Keli's Korner ~ The Westie and The Wauzer

Previously: Week One , Week Two , Week Three I've neglected to report on the past few weeks' training sessions . . . except for each week's class topic, they have pretty much been more of the same -- Penny barks a lot, but will do anything for a treat from the instructor. In the fourth session, we learned about Loose Leash Walking combined with Take It and Leave It, Come when called, and Stay. Loose Leash Walking is still a work in progress, even for Keli, so Penny is making slow progress in that area. Fortunately for me, she weighs less than 15 lbs. so I can control her when she pulls. But she does comprehend the idea of "Leave It" -- when we find something icky on the street while we're walking, she'll sniff, but will continue walking when I tell her to leave it. We'll keep working on that one with both Westies, probably forever. Surprisingly, Stay was not that difficult for her -- as long as there is a treat involved. Come when called was par...

Yesterday was April Fool's day and although we didn't plan to play any jokes on anyone else, it felt as though we were being pranked! My plan for yesterday was to get out of the house in the early afternoon to take Keli and Penny for a walk around the neighborhood and maybe practice some of Penny's training homework along the way. Later, I planned to take Penny "shopping" for one of our socializing excursions to Petco or PetSmart, and Keli could take a nice nap while we were gone. I hoped to be home by mid-afternoon so I could do the many loads of laundry and other "housework" before 7:00 so I could relax and watch the Mets second game of the season. In preparation for our walk, I packed the usual supplies including cheese for reward treats. When Keli saw that I had her walking leash in my hands, she was very eager to get going, and circled the table twice in anticipation before I could hook her up. Penny always is enthusiastic about anything having ...