There’s nothing like an afternoon at the dog park…that is unless it takes you 45 minutes to get there.
There is a park that leads into the dog park park and Willie and I often park at the neighboring park and walk/run to the dog park. It proves to be a good release of energy and excitement that is inevitably a part of getting in the car and taking a ride, so it’s really worked out well.
Well, until yesterday. Since he is holding strong at 37 lbs, we had to get a new leash and collar, which provides him more freedom. This is great except all the leash training we had done with the other leash seemed to disappear. So, yesterday as soon as he started pulling, I started training.
It really was a battle of wills because he is stronger and more confident now and wanted to test and see if he could drag me to the dog park. I stood my ground and tried to explain to him that I had been a teacher and there was no chance I was moving until he sat. He looked up at me, he whined and finally he sat.
We moved on.
This process repeated itself every time I felt even a little pull from him, even when he could see the dogs playing in the dog park. He reluctantly huffed and sneezed and coughed and finally sat.
We moved closer.
Two steps from the fence to get into the dog park with his tail wagging wildly, I stopped again. He begged and pleaded to just get on with it, but I stood my ground. The dog park visit had to be a pleasant one for both of us and I wasn’t going to get dragged there every time by an ever-growing dog. He reluctantly huffed and sneezed and finally sat.
45 minutes later with a frustrated and aggravated 5 month old, we got to the dog park.