Petey is good. We're ok. Sophie is a hissing mess. I don't like her being upset.
He spends a lot of time outside on a line, only because we have no invisible fence. I can't tell if he's happy with this or not.
Leash and walking are new to him. He's never needed that where he lived, so this a challenge, more for me than him. He pulls on the leash and he's not easily controlled - so we'll have to work on that.
And g-d forbid he sees a squirrel (and you have to say "squirrel" like Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). OMG - he will try to climb up the tree, after pulling me there, and the squirrel is five trees over by that time, leaping branch to branch. Yet there he is, paws up the trunk and howling / baying. There is no pulling him away, so yesterday, I had to pick him up and carry him 50 feet trying to distract him. That only worked 50% of the time.
One squirrel sighting had him pulling me back to the tree after that 50 foot distraction.
If we keep Petey - yes, nothing is set in stone yet, sorry folks - there has to be a different collar / leash situation. He's going to snap his neck or crush his windpipe the way he pulls against me. Though the thought of getting one of those harnesses on and off him to pull from the back seems cumbersome.
As mentioned, Sophie still has not even remotely adapted to him being here. I hate she hides when he's in the house. She might have the run of it when he's outside, but this isn't anyway to live. I want her to be around and now she's only around when we're at work. We get zero Sophie-time except when she
Since I haven't figured out Petey's schedule yet (how long he can hold peeing and pooping, when he eats, etc), I haven't worked out at all. I feel I can't leave him yet. I just need to slightly adjust things by a half-hour and a work-out should be fine where I can get home, feed him, walk him and then get to my office.
Don't start yet on when I travel what we'll do. To mix my metaphors, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.
Song by: Laura Nyro
5 comments:
So cute. Gett him a harness to protect his throat from pulling.
When it comes to walking, this is were you assert your dominance. Harnesses don't work, they just encourage pulling. When walking, he should walk 1/2 step behind you. Your lease should only be 3 feet long. When you walk, each time he steps ahead of you, make a disapproving sound and a quick jerk on the leash. Each time he steps in front of you, repeat the sound and jerk and then stop for a few seconds. You start again when you want. Kibble is great to keep in your pocket as quick rewards. Beagles are very trainable so focused time now will pay off in the long run. Also, may people train their dogs to sit at all intersections.
Good Luck Petty, if you don't get Blobby to submit to you from the beginning, well, you've seen how things worked out for 710.
Sean's suggestion is on the money. A prong collar will speed up the learning process. I know they look cruel—I hated the idea at first—but the prongs prevent crushing the windpipe when pulled. They equalize pressure all around, and the dog will stop before it hurts.
I trained Sophie on the prong collar, and she still wears it when out in public. (She will still pull on her regular collar and cough from choking.) With a short leash and that training collar, Sophie has learned to heel even without a leash/collar. It's important to use consistent commands and always reward positive responses to desired behavior. Good dog!
Aww what a cute pup. Some dogs are not good lease walkers. I have 1 good , 1 ok, and one who is terrible. He is older right? It may be harder for him to learn. Don't worry he will stop before he crushes his wind pipe.
Georgie was (is) the same. The method Sean describes works though. I don't know if you can train them out of that squirrel thing though. He almost got one this morning. I said: Now what would you do if you caught him? The squirrel would probably bite and Georgie'd end up a hot mess.
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