First day at using restraint - started with food to see how he reacted to the backtie. Seemed comfortable so continued with toy. There is a mix of management for reacting to aeroplanes & trying play, so the play formula was a bit all over the place. Was really pleased with his focus during plane overhead & realised I tried to switch to play too soon. Was partly remembering as I was going but watching back could see the tease & hide on restraint working well - so will make this main aim of session Pleased with this for first try.

Do you have any goals for 2026? Or, maybe it's more like a bucket-list... just stuff you'd like to do. What comes to mind?

First weekend of 2026. So are we discussing Stranger Things? I lost my car keys this morning. We looked for them for two hours before admitting defeat. I had to call out a locksmith which was very expensive 🤦‍♂️

I finally remembered to get the camera out! Contact heel seems to have clicked in Kairo’s brain, and she’s leaning much harder into my leg. Sidesteps and backwards are progressing nicely but, weirdly, she struggles with moving forwards. I may try smaller steps, or maybe a slight diagonal, and see how it goes. The first video shows her progress with sidesteps (@Holly Pearson). One of our goals from @Nick Benger is building activation into our toy play. I think we’re getting there, although I need to improve my timing on the wins (second video). Also, our play sessions are too long again - need to bring out the timer!

The story of Dobby - Dog on BE line We found Dobby on an online marketplace for a small rehome fee and only requested a leash and collar. We got the leash and collar, accidentally forgot to pull out the cash. We met at an off-leash dog park with our female dog (Santa). When this beautiful purebred husky, came out of the vehicle, he was nothing but skin and bone with a bobble head, anxious, but explorative. He had a chain around his neck and the short lady we met with had a cast on. We talked for a couple of minutes, she talked about how "she had his mom and sold him off but then was dumped on her farm later", how "she couldn't handle him anymore", the fact that "he lived in a fenced area on the property and does well on a chain", along with "never been an inside dog". I knew I had a handful on my hands, but he needed help, she couldn't "keep up" with it anymore. We put on the collar and leash, she was fine with waiving the fee as we forgot it, "she was just happy he was going to a good place". My partner immediately re-named him Dobby after she left. Dobby immediately took to our female dog, and was all over my partner who was with me. I knew I had a bit of work on my hands, but I didn't know how bad. Dobby's behavior and actions, showed me something that I have seen from learning through my years of dog training and working with dogs. The behavior of "alpha theory training". This, unfortunately included a lot of abuse towards him. He was only about 1.5 years old, not very old at all. But, a 1.5 yr old, purebred husky, filled with trauma and abuse - due to no fault of his own. It took us about 4 months, before he would calm down enough to stop having him fully tethered within the house, just to get used to being inside. It would take another 4 months after that for him to slowly start to trust me. Little did I know, did I look like his abuser (short female myself, similar structures) Dobby was filled with separation anxiety from when my partner would go to work; he was reactive to protect himself, scared of every move that happened inside the house, aggressive with resource guarding, not trained in not nipping, and worst of all - skipped growling and went straight to defense. A recipe, qualifying for behavioural euthanasia.