Walks

Senna is now doing so well on the walks that we increasingly walk her off leash, as long as we're away from roads and cars. Today we walked around the lake close to where we live. We even found this little path away from the walking path that we tried out, all the time with Senna off leash. We're now even able to stop her going into the water by calling her to us, impressive, since water is such a magnet for a little girl:)

Her behaviour at dog meetings is improving as well, there's less of the crazy behaviour she displayed in the beginning. She even managed to keep focused off leash with another dog walking behind us, very impressive! After telling her off a few times for glancing behind her, she seemed to think "oh well, if you insist I guess I could go smell the bushes and grass instead then". Also there's almost no need to put the leash on when passing people, and even kids on bikes! You just get her attention and keep it until you pass. We even managed to pass a cat today, but she didn't actually see it though:) It saw her I'm sure. I thought she might be able to smell it, but when there's treats involved they are pretty much all she cares about:)

Unfortunately there was no course this week. I now realise how much it has helped her learn how to stay calm around other dogs. The only time she really goes nuts nowadays is if there's another puppy approaching. It's like she knows it's a baby as well:)

I'm incorporating quite a bit of training into the walks. After being asked to focus for a few minutes at a time searching for treats she's pretty tired when we get home. We also do a lot of contact exercises, recall and putting treats in all kinds of strange places (tree trunks, on top of poles and benches etc) for her to work out how to get to the snacks:)

I'm also really impressed with how calm she is, no matter what. We walk a lot next to the fenced off rail roads where long and noisy freight trains pass by frequently and I have only seen her spooked by it once, when she had her head down this bush and was completely surprised by it. Otherwise she ignores everything that might seem frightening or worrying. The funniest thing is when I hover at home when she's sleeping on the floor. She shows no intention of moving when I come closer and I am actually able to hover around her. Only when I ask her to move somewhere else does she get up, "well ok mum, if you insist then":)

She's also becoming a lot more affectionate and really comes up to us wherever we are and wants to be part of what we're doing, be close and put her head on our feet etc. It is really very nice. She's always been a very independent puppy so it's nice to see that she's seeking out our company. There's nothing nicer than a wet nose gently poking your hand:)