Winter #3

 2 start tracks laid early in the AM on/near an elementary school playground and soccer field. The wind was strong and gusting. Otis was as high as a kite. I consciously now try to have a calm matter of fact tone heading to the start. It didn’t help. Otis bucked, jumped and pulled honestly I think north south and east. He would settle briefly to track for maybe 10 yards then he’d be wild again. I honestly don’t know what happened at either turn. I knew exactly where they were but whirling dervish would be an accurate description. He was very excited to find each end article when we FINALLY made it to each one. To further the level of excitement there was a soccer ball that had been left on the field about 6-10 yards off the 2nd track. He barked. He lunged. He play bowed. A reality check for sure…and I will definitely be picking up a variety of objects esp balls at the Goodwill for our practice.






Comments

  1. JudiJanuary 5, 2025 at 2:14 PM

    A suggestion: food is calming. have some small cut up food pieces, when he’s a whirling dervish, tell him ‘scatter’ and scatter food on the track. You aren’t reinforcing the dervish, you’re trying to access his emotional state and reset it. It’s ok if you have to do that a couple of times—or even drop more food (kinda dribble it one piece at a time to keep his head down eating) once he starts eating the scatter. See if you can see him take a deep breath….and then let him try again.

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  2. JudiJanuary 5, 2025 at 2:16 PM

    You can also scatter, calmly and quietly take him off the track, rewalk it with far more food drops, and try again. No reason to let him practice being crazy. Leave the ball, and scuff, leaving food every couple of steps, to get him past it successfully. Let him learn that he can resolve the conflict!

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