i thought I'd post this as encouragement for all the struggling puppy owners. This time last year that was me and I had also just had a detached retina so was limited where I could go as I couldn't see well. Today Inky and I had a lovely walk with a friend and her 2 dogs. For the 1st time for ages I had him off the lead with no muzzle, for those of you who don't know, Inky is learning not to eat dog poo(!), he actually left most of it alone and stayed close enough or came back when I called him. The second half of the walk I had him on the lead, not to put too much pressure on either of us. This is now mostly a pleasure as he doesn't really pull much and can walk past some dogs without lunging. This afternoon we went to meet a different friend on a different beach,I haven't been there for a while, partly because last time I took Inky there he pulled all the time and was way over threshold for the whole walk, no fun for either of us. Today I kept him on his double ended lead and hardly had to use the front attached lead at all. We ended at a dog friendly cafe where there are lots of dogs including 2 large white German shepherds that you have to walk past to get inside. After a sniff with them, in we went. Somebody immediately offered him a chip which I declined on his behalf and he settled down, admittedly right in the way if anyone who wanted to walk past. I gave him a few bits of kibble. There were lots of distractions including loud children, a very loud coffee machine and lots of people to admire him. He took it all in his stride and I was very proud of him. I'm posting this because I never thought I'd have such a well behaved dog. I'm not very good as training as I'm not very consistent and I do try different things, often from this forum. I do feel that you just need to keep going, trying the best you can, and if you have a bad day, well there's always tomorrow and Inky for one is very forgiving.
Oh this is such a lovely post - thank you so much for sharing. I love your honesty. Well done to both you and Inky.
Your timing is so perfect. I work full time and my DH works at home. He does not believe in formal training and believes Maxx will 'grow out of it'. He is not a patient person so I am not having a go at him, he is who he is and I love him to pieces - along with our little fur 'angel'. So I have very limited time to train Maxx and while there has been some success inside, he is a lunging, pulling yellow fur monster outside. I despair that he will always do this but I refuse to give up and your post has given me hope again! Thank you
lovely post to read, well done for all your hard work and well done Inky. It is very encouraging post for other people struggling with their dogs.
