We had what might be the worst walk in Mommy and Mia history this morning after she woke us up super effing early (and also didn't eat breakfast). I took her on the woodsy trail from one elementary school to the neighboring one and she was God Awful. She wasn't just pulling me through the woods, she was charging full speed ahead even with me yanking at her choke leash the whole way. I'd get her to stop and wait, and then she'd just sprint forward again. It was so bad. When we finally made it to the clearing in the football field, I made her do a long stay - otherwise I was going to kill her. She was apparently really amped up about the woods, but when we got to the road she was an angel and heeled the whole way back home. She was probably just tired from dragging me behind her for the first 15 minutes and needed a breather or something - or there were less interesting smells. I have a feeling this is what happened with our newish weekend dog walker Charlotte. We're about the same size, and Charlotte actually has more dog experience than I do and she politely suggested that we try a prong choke collar with Mia. Her dog has one and has always had one since he was a puppy and he never pulls on it anymore. She stopped at her house and grabbed her dog's and tried it with Mia and said that she only actually had to give her 3 tugs with it and after that she didn't pull for the rest of their long walk. She can be a quick study when she wants to be. I'm giving serious consideration to this. I love my princess, but we can't keep letting these bad behaviors continue or she's just going to get worse. I feel like I've tried everything at this point to turn her into a better walker - we tried the harness (it just gave her more leverage to pull me), we tried just a regular leash (nothing), we sent her to bootcamp... and when she came back she was a million times better but this is one of her ongoing challenges, from bootcamp we learned to use the training/choke leash the Caesar uses... and while it works for some things it doesn't work when she's in Code Red excitement mode. Like my hand where the strap loops around is all red and swollen now because I was nonstop yanking her neck for 30 minutes. She doesn't seem to care, but I can't keep doing this.
On our way home, we walked by a dog who was obviously trapped by an invisible fence and he went wild barking at Mia. I totally thought it was going to be a disaster but we just kept walking and she barely even looked at the maniac. So it's moments like that when I'm like: ok, bootcamp totally worked. She's just more strong willed about other things. Also - new habit of her's: bringing a stick into the house after going outside to go to the bathroom at night. It's irritating.
She's so cute and so crazy.
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