Had a eventful day today which made me think about how much things have progressed for me and my dogs in the past few months.

Went to the park with Scout after the school run. She is 9m old now and most other dog owners we meet think she is on E numbers cos she is an excitable little madam. I have been keeping her on a harness and long line mainly to avoid her knocking people over. Today I let her off as noone was nearby and she would walk to heel  when asked and even retreived her ball sometimes! Keeping her focused on treats and ball got her to ignore other dogs in the park. We saw a teenage boxer dog across the park as we were leaving and he started to run up so I  called her to heel and she did! We carried on walking but he followed and was by now quite far away from his owner. He started to stand and stare at her and I wasn't sure if he was friendly so I told her"stay" and she lay down and did not move. I was so proud of her. Then the boxer lay down too and I could see he was friendly so I said -ok, go play-she ran off and they had a great time until his owner caught up. I was so pleased the puppy school had taught us "time outs" cos she totally responded to that as I did not want the play to get rough or Scout to get overheated. I know it can be 1 step forward and 2 back sometimes but I feel like we have come far and with the help of the training school( and Staffyclub of course!) we have learned a lot, I just realised that now.

On the way back from the park I saw a black dog run across the main road, being me I could not just go home and worry about it so I followed it and saw it had noone with it and no collar, it was running about in the middle of the road nearly run over several times. It saw Scout and I saw it was playful and curious so using tired but brave Scout as a lure got it to follow us into a quiter road and then eventually into my neighbours garden.  Scout became instant BFFs with her, she got to trust us and let me put scouts lead on her. Scout had such a good time playing with her and she wenr from scared and skittish to looking at me with trust I felt a terrible person for handing her in a the POlice Station later.I am obviosly happy she is not squashed by a lorry but sad I will not know what happens to her.It made me realise how much I love looking after my dogs and learning all about them and seeing them repay trust and kindness with obedience and affection, and glad I give money to dog charities so that dogs like her can have the chance to do the same with some very happy human.

My other dog Gonzo is also making progress with his dog aggression- his comfort zone has reduced to about 5 feet which makes it possible for me to take him around the park and streets more, which in turn helps him get more used to other dogs. I realise his progress is more about me getting more confidence taking him out and learning more about dog behaviour and positive training( which is why it takes so long, lol). Someone recently asked me- how is your other dog doing?-He expected me to have sorted it out in a couple of weeks using a choke chain and "corrections"- well I am not able to handle a dog that way, trust me to have to do things the hard way:) There are still lots of issues with him apart from the DA but I am hoping it will be dealt with bit by bit.

All in all a day to think about all things "dog".

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