Coyote Hills Park

So much learning for the little man! We've taken alot of walks now that he is considered to be parvo safe. Each walk is full of challenges to be overcome. Dogs barking behind fences, cars whizzing by, horns honking, children screaming, hammers pounding, stairs to be walked. Trigger needs time to observe and process each new challenge but then, with encouragement, has been able to rise to each new situation and learn how to handle it.
Instead of letting him pull me about, I am trying to follow Cesar Millan's suggestion of having the dog walk slightly behind me and to my side so that he knows that I am the leader and that I will make the decisions and keep him safe. I stay very aware of my posture and keep my spine nice and straight so that he knows I am in charge and confident.
He did really well today when I took him down to the school for his first walk of the day. He is definitely feeling much better about seeing new dogs. This is a big change for him as on his first walks he was very concerned and frightened when he would see another dog.
Exercise, discipline and then affection is what Cesar preaches. Don't encourage the unsteady state of mind. Wait until the dog is balanced and his tail is up and then give him lots of affection. This is working well for Trigger. Sometimes when he is scared he drops to a down and tucks his tail underneath him. The following may very well sound silly, but here is what I did and it seemed to make a difference. I pulled his tail out from underneath his body into an extended position which demonstrated confident body language. (something Cesar has demonstrated on his show) Trigger seemed to calm and become confident more quickly when his body was mirroring this more self-confident posture.
On another note I received an email from the mom of one of Trigger's brothers. Tracy, who lives in Utah, has Killy who is now 19 pounds and wonders how much bigger he will get. I wrote her back that Trigger is now 28 pounds!! That should make her feel a lot better! Just don't tell my husband Randy, as I've been telling him that Trigger is an "average-sized" BC boy!