A lovely Walk

Yesterday, Pippin said “Thank you for my walk”.

It was gracious and sweet. Reaffirmation of why I enjoy dogs so much.

Our daily walks are more than just slap a leash on the collar and walk down the street. They are the time of day when it is just the dogs and I enjoying our time together, working and just having fun. One day, my sister was with us and she said “I hope you don’t break his spirit with the training”. So, at first I laughed and replied “No! But, he has to know when to come and when to behave!”

But, let’s think about this – what does that really mean to “not break his spirit?” Pippin – a puppy at heart, always wanting to run, explore, chase, play, say “hi”, and, of course get what he wants. So, when I need him to come to me, he needs to come now – no questions asked. This here is the safety issue. We worked for almost a year on this, where he was on a long line and when I called “here” he had to come. Period. He got used to this, run to end of line, run around in circles, when Mom calls “here”, come racing in to get lots of praise & a cookie. Not hard. Take leash off. At first works great. Then he discovers that … there is no consequence. Mom calls – Pip conveniently “does not hear” and keeps going, Mom can’t pull back.

Sounds fun! What a fun spirit that pup has! Until we are trying to get Pip to come away from a horse, an aggressive dog, or worse, a coyote (luckily we have not met one of those up close).

I do love his spirit of exploration, his spirit of adventure, his spirit of love. But, I need to also have a spirit of “get back to Mom now! Mom is good! Mom is fun! Mom is better than the squirrel!” This has been the tough part. I have worked with several solutions, one being my favorite and what seems to be working the best – the Andy Shimada Quiet Attention. When Pips comes out of the car, I take him right away and into a comfortable heel position. I pet softly, and we talk quietly. “Remember who I am” I am trying to say “remember that you come back to me”. I may give a cookie, but usually not. Then, every time he comes to me, we have a short quiet attention time. Any side, quiet petting, usually me bending over him, usually getting lots of kisses. When Pip comes, he loves to bounce to either right or left heel for this petting. After a short petting time, we break into a little play or a little trick time with cookie, or sometimes he just gets the cookie for the come.

Am I getting to be better than the squirrel? I think so.
Am I breaking the spirit? I don't think so.
I hope I am keeping the spirit, but taming it for both our needs.

Yesterday, it was our first walk since my back surgery. I can’t walk far – we went only about 1/5 of our normal distance. David was with me and he was holding Pug’s leash and if Pip needed to go on leash, it was David. I could not bend over for quiet petting – but Pip seemed to know that. We had a lovely time. Lots of runs, lots of comes!! Always checking where we were and then off for a run – only to come back.

And then, in the car – his “Thank You”. What a lovely walk.