I think Ozzy is the happiest dog in the universe. He spends the entire day with a huge smile on his face and his tongue hanging out. On our walk yesterday, he found the last few inches of snow and ate it and rolled around in it - see attached video. The look he gives us halfway through the video is so priceless. The video is a good representation of Ozzy's developing confidence in the world. I have spent a lot of time reading about dog behaviour and dog training. One of the things that sticks out for me - that really good trainers that actually understand dog behaviour all consistently say - is that once you are a strong loving leader for your dog, your dog can actually be a dog. Before Arsenal, Ozzy was always on high alert. He pulled on the leash ahead of me scanning his environment because he felt he needed to be in charge of his pack. This is so much stress and pressure for a puppy. Arsenal taught him, and more importantly me, that I am in charge. Ozzy is so different now. He is so relaxed and having so much fun on our walks because he knows I am in charge and he can just be a dog. It's quite a remarkable and profound difference and of course very emotional for me to watch him blossom into a happy confident dog. Arsenal trained me as much as they trained Ozzy. Because I know that Ozzy is accountable and empowered to make the right decisions, I am more confident as his leader, which makes him more confident in life, and the circle then continues to builds on itself. We both continue to get better every day.

Some items attached of Pepper’s continuous growth. We also took her to a busy department store yesterday where she did really well beyond our expectations.

In case you’re wondering her collar says “My mama says I’m special”!

I knew there was another pup named Nova so I was happy to see Jay had posted about her and I get to see her! I thought I would post this video of my 8 month old Nova during an outing in the playground.

Ozzy is doing really well. His loose leash walking is excellent (see last video; I still have to STIM to keep him in line and he was distracted by my husband walking behind us, but pretty darn good!). I don't push it for too long before giving him a "free" and letting him run around with me. When we have snow, his brain explodes from excitement, so I gave him a lot more "free" commands than I normally would today on our snow walk. Plus, when your dog is 50% snow breeds and it snows, all he wants to do is pull like a sled dog (clearly shown in the videos, lol). Having Ozzy's DNA done was extremely informative and useful. It gives so much of his innate behaviour meaning. Today I figured, he LOVES the snow, he's a puppy, and it may be his last snow to enjoy as a puppy, so most of the walk today was in "free" mode. I do notice now, after having had Ozzy trained by Arsenal, that he clearly understands the difference between being in a command and being free. The more we practice the transitions, either with a length of time in between, or in rapid fire, the more the learning is solidified in his brain. And I know now that when he isn't obeying a command, it's not because he doesn't hear me or understand the command. He is quite simply pushing the boundaries and testing the limits. Even though it can be exhausting for me, I make a point of never letting him get away with anything. If he breaks a command before I release him, we go right back and try again. The first video shows his "under", which he does quite consistently now. Although he still will sometimes do "place" instead. The other videos show him in "free" being a snow dog. I mostly posted these because the snow is so pretty.