I took my first walk by myself with Rosie and Nick this morning. Walking one feisty Pharaoh Hound and either one or two senior Greyhounds is totally different than walking the same Pharaoh with a young, just off the track Grey. Actually, all in all, it went very well, but I did have to keep telling myself that things will improve with time and a little training. I was very, very glad that I remembered to pack my sense of humor.
First of all, Nick may be cat friendly and pretty much ignore my cats when they walk by in the house, but he is defiantly not squirrel or chipmunk friendly in the park. Secondly, he walks pretty well on the lease, but does at times seem like he’s drunk. He weaves all over the place. :-)
The outing was a definitely success though. Rosie didn’t explode at another dog once and Nick pretty much figured out which side I wanted him to walk on. Now if I can just teach him to jump into the van himself instead of just standing there waiting for me to lift him in.
Here’s what Nick had to say -
This morning my new mom took me for a walk. A walk is when you get in the back of a big vehicle and ride awhile then get out and walk around for awhile. There are lots of little animals running around to chase, but you are on a leash, so it’s hard to catch one before the leash stops you. I was unsuccessful today, but I’ll keep trying. Oh yeah, the best part is that you get lots of treats for walking where mom wants you to walk. She doesn’t like it if you walk into her, but sometimes laughs if you weave around a lot. When we were finished, she led me to the back of the vehicle and acted like she wanted me to do something. I’m not sure what she wanted though. I guess I’ll figure it out eventually. She kept waving a treat under my nose and putting it in the back of the vehicle. Doesn’t she know I can’t reach it there?
4 comments:
LOL! What is up with that weaving??? My foster does this...June USED to. You're right...it does just take some time, and a sense of humor!
It took a while to teach Jacey to stop "clotheslining" Sam by walking across in front of him and choking him with her leash. The solution finally as to put both dogs on 4' leashes--lots less flexibility when one wants to cut in front of the other. (And they're less likely to get their feet tangled in shorter leashes.)
Good luck with teaching Nick to get in the car on his own. I never have a problem with Sam, but Jacey just stands there and looks at me...and she'd have an easy "climb" into my front seat if she'd do it herself. I put my knee into her butt and nudge and try to make it as uncomfortable as possible for her if I have to boost her up, in hopes that she'll decide to dodge the discomfort and move on her own. So far, no such luck.
Kathy
The why of the weaving beats me. I remember when I was learning to drive, my grandfather told me never to look at the side of the road when driving because that's where the car wound go. I wonder if its sort of like that. He's busy looking at new things and his body sort of follows his head. He's already on a short lead, so most of the weaving is into my legs. He got stepped on a few times today too - maybe that will teach him!!
horray for a successful first walk! i think most greys weave on their first few outings in new places. Roxy did this for awhile. i put her on a coupler with seka (who is a dream on a leash) and she learned what to do more quickly that way.
i can't wait to hear more about nick's new adventures
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