Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Social Social Social

We've been doing lots of good socialization lately:  3 outings in 2 days!  We've gone to Willards twice and Beaver Brook once.  All 3 times I've had food with me and we've worked on loose leash walking with Jonah's focus on me.  Then, when a dog gets close I let him go and say hello to the dog while on leash.  In general, he's been fantastic.  If he looks like he's going to run with the dog I let him loose (at Willards where that's allowed) so they can play.  He's made some good friends!

Yesterday we went to Beaver Brook and it was an especially good session.  He was great with all the dogs he met, but there was one dog across the field that was playing fetch with its person.  Every time the person would throw the ball and the dog would go flying after it, Jonah would get excited, and he often barked.  He wanted to play, too!  This was really great distraction practice for us, because in many ways it's like watching a dog do agility.  We just kept working on walking and heeling and other tricks where he had to focus on me while that dog was running nearby.  Jonah calmed down and we got to about 20 yards away from the dog.  It was a great session and I hope to get the chance to go back.  I also hope this all pays off on Sunday!

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