Chin Up

To encourage the canine to walk nicely on a leash next to or beside its "owner," the Dog Whisperer suggests said "owner" walk with her head up high and chest out. Apparently the posture says, "I'm the leader." I tried that on some early walks with Pooka, and it made no difference. After we got the harness, she stopped threatening to dislocate my shoulder and I stopped stressing so much.

These days, I try to keep Miss Pooka off to the right and moving along at a good clip, but there's plenty of abrupt stops for wild sniffing, and she has a tendency to veer in front of me and get us both tripped up. I've experimented with turning my hips/feet ever so slightly toward her for a few steps, which she picks up on, the result being less veering in front of me. I have also noticed that an exaggerated chin-up, chest-forward posture seems to keep us going smoothly. I'm talking eyes about 45 degrees above the horizon. Looking UP, really. Which forces an odd chest-out gait. Not the most comfortable for me, but surprisingly effective.

The CEO of the Humane Society was on the case last week to help us figure out if Pooka had received a rabies shot. No word back from the deadbeat adopters who returned The Pook, so I went ahead with the shot. Our weekend dog park trips were decidedly less interesting to her, and on Sunday she was a drooling machine. I had my first blast of terror that something was wrong with her, but she did perk up for good game of chase with a giant German Shephard.

Photos of the wonderdog soon to come.

Today when she gave me the "I'm not going in the crate, ohh no, I'm going to run and lie down in my bed, see what a good dog I am??" behavior, I gave her a treat and shut my bedroom door with her inside. She did a bit of flipping out (standing on my bed, paws on the window). I went back inside after being gone for literally two minutes, and she did the same dance as she does when I free her from the crate. Makes me think that it's being alone, not being in the crate, that's making her spaz out. We'll see if the place is a shambles when I get home for our lunchtime walk. I want her to be safe and comfortable, if not happy to be alone.