Walks

The first thing that Ivan (our behaviourist) said to me was that Trigger needed the structure of the walk.

Somehow walks have fallen by the wayside with Cannon, with Rocket, and now with Trigger - even though they were a huge part of my life when I lived at home with my mom and had Mystic. This isn't to say I didn't exercise my dogs - with Cannon and Rocket, we would spend tons of time at the Mill Creek ravine and they would run off leash. I would rollerblade both of them as well. With Trigger and Cannon, we spend at least half an hour each day playing frisbee (which used to be just Cannon's love, but now Trigger has discovered he loves to catch too). They also would go to the off-leash park. Trigger and I would do agility class once per week in addition to training at home. So we didn't walk because I figured there was enough "other stuff".

Why I held this perception is not particularly clear to me, as it contradicts other things I know. Like I said, I do watch the Dog Whisperer. I've also read at least sections of Cesar Milan's books. What gets preached? Discipline, Exercise, and Affection. What is the primary source of structure for this? The walk. And yet, we weren't doing it.

Ivan told me that, at minimum, we should be going for two 30-minute walks per day. So, last Sunday (the day after we met), I started. And man did I get a shock.

My boisterous, confident Am. Bull? As we walked, he skulked close to the ground. His ears perked to every sound. His head was on a swivel. He did not sniff the ground once. He stared into parked cars as if they were going to reach out and suck him in. The walk was an eye-opener, and one only amplified by walk #2. If I thought walk #1 was bad, walk #2 (with the sun down) was even worse. I thought he was going to jump out of his skin.

I am happy to say that I have seen progress throughout the week. By Friday, I would almost say that he enjoyed the walk - he sniffed, he peed, he wasn't on guard 24/7. It's nowhere near perfect, but at least I can see things are changing. He looks back at me for direction more and more. I feel like we are building a relationship.

I'm trying to focus on this part, and not the "failures". That is the hardest part for me, and the part that terrifies me about even deigning to right about this adventure. It requires me to document how I have messed up and my attempts to fix it. I will probably have to document even more failures as I work towards success. I keep telling myself that I am doing it to learn, and I am doing it for Trigger. And because of that, I will put my ego aside and keep pushing forward.