Oh Wednesday, Oh Wednesday

I know that I actually have about 23 minutes until Wednesday, but that's close enough for me. It's my last day without students! I am super excited to meet them and have a great year! Today was meetings 8:30-4:00 and it was not fun. I would have rather been in my room working, but that just wasn't an option.

Yesterday was our next-to-last day of doggie school. Bandit was super ADD/ADHD. I am not a vet or doctor, but as a teacher/dog owner, I think he has this problem. He was so unfocused yesterday. We would tell him to sit and before we could tell him to stay, he was looking around and standing up. It was so frustrating! After spending some time thinking about it, we decided to invest in a Gentle Leader Headcollar. This is a collar that goes around Bandit's nose and mouth and around his neck. It does not choke him, keep his mouth shut, or hurt him. The leash attaches to the front and when he pulls on the leash, it naturally pulls his head to the side. Here is a picture of him with it on. You can tell from his expression that he is not enjoying it at all...

He can still open his mouth, pant, yawn, drink water, etc. with this thing on, but we have already seen a HUGE change in walking him on a leash. Even in the store with the trainer, within 5 minutes, he was like a different dog. He bucked like a horse and wiggled and rubbed at it when it first was put on, but once he started walking and getting used to it, it wasn't that bad. We took him on a walk when we got him (he still had the leader on) and he did really well. As soon as he would feel tension, he would immediately slow down and get next to us. We did pass two dogs on our short walk. Passing the first dog, we must have been quite a sight to see. Bandit was struggling so hard against the head collar because he wanted to focus on the dog and be aggressive, but the collar makes him look away. He was in the air and wiggling and actually caused himself to run into a sign post. My boyfriend had the leash and said it felt like reeling in a big fish because he was jumping and wiggling and trying to get away. The second dog was a lot better. He started pulling, but once he felt that tension and his head turn, he stopped. He did this a few times, but there was no growling or barking or anything that bad.

Today, I took him out to go potty with the leader on and he saw a dog a ways away and he took notice and was attentive, but when he went in that direction and felt the pull, he stopped. It has been amazing! As the trainers said, this is like a punch to his ego and as bad as that sounds, I think it is what this little guy needs. He needs to realize that he is not the lead dog at all times (or really ever) and needs to know that we have more control over him. Since getting him in May, there have been some great improvements.

We are starting to teach him to jump through a hoop and he is doing great! Today, I raised it more than we had worked with yesterday and he thought he could just duck under it to get the treat. He's sneaky, but I made him jump and he did great. We are about 6" off the ground with the hoop and he will jump. I think I will start backing up and making him run a bit and then jump :) Maybe I can snap a picture of him jumping through the hoop.

Ok, I am fading fast and need to get some sleep. The women's gymnastics kept me awake, but luckily there are no kids tomorrow and I can take a nap at school if need be (shhh...) :)