Life on the Leash

Sadie and Boris are adorable. Athena Beana is also surly, as you know, and she doesn’t fall for the “other dogs mean goodies” trick. She only understands having to sit quietly while I make several high pitched “distracting” noises if I hear her gearing up for a bark-fest. She AND the owner of the dog walking by both look at me like I have a mental problem, but at least she snaps out of it. Coincidentally, she also has a sweet, pretty face. Hmm… coincidence? Maybe. But you know who else had a sweet, pretty face? Ted Bundy.

Hey Cat - you might be too close to the action. You need a decent buffer of distance between Athena and the other dog in order to do effective counter-conditioning … plus it might help to keep Athena moving instead of sitting. I liken it to having to stand very, very still right before you go on stage to give a speech, versus walking around and blowing off steam prior to going out. I know *I’d* prefer to “shake it off” over being still!

Vic-thanks for the advice. We face away from the action–far, even if we have to cross the street– when she’s sitting, because if she’s moving, she’s lurching, bouncing and rearing (oh and barking heh) towards the dog and all attention goes out the window (even for hot dog). We have not been using her “forbidden-rhymes-with-wrong” collar lately, which I know you detest, but my lower back loves. It’s the only thing that makes her understand I mean business and am in fact in charge, not her. Barbara, her Schutzhund trainer introduced the uh…”song” collar to me, because Athena’s drive is off the charts and even with distractions, food, her baseball, she paid neither of us a lick of attention on lead. Of course it’s not every dog. It’s just dogs she doesn’t like. Calm dogs who ignore her she ignores. Ones who look at her set her off like a cyclone.

I don’t hear you … I don’t hear you …
The Gentle Leader head collar? THAT I hear.

I know I know. We’ve tried one of those too. She can get those off her face in 2 seconds with her paw and seems to loathe it the whole time. We’ve used all types except for choke. Now she’s just on a regular cloth buckle collar. Maybe we need an intensive lesson on walking near dogs where you can show me what you do.