'Adventures' Update 2

This is a continuation of the previous post, "Sometimes... I'm just too scared to act." There are two 'adventures' I'll share in this post, both that happened last week one day right after another.

I was pressed for time so I voted on taking Toby on a walk around the neighborhood. After the 'kid incident' of the last post we hadn't had any more trouble. He needed a chance to stretch his legs before I left for the day so I took him out on a quick walk around the block and give him a longer one later. Things were going great, everything was upbeat and happy until we rounded back on our walk (heading home on the 'safe' side) when I noticed the people right next door my house had another dog out... and loose. It was one of their guest's dogs, a little shih tzu that they had no control over. Thankfully I noticed it before we'd made it too far and was cheerfully able to turn Toby around and head back towards the end of the block. It didn't take them long to corral the dog and we were able to head home. I was out of treats but I was lavishing the praise the whole time. Not once did he go over threshold. I was one proud momma.

Then the next day we head out and I see the dog in their front yard (I hadn't noticed it until I was out of my yard and already passing in front of the house because they were having a yard sale). Toby started to pull and whine for it so we started to put some distance between us and the dog. We ended up in the middle of the street... just in time for the normal little dog that lives there to come bounding out of the house and straight up to us. I didn't even see the black blur until it was too late. Thankfully, his Easy Walk harness makes it incredibly easy for me to turn him towards me. The dog didn't bite and in Toby's state... he gets so eager he puts himself in a sit (like readying for a crouch? it's also one of his default behaviors... so I'm not sure which it is, or both?) and met the dog head on. They sniffed and by then I had hold of the back of his Easy Walk and was ready to turn him towards me. Instead I held him still and stepped between him and the little dog. Which of course only enticed the little bugger to dance around us in circles while I held Toby and his head whipped back and forth to watch. Overall, he did incredibly well.

For those wondering, I stepped between him and the little dog for a reason. He tends to be best with smaller dogs when they approach (especially ones more interested in play), but I haven't figured out a pattern to him. We met one pup in the store who he met fine and went stiff/growled at a second later. Another pup where he met and was fine. He has a select batch of little dogs he absolutely adores and wiggles to get near on leash (has a few big dogs too... most that he's met as a young dog or off leash)... and yet, on our walks... it's the little dogs he reacts to the strongest when they're behind a fence. This one he's had some desensitization too (the dog wanders off leash a lot right in front of one of our front windows... I've used it to my benefit), so that might have helped. Nonetheless, despite the almost wild energy in him he reacted very well to the new dog. He did however start to whine as the owner came up to shoo her dog away and as we started on our walk. He was a bit stressy the rest of the walk, but did manage to settle down again by the end of it.

He tends to handle the 'crunch' situations very well... but I'm really missing my Direct Stop. I keep waiting for one of these idiots to let their dogs loose and have it ruin all our hard work... again. This is the best Toby's ever been and I don't want to have to start from scratch all over again because people can't keep their dogs contained. Or kids for that matter.