Shelly is out of town for a few days, which means Nico is left home alone for most of the day. He is super good about being left in the house by himself. Today, I decided to duck out of work early and finish my workday from home. After 2hrs of Zoom meetings, I decided we both needed a walk. Nico and I headed out for a stroll through downtown Saranac Lake. We’ve been working hard at reducing his fixation and reactivity to other dogs when on a leash. Today, I loaded my magic treat pouch with Stewart’s Pro-Treats with the intent of focusing on big positive rewards whenever Nico sees another dog and then looks at me. First, Nico is getting good at staying engaged with me on walks, which is something we’ve been working on and rewarding him for. He spent 90% of the walk just looking up at me as he was walking. Sometimes, I must remind him that he can sniff and do other things. But I’ve been rewarding him for his engagement a lot, which is helpful to keep him focused on me and not distractions. Second, he crushed it when it came to not reacting to dogs; he never needed a leash correction, and I pilled on the positive reinforcement.

Nico loves interacting with other dogs, but he doesn’t know how to control his excitement, which then boils over into frustration and crazyness. It’s unfortunate because if he could control himself, he would get to interact with so many more dogs. We’re making progress; I only wish I had more time to work with him so we could accelerate his progress.

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Gear Used For This Shot

Sony A7RIV - Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM II - Godox AD300 Pro - Godox X ProS - Godox 1D-S60S