Walking before work

Walking before work
Originally uploaded by cavande2.

There are a few more photos over in flickr from this morning's walk. It went fairly easy. No people were out & about. We just went to the end of the street & back.

After work, I hitched up both dogs & took off to burn off some of Linus' anxious energy. I think I did all 3 of us in.

We came across small children & people mowing. If they were on the other side of the street, he'd balk & duck around nervously. If they were on our side of the street, he'd try to run backward, out into the street, anywhere but forward. I'm soooo glad that I left my wrist brace on. I just kept on walking, pulling him back over beside me but otherwise not acknowledging his freak out.

We worked very hard on "Wait" which I decided didn't just mean "wait before crossing the street" but "stop moving & stop straining against the collar". We practiced this a lot, much to Einstein's confusion. If I have any energy left, I should take poor Einstein on one of his normal walks.

We also worked on "Hold" as in "Hold Up you're pulling too hard on the freaking leash!" 2/3 of the way into the walk he got tired enough that we had stretches of him walking beside me or just in front of me (not way out on the end of the leash) without any pulling.

He likes to make sudden changes in direction without checking with me or Einstein. This resulted in lots of tripping but no falling. Einstein kept looking at him like "what's up with you?" It was a stressful walk but one I need to keep repeating. I refuse to make grand oaths like "Walk before work everyday" or "Walk 3 times a day". What my goal is: short walks, more than once a day. I'm also going to dig out the shorter leash for him. Einstein was on a regular leash this afternoon instead of his flexi, which he wasn't too thrilled about, but I was going for the whole Dog Whisperer "unstable dog picks up cues from stable dog walking beside him" thing. Since Linus doesn't seem to see Einstein when he turns abruptly & runs into him, I'll let you guess how well that went today. However, it took 11 months for him to get this way. It'll take more than a few days to undo it.

The foster dad said that "In 6 months, he'll be a great dog."
Prayers for my patience & Linus in general would be appreciated as I look back on that & collapse at that 6 month thing.