While life has been changing, Lewis is still a constant challenge for me. He is not a 'balanced" dog like our Gus. He's not just an alarm system like our Daisy. (she barks at every person that walks past the house) He is a very vocal, fear reactive dog. There, I said it. Out loud. I have been working with him for almost 2 years now, as you know if you have read the blog. I don't love this side of him, in fact, it drives me crazy. But, that's Lewis. I have learned more about dog behavior (and myself) from him, than I have learned from any other source in all my life (I know, that's not very long since I'm only 25 *a-hem*). Lewis has come a long way since this all began, but I now feel that I am stuck. Sometimes I feel like I am the problem, and I probably am, in some ways. He looks to me for direction, and I don't always know the way. So this is confusing for him, and me.
Now that the weather is nicer, there are more people out walking their dogs. While this is great for them and their dogs, this is not so great for us. It took us quite awhile to leave our driveway the other night due to all the dogs. But finally we left. We were only able to go around the block, but there were many lessons learned. Lewis was able to keep eye contact with me while another dog was across the street, twice. The third one, was too much for him and he reverted back to jumping and lunging while screaming obscenities at the poor pooch. I could see this as a failure, but instead, I see it as a hurdle we barely missed. Little progressions in our eyes are big in their eyes. So, we went back home. I am starting over on focus work, because I learned, again, that that is one of the keys to our success.
Our journey is about to move to the next step, and for this, I am very excited! We will be going to see a dog behaviorist. As some of you know, we have gone through obedience training, we have worked on his "energy" with Healing Touch for Animals, I have used therapeutic oils to relax him and give him more confidence and focus, I work his mind with training games, and we have done agility. All these things have taught both him and I lots of skills, but nothing has been able to get us past his reactive issues.
Until then, I will keep you updated on our journey.
Have a great day, and GO PLAY WITH YOUR DOG!
Tracy and Lewis
