Natalie Tootie

Things went surprisingly well tonight. I’m beginning to think Kody is more excited to see the other dogs than nervous. We went outside for training tonight and when the other dogs went out first he was absolutely desperate to follow them. And then when we got out there, he pooped, which was kind of a light hearted moment for everyone.

Kody is very high energy. He has a hard time sitting still if not told to do so. But when asked to wait, he does it better than any of the other dogs. We practice that all the time, though. He waits for just about everything at home. I was able to get him to wait while outside while I walked all the way around him. He also waited through me jumping, fake sneezing, and just doing wacky stuff. It was awesome.

He also is getting much better at “right here” which is kind of like heel but not quite as serious (heel means something very specific in advanced training, so we don’t use that word). It’s the command we use to get them to walk on a loose leash. Kody had a lot of times where he was doing the right thing and walking next to me, but only with a treat to lure him. But that’s good progress.

We also did exercises for what to do when your dog passes another dog in public. All sorts of ways to distract them, including a little dance where you lure them with a treat, spin in front of them to switch sides and finally give them the treat you lured them with when they are on the other side of you. It sounds confusing, but it’s cool, it will amaze the other dog owners! Kody did really well, the other dogs were more distracted than he was. I’m starting to see that a lot of the things I’ve done are really paying off. With Kody it takes longer to see results because of his energy, but he’s started to pass up the other dogs in many ways, which feels really good.

My favorite dog food: