We are trying to get our dog off of the leash. Since we got her, we take her out leashed and she does very well. We have taken her out a few times without the leash and without much success. You see, she likes people so much, that she runs off in hopes of finding a person, which usually is my neighbor across the street. She is fast too, and before we know it, she is gone. She does really well listening and obeying commands while indoors, but once she is outside, she is in her own little world.
I think I may have my guy on board with the possibility of getting part of the yard fenced in for her come this next spring, but in the mean time we have decided to start working with her outside, without a leash. Today we went down the road to the city park. This may sound like the last place we should go to work with the dog, but I recently realized that several of the fields at this park are all fenced in. A great place to start out and see just how obedient Yuki will be with nothing holding her back.
We went later in the day and there were no people around so we thought we were off to a good start. I ran over to the big field to check out just how closed in it was since the smaller field was under construction. While I was doing this, my guy and the boy let her free in the in-line hockey rink. This was a perfect place to see if she would, in fact, come when called and we found out right away that there are many distractions for a dog with her nose to the ground. The small bag of treats we had with us helped some, but there were just too many smells to be had. (Those dog training tv shows sure make it seem so much easier!) She did finally get the hang of what we were trying to do – which wasn’t much- and after a little bit of time we moved over to the BIG field. She wasn’t interested in anything other than sniffing and then many minutes later, it seemed like a good idea to just start running in circles, and that is what she did until she tired herself out.
I think it can only get better from here, and overall, not too bad for the first of Yuki’s Park Life!
Rejoice for the Day 