🐕 Update Post #1: Learning to Walk Together
Alright, so here’s the first update! The first thing we focused on this week was walking together. More specifically, walking with a short leash, what they call a 'leader leash.' Up until now, Leo was used to a longer leash, so he had more freedom to move around. This is very different. Now he has to stay right next to me, same pace, same direction. At the beginning, it was not smooth at all. (understatement of the year 😂) He kept trying to switch sides, crossing in front of me, going left, then right. Basically trying to figure out where he’s supposed to be. And honestly, I also had to adjust. Because this is not just about controlling him, it’s about both of us getting used to moving together. After a few days, it started to look much better. And now, after almost 2 weeks, he’s staying next to me pretty consistently, and we’re already doing this in public spaces too. For example, I took him to Home Depot. We walked through some pretty narrow aisles, sometimes with people around, and overall he did really well. A couple of times he tried to pull me toward things that caught his attention, but nothing too crazy. At one point there was another dog, and he definitely noticed… but he still stayed next to me and kept walking. We also went outside to the garden area and then back inside. The whole experience was actually pretty smooth. 🐕🦺 I’d say 95% of the time he stayed in sync with me, which honestly surprised me. One small step for dog.... one giant leap for service dog qualification! 🥇 I attached a photo and a 10-second video from one of the walks this week. Next step will be adding more real-world situations and distractions. This week we started working on alert behaviors (he alerts me of things happening). But I'll save this for the next update. 🐶 Quick question: Have any of you ever trained a dog like this, or seen this kind of process before? Happy Friday! Guy & Leo PS - Tagging the people I believe showed interested in this journey.