Loose Leash Walking with Banjo!

Many of you have asked how Banjo's training is going. I have spent the last several weeks walking him in the neighorhood and parks where he can handle the distractions. He has not been put into situations where he was over his threshold. Well today I took him to a set of trails where he has never walked before with a small group of dogs that he is familiar with. It was the first walk I could relax and enjoy with him. His pulling was minimal and he came back to heel position anytime I slowed. We passed barking dogs behind a fence and played the "Look at that" game. He looked at the dogs, did not pull towards them and checked back in with me, we played this game until we passed them. He played in a waterfall, he was told to sit and then released to go sniff, which is his favorite game and I guarantee because of the reward of sniffing, he has the best sit ever! He saw goats and instead of becoming out of control he offered a sit. Sit has become his way of asking if he can go and see or sniff something. It has almost stopped his lunging completely at distractions. Hats off to Banjo today and the dogs that walked with him, they were very patient!! I will keep you updated, we still have many months of training ahead!