A Successful Socializaton Experience

I took the dogs to spectate at a dog trial on Saturday.  Well, I was spectating; it was a socialization experience for both dogs. I took Woozle out first since I didn't want him loading energy the whole time I was gone. His reaction to people isn't nearly as extreme as it used to be, though he usually still wants to run over for pets and may bark a bit.  He really still isn't used to strange dogs at all though, and will bark his fool head off if I let him and do his darnedest to go and say hi. We walked outside the building a little, but he was in his harness and he is becoming increasingly impossible to control in it.

He was also wearing a nylon slip collar as a backup (I've had more than one animal slip out of an incorrectly adjusted harness). Maybe it was inspiration, maybe it was moment of insanity, but I decided to unclip the leash from the harness and just use the slip collar. I've never even hooked him up to his flat collar before so he has never yet had any kind of a collar correction and rarely any collar pressure. I have never seen a dog react to a simple choker like he did (in my limited experience, most totally ignore them and try to strangle themselves anyway). He walked (didn't lunge) to the end of it, gagged slightly and then gave me this thoughtful look, "What is this thing? Oh... I guess it means I can't be a dink anymore." I never once even popped it and as soon as he stopped barking he noticed the treats and got his mind in gear. I got him to focus pretty well until I ran out and figured I had better cut the session off. I guess the harness work paid off! Now I just have to be careful not to abuse this new-found power... I put him back in the Blazer and I took Daisy out.

Daisy's main problem is other dogs. She doesn't hate them and she certainly isn't afraid of them, but she failed her CGC test because she took about two steps around me (while she was supposed to be sitting) to go say "Hi" to the other dog. Once she has worked around the dog for a while (even if they have never officially met) she is usually pretty good, but just the fact that it was a "new" dog flummoxed her. These events are a really good opportunity for her to be around a lot of very new dogs that are well-behaved and whose owners ignore her. So I took her inside and we sat down progressively closer and closer to the aisle and the action. I watched the trial and Daisy fell asleep. She was watchful whenever it looked like a strange dog might approach, but she never put a toe out of line. Just as we were heading out, the doorway was blocked by two talking handlers and their dogs. It was a good test. Daisy split the difference between the two dogs and ignored them beautifully! Bravo Daisy! I rotated the dogs once more.

I didn't have anymore treats, so I couldn't take Woozle very close the second time around, but we did have a very good game of fetch on the grass and I was successfully able to distract him from dogs in the distance. I also noticed for the first time that Woozle apparently has lost his last, straggling baby teeth, and with them went the snaggle-toothed "shark" look. We celebrated with a game of tug, which he clearly enjoyed.

Next on the agenda: Loose leash walking in a flat collar.