Today was our third 1 hour session with the trainer.
She came to the house again, and when I let her in and we got bohdan, he
actually greeted her with a wagging tail. I had his metal cage muzzle on him, since we weren't sure how he woule behave and we went into the back yard together.
He happiley took hot dogs from her, ad gently too I might add.
He also let her pet his head, and gave her his paw when asked.
We switched from the cage muzzle to a soft muzzle, this means
it is easier for him to take treats, looks a little less comfortable, but he could nip through the end of it and maybe make contact.
She pointed out that he looked much better, more relaxed and like he was feeling physically better. Told her that I had noticed that as well.
Since it was the middle of the day and our back yard is full sun at this time of day we were there for only about 30 minutes. We then went into our living room which meant a change of scenery and a potential for bohdan to get a little
aggressive, but he was fine. He gave his paw when asked.. well when asked and he saw a hot dog in hand. He is a little manipulative.. so we had a good session and will follow up for another one.
We are going on a family outting this weekend for memorial day weekend. We are heading to Southern California, and I was telling the trainer about this. We talked about the area that we were going to, and how I can take bohdan to the parks down there and not worry about his getting tired and just sitting around with him, cause people, including small children are smart enough to ask,
" is your dog friendly?" before approaching. And if you say no, then they do not
get closer then leash length or they walk away.
It is very different to how things are here... parents don't teach their children to ask first, they let them just run up to the dog and then get upset when the dog barks, or nips, or the owner of the dog yells at them to control their child.