Walkies!
Raising a dog teaches you much more about yourself than you will ever learn about him/her. I am shocked at my defeatist attitude because it took more than 5 minutes before Toby picked up how this was supposed to work. I am pleased to say that after a couple of fairly false starts we managed to have our first proper walk last Sunday - it was helped by having a couple of friends and their dog to encourage Toby on his many stops. I am perfectly happy for Toby to stop and sniff and investigate smells along the route - it’s as much his walk as it is mine and I want him to enjoy it. However, the rule is that when I want him to join me then he must. And this is where we were getting stuck. Obviously you can’t just pull him along (even though on wet grass this actually works quite well) because your prime concern is to make this an enjoyable experience for both of you, otherwise resistance will grow (on both sides). Since Toby was stopping every 10 metres this was getting frustrating. James gave me a little tip which is to dangle a treat just in front of him with your other hand (one hand obviously holding the lead). This worked fantastically and I thought that we’d completely solved the problem - alas no. But we were definitely making progress and future walks were getting smoother, more cooperative and less frustrating.
I was away last week so didn’t get to practise so much but spent plenty of time with Toby over the weekend and he is now walking very well. He still stops a lot, which is fine, but generally will come back to me when called, which is also good practice for the future and essential for when he’s finally off the lead.
Now that things are generally okay I have also decided to buy an extendable lead. Toby fairly naturally walks heel so I don’t really have to worry about that and once we’ve done a bit of training (in a puppy class) I’m sure he’ll be fine, so I thought it would make the walk a little more fluid and offer him more freedom and make my walk less juddery.
This has worked well - went for a walk yesterday and things were much better, as I hoped the stops were less frequent and caused less of a problem. I think we’re getting there…
Now, if I can just teach him to open the back door when he needs a wee I’ll be sorted!