MaryK
Honored Member
Today WOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!! Ra Kismet is making FANTASTIC progress. Did normal training in the garden/drive way - he's doing grand on that side of things
Then off for walk. Baking hot today so did shorten his walk, will walk him again later when it's dark.
Well, I am still finding it hard to believe. First, didn't even BOTHER TO TURN AND LOOK down our street, despite the fact he KNOWS where all the other dogs live, barking or otherwise. He would have in past, gone down with that 'expectant' look ready to behave in an ungentlemanly manner. Now, poof, who cares!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Managed to get some witches hats for free from some workman, they were admiring him so I, being cheeky, asked where I could 'buy' witches hats
I was confident enough to continue with our walk with witches hats tucked under my arm, something I would NOT have done before.
Went past another GS, other side of busy road but still, in the PAST the barking would have set off Ra Kismet. Today POOF I'm much too WELL MANNERED to respond to unruly dogs
Same with a few other 'known' dog houses. I didn't click or treat either, as my feelings, correct me if I am wrong please, were that as HE WASN'T BATTING A BEAUTIFUL EYE LID THEN IT WAS BETTER TO JUST WALK ALONG NORMALLY - rational being that if I act naturally, he will and also, maybe if I click/treated it may 'remind' him/draw his attention to the dog. Right or Wrong????
One surprise house - two wee yappers - his ONLY reaction (neither of us saw them prior to their barking) was to PUT one paw on the low wall - NOT PULLING OR JUMPING and he was loose lead walking too so could have EASILY pulled (I do hold the lead as suggested by curls139 Russ's companion just in case) VERY QUICKLY went into click/treat mode Ra Kismet sat in front of me and didn't budge/lose focus at all. No jackpot though it wasn't quite big enough for that
A lot of people may not even have bothered with his 'reaction' it was so slight BUT I don't even want that much so click/treat
Did parking 'YAWN o.k. Mom's can be a bit weird chap just had to go along with themYAWN'
Then spied small Pom coming towards us with elderly gentleman - ooops me with witches Hats under my arm
Ra Kismet looked 'quite interested' even though the Pom was quite a way down the road still. I IMMEDIATELY went into 'reverse' and started click/treat and the Pom's owner crossed the road well before they got to us PHEW was so glad of that as I didn't want to push my boy. Click/treated like there was no tomorrow as the Pom sedately walked past on the other side of the road. Ra Kismet stayed focused about 95% of the time - sorry boy no Jackpot - but I was VERY impressed, as this is the FIRST time we've had 'dog in street' since the tantrum. O.K. other side of the road, not THE test but HEY a boy's gotta take it gradually and he did VERY WELL
Toddled on and I knew full well a BIGGIE was on the horizon. GS behind railings who can perform like anything. We're the other side of the road RA KISMET BARELY LOOKED OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went into click/treat mode then JACKPOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he seemed to be TOTALLY unaware of the madly barking/performing GS and resumed walking along as if NOSE DIVES in the treat bag were an every day occurence and barking GS's POOF WHO CARES!!!!!!!!
He'll soon be up to Zeus' standard and Zeus is one of THE BEST DOGS you could ever walk, he's just so cool and laid back, NOTHING bothers him AT ALL

Then off for walk. Baking hot today so did shorten his walk, will walk him again later when it's dark.Well, I am still finding it hard to believe. First, didn't even BOTHER TO TURN AND LOOK down our street, despite the fact he KNOWS where all the other dogs live, barking or otherwise. He would have in past, gone down with that 'expectant' look ready to behave in an ungentlemanly manner. Now, poof, who cares!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Managed to get some witches hats for free from some workman, they were admiring him so I, being cheeky, asked where I could 'buy' witches hats
I was confident enough to continue with our walk with witches hats tucked under my arm, something I would NOT have done before.Went past another GS, other side of busy road but still, in the PAST the barking would have set off Ra Kismet. Today POOF I'm much too WELL MANNERED to respond to unruly dogs

Same with a few other 'known' dog houses. I didn't click or treat either, as my feelings, correct me if I am wrong please, were that as HE WASN'T BATTING A BEAUTIFUL EYE LID THEN IT WAS BETTER TO JUST WALK ALONG NORMALLY - rational being that if I act naturally, he will and also, maybe if I click/treated it may 'remind' him/draw his attention to the dog. Right or Wrong????
One surprise house - two wee yappers - his ONLY reaction (neither of us saw them prior to their barking) was to PUT one paw on the low wall - NOT PULLING OR JUMPING and he was loose lead walking too so could have EASILY pulled (I do hold the lead as suggested by curls139 Russ's companion just in case) VERY QUICKLY went into click/treat mode Ra Kismet sat in front of me and didn't budge/lose focus at all. No jackpot though it wasn't quite big enough for that
A lot of people may not even have bothered with his 'reaction' it was so slight BUT I don't even want that much so click/treat
Did parking 'YAWN o.k. Mom's can be a bit weird chap just had to go along with themYAWN'
Then spied small Pom coming towards us with elderly gentleman - ooops me with witches Hats under my arm
Ra Kismet looked 'quite interested' even though the Pom was quite a way down the road still. I IMMEDIATELY went into 'reverse' and started click/treat and the Pom's owner crossed the road well before they got to us PHEW was so glad of that as I didn't want to push my boy. Click/treated like there was no tomorrow as the Pom sedately walked past on the other side of the road. Ra Kismet stayed focused about 95% of the time - sorry boy no Jackpot - but I was VERY impressed, as this is the FIRST time we've had 'dog in street' since the tantrum. O.K. other side of the road, not THE test but HEY a boy's gotta take it gradually and he did VERY WELL
Toddled on and I knew full well a BIGGIE was on the horizon. GS behind railings who can perform like anything. We're the other side of the road RA KISMET BARELY LOOKED OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went into click/treat mode then JACKPOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he seemed to be TOTALLY unaware of the madly barking/performing GS and resumed walking along as if NOSE DIVES in the treat bag were an every day occurence and barking GS's POOF WHO CARES!!!!!!!!
He'll soon be up to Zeus' standard and Zeus is one of THE BEST DOGS you could ever walk, he's just so cool and laid back, NOTHING bothers him AT ALL

The more I hear, the more impressed I am!!! Can I email Makena to you, so you can work with her too?
You should be so proud of both him and yourself!!!
He's not really a snarky dog thank goodness, just a couple of things he doesn't like. One is strange. You can do ANYTHING with his paws EXCEPT WIPE THEM DRY - he can get snarky then, but am going to use the technique in Dr. Sophia Yin's vid for nails, only instead of tapping with the clippers (he's never needed a nail trim) I'm going to 'tap' with the towel. Also if he's deeply asleep and you accidently knock/disturb him he's a bit 'snarky' till he realizes that it's you. Other than that, he's grand at taking treats, in fact, I can feed him a treat from my mouth (not out of course that's asking a bit too much) but at home, he'll take it from my mouth and LOL the worst thing which can happen is 'slobber' especially if it's a tasty treat rarely given, like dog chocs
and I wouldn't want Ra Kismet to start to 'depend' on Zeus and then..............

That's my girl, she trusts I won't hurt her. It's taken a long time to get this far. I have a couple food puzzles that both dogs LOVE!!! and when we finish nails, they get several go's at their food puzzles, so it's like a big jackpot. They'll even get the puzzles and bring them to me.
Good grief, I'm babbling incoherently, I'm so tired, I think I need to quit and go to bed.
I am sure though, that WITHOUT that time spent with Sherman, she would have been much harder to train and work with, he did all he needed or could do with her. It's like 'it's time for you now Makena to start to learn to stand on your own paws'. I believe without any question dogs (all animals) have souls and are sent to us to help us in some way and when they have done all they can they move on to the summerland and then are reborn to help others. Just my belief, may not be for everyone.
Will load up the goodies bag and start to S L O W L Y click and work down to actually wiping the paws. We did today manage to wipe the TOPS of his paws - that's a MAJOR break through, so will work slowly with click/treat/towel onto being able to dry his paws properly. Poor Makena, it's not the first time I've heard of grooming parlors hurting dogs when clipping claws. I'm a bit wary of using them to be honest. Ra Kismet needs a bath and we only have a shower here, so it's outside for bath time, bit too cold to do that (even though it was broiling hot yesterday getting him dry before it cools down is what I have in mind plus there is LOTS OF MUD and he adores mud, happy as a hippo in a wallow when it comes to mud so kinda defeats the bath