Logan's Latest Hike

by sands904 on 8/14/2009 at 7:08 AM in Progress

The trainer in our area also offers a Hiking Club where graduates of their classes can get together and hike with their dog. It is great for extra socialization and working on issues. I have been working on Logan's stress level very intensly for the past few months so I decided last night I would take him to a hike. It had been over 2 months since his last hike and in that time we have been working on him learning to control his excitment/stress and gradually introducing him to as many new people/places as possible while making sure he is comfortable before progressing.

I was so proud of him on the hike last night. When we got there there was already one dog there. I waited until he stopped whinning and dancing in his seat until I got him out of the car. I put him on the ground and worked on a few commands. He was too excited/stressed to listen so back in the car he went. I got in the car and waited a minute. He got calm and we tried it again. This time he did everything I asked so we started walking closer to the dog. When he got excited and started barking/lunging on his leash we took a few steps back and worked a couple of commands. After a couple of repititions of this we were fairly close to the dog. We waited about 15 ft (which for Logan is very good) from the dog for the other to arrive. He got excited a couple of times when the next two dogs showed up but taking a few steps back and working commands calmed him down.

As soon as we started the hike he did great. He wanted to go up and sniff the other dogs to say hi which is something he has not been able to do calmly for a very long time. I was so happy for him and can't wait to take him on the next hike to see how he will do!
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