Nina

               We got our foster dog Nina mid November of last year, and it has been a bit of a journey.  She is a super, sweet girl that just wants to be everyone’s friend, personal space be damned.  She’ll get right up in your business, and I mean UP THERE, but she does it because she just wants to cuddle and have pets.

                The biggest behavioural thing we’ve been working on with her, is her reactivity on the leash.  It can be pretty atrocious.  I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced a dog with such poor leash manners.  Other dogs are her trigger.  I mean, she doesn’t like the leash a lot to begin with, even though she gets really excited to go outside.  She loses her puppy mind a bit when we come into contact with another dog.  With some steady work over the last couple of months, I’ve started to see some positive change and confidence.  What used to be a string of bad walks, is now a string of more good walks than bad reactive ones.  She’s starting to understand how the whole thing works and even though there are times she really wants to lunge and bark, she gives her head a shake (a nice little reset), and continues the walk.  Even gets a treat for that good behaviour.

               I wanted to share this because it’s just like my journey in Kung Fu.  You show up and hope that you start to have more good days than bad.