Sophie and Loose-Leash Walking, 4-16-14

Sophie and I have been out a couple more times since the last post on this topic.

I did notice that she does really well as long as we’re still in/on my driveway.  Once we make the turn to the street, however, she starts to get more exited or nervous.  While we can make it all the way to the other end of the street (1/10 mile) if there are absolutely no distractions, I can still tell that she’s somewhat stressed and it won’t take much to push her over threshold.

One of the last times we went out, a couple of people were coming our way on bikes.  People pass through the end of our driveway to get from one cul-de-sac to another since our driveway cuts the two pieces of the road in half.

I tried to get to the street to allow more room between us and the bicyclists, but I think now, in retrospect, that I should have stayed in the driveway and either backed up away from their path or turned back toward home to get the room we needed.  What happened was that Sophie went instantly over threshold and lunged at the end of the leash and barked ferociously at the people.

She does so well on the driveway, that in spite of my feeling like we’re getting nowhere, I need to pay more attention to how Sophie is doing and what SHE thinks and follow HER lead on this.

So we’ll stay in the driveway and only venture off if there’s absolutely no distractions out there.  Sometimes they come around the corner faster than I can prepare for.  And we’ll stay close to the driveway if we do venture onto the streets.

That’s all for now.  🙂