Does anyone else have big differences of opinion with their other half? When my husband talks about walking the dogs he makes it sound so simple that I end up thinking I’m the problem and just over-complicating it all. (I do all the dog walking/training). I don’t know if it’s a male vs female way of thinking but I will literally spend a whole night dreaming of different scenarios of meeting other dog owners and how to handle it etc. So that discussion was yesterday and so this morning I thought I would try and put his way of thinking into action. I went to the local woods which is quite scary for me with a reactive dog because its narrow paths and lots of bends you cat see around. First footpath we met a man with no dog - perfect! Then we met a couple and her off lead dog. I know Bentley will bark if I let him loose so I asked him to heel and held his little grab lead. The lady called her dog to go with her but it veered towards us slightly and Bentley did a bark. The lady laughed and told her dog ‘that will teach you’ and we had a brief chat and carried on. Anyway this could be along story of if I explain every encounter but actually it was very good. We did meet the lady with the two dogs that charged at us once but she kept them under control and we actually passed really close with no reaction. Maybe I’ll try going to slightly busier places a bit more often rather than just avoiding. In other news with such a muddy garden, I’ve been trying to teach a new routine when the dogs come in from outside and getting them to sit on a towel and spin to wipe their feet.

I began my day rudely awakened at 4.30am by two bastarding ponies that had escaped and were crashing around the yard. Not best pleased but I managed to wangle meeting a colleague in a cafe to do his PDR which is right next to my fave walking spot on Sourton Tors. We had a few big wins, the first being the bouncy Weimaraner up ahead that was zooming around in the bracken which Aster looked at but didn't react and came back/middled with me like a champ. We followed it for a while from a distance just so we got some other-dog exposure. I did have to turn off that path thjough in the end as the lady kept looking back as if to say "really? All the f-ing space on this moorland and you want to walk behind us, you creep". I totally get that tbf. We headed back along the Granite Way cycle track in the hope of meeting some other dogs for some practise. 95% of the way back, nothing. We practised some sit fronts for a couple runners and a cyclist as I think it would be useful in those situations for her to come "ask me" what to do when something approaches, even tho she is absolutely fine with anything other than other dogs! I did still find she was a bit lack lustre - like she couldn't really concentrate on me very well. But the best moments were the final 5 mins of the walk when we passed a labradoodle thing somehow managing to strangle itself on a harness and a spaniel on a lead. Called Aster to middle with no issues and we middled on past, no barking, no hackles, no breaking position. I was absolutely amazed !! So super pleased with her. Lots of celebrating and chasing of food. Fish did well 🎊🎉🍗🐟

Class consisted of "don't let Igor eat the robin" some play and some agility. They both actually did really well. Igor was flying. I think they needed a bit of a blow out and I was about ready to pass out after playing tug with them both.

Igor went off for a parkrun Saturday. He was fairly confident around the runners and they all loved him so he was lapping it up, struting about wagging his antenna. We went to town today, he put on his big boy pants and his reward for being such a good boy was a puppucchino. He walked past the ducks with not even a side eye and he actually nailed passing dogs in town but I think that's more to do with it all being overwhelming so he stays quiet. It's not been a bad weekend I think the only hint of an outburst was when we were nearly home. Someone in our street has 2 Coonhounds who kick up when they see other dogs. They howl so loud which set him off but he wasn't awful and I think she was dreading us passing as much as I was so for once I didn't feel judged. I did a few reps with him while I was cooking tonight and he actually managed not to bite me for once, win! His middle was quite controlled and the heel game I've been playing is paying off I think.

Started to tackle the first few training goals of the year, snow and all. Prevent jumping at strangers The first thing we're doing is picking LAT training back up in busy areas, which means she's back on the longline/flexi for some walks round busy parks. I've combined this with the clicker initially. The other part is being a bit more aware and responsible as an owner when she's off lead to prevent her reinforcing the behaviour. I'm always vigilant of other dogs and owners but I'm being extra careful to call her in when I think there's a chance of her going to say hello. That leads me to... Recall to heel I've not really started too much active training with this yet beyond giving the "heel" cue whenever she gets close after recall. She's suspiciously started doing it automatically sometimes... Lead walking I bought a SWAG headcollar suggested by @Nick Benger, because sometimes I need to walk her somewhere without actively training. The hope is that we can eliminate reinforcing that pulling = forward while we train towards the same thing on lead and collar. The problem we face is that she has a history of pulling on a flat collar, but I don't want to train with a harness and I worry with slip leads that she's damaging her throat when she pulls hard. So my main questions are: - Can I replace her flat collar with a different one, or should I consider any/all of them poisoned? - What other options would people recommend? - Do I just exclusively use the headcollar until a point in time where I can reintroduce the flat collar? Any advice would be welcome!