Walking on a leash

Today Rewley did an awesome job walking on his leash! He has not been liking his leash for the most part, so when he walked for about 15 minutes straight with little distraction, we were very happy!

Lately we've been watching the Dog Whisperer on television, and we've integrated some of his techniques into our training routine. One thing we do is make sure he sits before going through a door, making sure we go through the door first, and having him sit before he gets his meals. We also realized he's not too receptive to discipline, and he thinks it's a game. So, we are trying to copy what Cesar does on the show, which is pretend like your hand is a mouth and give him a nip when he misbehaves. This seems to work a lot better than a scruff shake or a "no" (these sometimes put him into play mode), and it doesn't hurt him. It actually calms him down and gets him to focus, which is great!

We also got an adjustable nylon collar. It's supposed to be a more gentle version of a choke collar, since it's made of two attached loops where one pulls the other one tighter if he pulls. It doesn't go all the way tight like a choke collar, so he can't hurt himself too much. It really works great on our walks, and he's seeming to notice that when he walks nicely with us he gets a loose collar, praises and happy tail wagging. We're looking forward to when he's big enough to go on longer walks!

And just for fun, here's Rewley doing what we call his "dinner dance". Note the "sit" before dinner is served.