Dear readers, Many of you are personally familiar with Stoopidawg and her ongoing (3+ years) rehab. Well I am knocking on wood but--I think we have reached a turning point. a little doggie break thru perhaps. There has been a significant shift in her behaviour lately. She still is quite adamant that we need to be walking by 8:15 despite the change in playground rules/schedule at Izzy's school and she is of course still hooked on chewies, but she seems...calmer? For example things* we have achieved since let's say--oh September:
1.) Once leashed She no longer lunges madly through the door. She sits down so I can hook the leash to her collar AND she sits while I lock the housedoor. I walk out the door first and she is "showdog heel" before we exit the porch.Previously these have been moments of extreme agitation, manic jumping and butt wagging spinning ecstasy--cute/funny but not very orderly. We need to thank Caesar Milan for this.
2.) It appears She can be off leash under very controlled circumstances. The last week I have been letting her off leash in what Zoli likes to call the Mouse Meadow. I have mentioned the path we walk behind the high school. The wooded area is bounded by two large grassy areas about a city block each. The grass is long and there are saplings and brush. Rodent heaven right behind the football stadium, no vehicle traffic, occasionally a jogger or another doggy team. I have always let Jarvis off leash because he has a very good recall. (that's a doggiepeople term for coming when he is called)
Bree--well not so much.
But something has finally clicked. I was inspired by watching some Canadian Agility trials on Animal Planet. There was a little Jack named Boogie who swept her class. She looked just like Bree. Earlier this week I decided to try an experiment. I put her in "sit" then I laid the leash down beside her. I said "stay". I walked away. It worked! I got about five feet away and said "OKAY". On Monday, she just looked at me-- then split for the football practice field. Well they can't go on the field so I called her off and she came right back!! Musta been something in my voice because she came right to me. I picked up the leash and we walked up a bit more.
I casually dropped the leash, said "Okay" and she tore off after Jarv. I yelled "squirrel" which really is Jarv's warcry and they both stopped--looked where I was pointing-- and they tormented the squirrelvillage for about 10 minutes. On Tuesday she remembered and when we got to the same area she sat right down without me telling her. I let Jarv off leash and then her. They played for about 15 minutes jumping and digging for frozen moles and just playing. It was so funny! They really are hilarious. They are so keen to get whatever is hiding in the hole or in the grass.
So serious and busy. So today we were off leash for at least 20 minutes. I cleverly brought a cheese stick with me so whenever she chose to find me or came when I called-- "Hey" seems to work a lot better than "come" she got a treat. What a great feeling. I honestly feel like we are getting somewhere. Man what a relief, maybe this spring we can try and visit a GLJRT meeting. I would love for her to have that much fun._____
*It should be noted that at that exact moment she came running into the room jumped into the middle of the bed, barked twice and then ran back into the living room.
