Grrrr
Some dog's people.
Dante and I hit the park today for more practice. This week we're working on heeling with a 6' leash and sitting each time I stop walking. He's doing pretty well but not as well as I'd like yet so I'm still demanding quite a bit out of my boy. I planned on some excellent distractions as the sun was out, kids were riding bikes around the walkways, a bunch of guys were playing basketball, there were a couple of screaming toddlers in the play area, a family was flying a kite and a guy was playing fetch with his Lab. Perfect right? Not much more you could ask for by way of distraction!
Yeah right. We'd no more than taken our third 20 foot walk when two girls came running over. "Can we pet your dog?"
"Can you not see us working here? Go find someone else to bug!" "Sure."
After getting thoroughly derailed from his work mentality, I had just managed to get Dante focused again when WHAM! A giant black Lab and his Boston Terrier cohort come racing over. Where the hell their owners were, I have no idea. Oh yeah, that must be them - yelling from across the park as their dogs run around off-leash approaching a strange fully grown male AKITA wearing a prong collar and 6' leash.
Finally get Dante back under control and the two dogs racing back to their owners when some guy walking his two Golden Retrievers (off-leash!) starts yelling at his dog. Sure enough, here comes one of them.
At this point, I'd had enough though. I was deliberately sticking to a part of the park with no other people or dogs and was obviously working on obedience (who else walks for 30 feet and then stops to make their dog sit!?). I yanked Dante back, told the dog to GET! NOW! and brandished my bottle of vinegar water.
Dog took one last look at me and high-tailed it back to safety while I exchanged dark looks with his owner.
GAH! Ok, try to focus Dante one more time when I hear more yelling from the other side and turn just in time to see a Minpin come racing over. OFF-LEASH!! I had to use a deathgrip on Dante's collar to keep him under control that time. And almost needed someone with a deathgrip on my leash to keep me from booting the stupid little thing.
As soon as the Minpin raced away (albeit not to his powerless owners still calling his name in vain) - I marched Dante to the car and we left. I was sorely tempted to call it a night but deleted my ultra-bitchy text without sending and drove to an empty church parking lot instead.
I'm glad I did. Another 30 minutes and he nailed it tonight. Even managed to make me beam when he actually looked at me for guidance. (For non-dog peeps, that's HUGE, especially for a dominant dog to make eye contact while training.) I even allowed myself a little victory fist pump when he promptly sat without being told to.
Still, my blood boils a little thinking about how disastrous it was during the first half. And it's exactly why I'm working on obedience. The last thing I want is zero control over my dog if he's running around off-leash.
I'm thinking we'll skip the park for a few days and keep to the parking lot. I want him to have a few more solidly positive experiences before we throw those kinds of tests at him again. And I can't help but growl a little thinking about how the couples coming to class have it so much easier. At least there's someone to run interference when they're trying to train in public!
Dante and I hit the park today for more practice. This week we're working on heeling with a 6' leash and sitting each time I stop walking. He's doing pretty well but not as well as I'd like yet so I'm still demanding quite a bit out of my boy. I planned on some excellent distractions as the sun was out, kids were riding bikes around the walkways, a bunch of guys were playing basketball, there were a couple of screaming toddlers in the play area, a family was flying a kite and a guy was playing fetch with his Lab. Perfect right? Not much more you could ask for by way of distraction!
Yeah right. We'd no more than taken our third 20 foot walk when two girls came running over. "Can we pet your dog?"
"Can you not see us working here? Go find someone else to bug!" "Sure."
After getting thoroughly derailed from his work mentality, I had just managed to get Dante focused again when WHAM! A giant black Lab and his Boston Terrier cohort come racing over. Where the hell their owners were, I have no idea. Oh yeah, that must be them - yelling from across the park as their dogs run around off-leash approaching a strange fully grown male AKITA wearing a prong collar and 6' leash.
Finally get Dante back under control and the two dogs racing back to their owners when some guy walking his two Golden Retrievers (off-leash!) starts yelling at his dog. Sure enough, here comes one of them.
At this point, I'd had enough though. I was deliberately sticking to a part of the park with no other people or dogs and was obviously working on obedience (who else walks for 30 feet and then stops to make their dog sit!?). I yanked Dante back, told the dog to GET! NOW! and brandished my bottle of vinegar water.
Dog took one last look at me and high-tailed it back to safety while I exchanged dark looks with his owner.
GAH! Ok, try to focus Dante one more time when I hear more yelling from the other side and turn just in time to see a Minpin come racing over. OFF-LEASH!! I had to use a deathgrip on Dante's collar to keep him under control that time. And almost needed someone with a deathgrip on my leash to keep me from booting the stupid little thing.
As soon as the Minpin raced away (albeit not to his powerless owners still calling his name in vain) - I marched Dante to the car and we left. I was sorely tempted to call it a night but deleted my ultra-bitchy text without sending and drove to an empty church parking lot instead.
I'm glad I did. Another 30 minutes and he nailed it tonight. Even managed to make me beam when he actually looked at me for guidance. (For non-dog peeps, that's HUGE, especially for a dominant dog to make eye contact while training.) I even allowed myself a little victory fist pump when he promptly sat without being told to.
Still, my blood boils a little thinking about how disastrous it was during the first half. And it's exactly why I'm working on obedience. The last thing I want is zero control over my dog if he's running around off-leash.
I'm thinking we'll skip the park for a few days and keep to the parking lot. I want him to have a few more solidly positive experiences before we throw those kinds of tests at him again. And I can't help but growl a little thinking about how the couples coming to class have it so much easier. At least there's someone to run interference when they're trying to train in public!