a load of dogs 'hidden' behind a shade cloth enclosure
Half way down a slope covered in pine bark when a MASSIVE cacophony of barking went up - seemingly 'out of the blue' as this is an office area, not residential
Ra Kismet looked 'very interested' but before he had a chance to do anything more, I went into click/treat BIG TIME and made my way carefully down the slope click/treating all the time. He stayed FOCUSED on me - and the treat bag
Nice man coming across this wee 'park' area commented on Ra Kismet (he was behaving so well and looked so cute etc.) and also informed me that the dogs were beagle sniffer dogs from the airport - we were right on the road leading down to the airport. That explained dogs being in an 'unusual' place.
With the Beagle Choir singing at ear splitting decibels, I kept up the click/treat, walking around. Then did some running in figure eights, WITHOUT click/treating the entire time.
Amazed at how well Ra Kismet 'forgot' the Beagle Choir, who were by now about 30 feet away but still in fine fettle voice wise
You could also see their muzzles and paws coming through the bottom on the enclosure.
Also, just to add to the racket there was a construction site on one side, and two main roads on the other, with the office buildings and Beagle Choir on the other, so a lot for the boy to contend with. Construction site DID NOT worry the boy at all, in fact he 'asked' VERY politely with a 'look' if we could go watch the men play with big boy toys and was very happy to sit for a while watching all those fascinating big boy toys working - well he seemed to find it fascinating
, not so sure I did, but hey if the boy's happy then so am I
What Mom's do for their kids
.
He eventually got bored with that, so we did our tricks all on the lead of course. Walk on hind legs, stand on hind legs, the 'dreaded' drop, the 'loved' down and roll over (only once, he normally does three rolls in a row but the lead etc.)shake paws and say your prayers. The Beagle Choir provided the 'music' - dancing with dogs LOL in more ways than one
BUT Ra Kismet seemed to forget all about the Beagle Choir!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We did some more running around the trees loose lead work and then made for home. Had to pass the Beagle Choir (they'll need some throat lozenge tonight) so did the click/treat routine up the slope as he was 'looking a bit interested' (they were only a few feet away now) and as he'd been such a fantastic boy let him have a JACKPOT NOSE DIVE - all that could be heard above all the other noise was SNUFFLE SNORT
On the way home took a different route, more shade and hit a street where I think just about every house had a barking dog - chain reaction BIG TIME - went into the click/treat routine and whilst he isn't totally ready to just toddle along without a blink unless I click/treat he's ALMOST at that point. Besides don't want to rush the boy and set him back would rather click/treat until he's REALLY GOT IT than stop too soon.
So proud of the boy, he's doing so well and LOL he got another 'small' dinner because I'm using his dinner for his treats to make sure he doesn't get over weight
Just have the BIG ONE, seeing/passing another dog on the street. Didn't encounter any other pooches out walking, middle of the day, they're usually around late afternoon/early evening. Will walk early afternoon for a while, to REALLY instill in his head to behave in a gentlemanly manner before we attempt going out in 'prime time for the doggy brigade',again don't want to rush the boy.