McDonalds - You Are My Hero

For today at least. Since I'd run out of the 'good stuff' on yesterday's walk I knew I needed some thing to bring along for today. So I pulled into the drive through at McDonalds and got the 4 piece Chicken Nuggets off the dollar menu and headed home. By the time I was ready to leave for the walk Toby had 'seemingly' (whoever knows with this dog) forgotten about the chicken nuggets my pockets were smelling like. I had him reorient at the front door and we headed out on our walk. We were about half way down the block before he had his first check in and I tossed him his first bit of a nugget.

It was a "Hey there mom!" kind of notice. He flipped right over to my side for a few more "Yes!" and tidbits before his brain remembered we were on a walk and to ignore me. I did a few pauses and name recalls for some rewards as we continued on. The walk went very smoothly for us both. He checked in frequently the whole walk - to the point where I used all four nuggets down to the last crumb. Tomorrow I'll stop and grab a plain hamburger on the way home. He loves those.

I've had a few light bulb moments today... one of which being how to try handling the times he gets over threshold. On Mondays and Tuesdays right now, driving somewhere for a walk isn't something I can do (especially not this week! Finals! eek). So we have to do the neighborhood circuit. But that means that he has to deal with the distractions this poses... including the variety of outdoor cats and the dogs he spots on our walks. (He's memorized their common locations... xD). One thing I do know... is that once he's staring off somewhere, putting tension on the lead to continue on - or drag him on if he's glazing over just makes things worse. Talking to him as I normally would is ineffective. And getting excited or something to distract him sets him over the edge. So what to do?

So I decided to try something today... it doesn't work once his eyes have glazed over and he's gone or has already lunged. But for today, when he started staring off at whatever he thought he saw (I saw nothing...) I leaned down, patted my legs and cheerfully told him "Let's go!" When he came I gave him several little tidbits and continued on. Hmm... I tried it again and it worked again. Either this is a breath through in our training or he's relaxing slightly while watching.

We did a lot of eye contact work this morning for his breakfast so that also might have helped. I'll have him do another batch tomorrow morning as well. Day 2 of the Relaxation Protocol tonight before bed and then I get to snooze while figuring out how to pass another final tomorrow. I'm exhausted. I know he's improved a lot and our walk today was downright cheerful. By golly though, maybe I should name my next dog Easy? Just for good luck.