"THE POODLE"

Walking Jake is getting easier and easier every time. Well, as long as I'm walking him alone.

He's very responsive to the "Halti" we've been using and, because of his size, it's easier for me to control him with it on than with just a flat collar or even the prong. Lately in our walks, Jake is going back to being relaxed and focused. We've even learned to deal with runners and bikes....as soon as we see them, we click and treat, and if Jake still gets excited, we just turn around and walk in the direction the runner or biker is traveling. Even though he continues to be curious, he's much more relaxed as they pass by us. A very different reaction from the explosions he goes through when they're coming directly at him.

my little ham

However, we're still struggling when the "distraction" is of the canine variety. Jake can spot them miles away, and his "threshold"- the point at which he can't even take treats as a distraction, requires me to stand in Decatur while the dog looks at him from Alabama. Well...kind of. However, with the work we've been doing, when it comes to most dogs, we can just go up a driveway while the other pup passes. EXCEPTION: THE POODLE.

"THE POODLE" is an 80 lb, white poodle that lives in the neighborhood. Not only is this dog big, blindlingly white and puffy, but "THE POODLE" is the running partner of one of my neighbors. Therefore, everytime Jake sees it, it is coming at him at VERY fast speeds...even I get a little freaked out.

A couple of days ago, as Jake and I had started our walk, I saw a white, comet-like vision out of the corner of my eye. You guessed it, it was "THE POODLE." It was just turning the corner but, before I could even finish my thoughts, Jake was already loosing it. Fortunately, the house next to ours has a really deep driveway and I ran with Jake to the bottom of that driveway so they wouldn't meet face to face. Even then, Jake was ready to de-fluff that giant cotton ball.

I FREAKED...but then, pulling myself together, I began, cheese bag in hand, to click and treat. Jake was not responding, so I began shoving cheese in his mouth as fast as I could. Anything I could do to get him from not exploding, I was trying to do. Everytime he opened his mouth, I shoved a handful of cheese. It was the most comical sight I had ever seen.

Even THE POODLE and the runner stopped to watch Jake, sitting at the bottom of the driver, foaming with cheese!

Once they went on their way, we started our walk again. Unfortunately, Jake was so nauseated by the cheese, the click and treat thing was going nowhere. We turned around and headed home. I feel we accomplished a victory against THE POODLE...but I also learned a big lesson...don't just bring cheese!