It's All About My Precious Pup, Jack

 

As you may know, I rescued my dog, Jack, from Animal Control in early January. I got her at the very last minute to take with me on "the walk" which I quickly discovered was going to be only one of my many challenges. Jack was, and still is, of course, a puppy. Not the smartest move on my part but, hey, a pattern I've developed and adhered to like a new religion.

 

Much of her training has been a snap, but walking without pulling would not be included. She has been polite in many other settings but not so with the whole walking nicely by my side. And since my plan had been to do just that for nearly a year, this presented a problem. In addition, I didn't feel I could exact much discipline early on when I first got her as she was recovering from abdominal surgery. Not just the normal spaying but a double hernia as well. It wasn't healing as I'd hoped so it required  additional visits to my regular vet. Therefore, I took it easy on her for the first couple of weeks which brought me face to face with my departure date. I naively determined that since she'd be leashed to my cart, at the end of a year we would have conquered the pulling thing. Also, any pulling could only be to my advantage, right?

 

Wrong! Rather than pull us forward, she pulled to the side. This movement created havoc, even on flat, level surfaces, in my still-healing shoulder which had to constantly pull the cart back onto our path.

 

But I had a remedy! Or so I thought. I wrapped the leash around my waist, tethering my Jumpin' Jack to my body. Sounds genius, right?

 

No...her slight (then) 30 lb little body had no problem pulling my, more than 30 lb body, off course and sideways causing me to trip over my own feet and rather than my shoulder receiving hell, it was my hips and knees. Yikes!

 

And this went on for miles and miles. She never tire of the pulling. Sometimes I put her in the cart, not for her to rest, but for me to rest which allowed her to rest and recover to pull even more.

Yeah...she looks sweet here, doesn't she? Read on.

 

 

On my first trip back home to remedy the cart situation, I went to PetSmart straightaway to buy a GentleLeader halter, also knows as a Halti. This halter like thing-a-ma-jig fits over the dogs muzzle and works like a Martingale on horses. You are not leading the dog by its strongest part, its neck. Rather you have control of its head. I had used one with my boxer, Harley, with good results.

 

So I'm in the store, Jack dragging me around and I'm trying to choose the correct size. I pull one out of the packaging and, with some expected difficulty, get it on her. She immediately flips on her back, does a backwards somersault and just basically looks like she's either being electrocuted or auditioning for the puppy Olympics. I stare at her, holding the leash limply in one hand. She doesn't make a sound but continues the gyrating of seizure-like maneuvers all the way down the aisle.

 



 

"OK, OK," I tell her, "I get it." I take the thing off her head. She shakes herself, looking slightly embarrassed and resumes looking like the adorable puppy she is.

 

I sidle over to the choke chain section. I slip a couple on her until I find the correct size. OK, I think to myself, no epileptic fits happening here. I breathe a sigh of relief. We begin to travel down the aisle. At her first pull, I give a quick jerk and then release. OH MY GOD! She begins screaming as if I'd shoved needles in her eyeballs. Other shoppers and store personnel rush toward us. As soon as her audience has reached the proportions she desired, she quieted. It was only one quick tug I explain to Jack's protectors. They glare at me menacingly. We, or rather I, slink out of the store with no training collar at all.

 





 

Once home, I immediately get online, "borrowing", my neighbor Vicky's, WiFi connection. This dog (at least I think she's a dog) is not going to get the best of me. I go to Cesar Milan's (The Dog Whisperer) website and order his $50 Illusion collar. It works like a slip collar but is held in place by this ingenious halter-like contraption so the slip collar won't slid down the dog's neck. It actually arrived before I left again. Perfect.

 

Except it doesn't work. The slip collar portion is so stiff it sticks in the snap tight position after a tug. So after walking a half mile, Jack is desensitized to it.

 

RATS!!!

 

I sneak back into PetSupermarket (without Jack) and get the choke chain. We are doing pretty well. No screaming fits...and what would be the point, she has no audience! After 4-5 miles she tires out a bit. When I take off again, Jack will be ready.

 

I hope!

 



 

I gave her a bath today...afterward she ran into the dirt and then jumped on my bed.

 

Thanks, my Jack in the Box girl!