Peach – Day 5

Peach is a very social girl who does not like to be alone for even a minute. She wants very much to be with Glimmer, but she’s still approaching with far too much excitement – which Glimmer does not appreciate and won’t tolerate – and she’s still shoving her nose into Glimmer to sniff her. It’s excessive, and quite annoying. I wouldn’t want someone constantly shoving their face into me, either. But, Peach is doing good giving space when Glimmer corrects her. She waits a minute, then she tries again, trying to learn Glimmer’s boundaries. I think that’s awesome.

The slip lead has been nothing short of amazing… in the house. I worked her around Violet with it yesterday, and she did far better about following my lead than she’s done with the martingale collar. Trying to control her on the martingale when Violet is around… Well, when Peach fixates and tries to chase Violet, she just totally disconnects and pulls as hard as she can to reach her target. It’s worse when I have her outside. So, I’m hoping the slip lead will have the same or a similar effect on her outside as it’s had indoors.

Peach has been doing well sleeping in the kennel. She’s still resisting being put into it, but she’s not kicking up a stink anymore once she’s in it. The next challenge is to be able to leave the bedroom for short periods of time while she’s still kenneled. I did that this morning – it was barely 5:30am; much too early for her to be up and wanting to play and work. She vocalized for about 10 minutes, and then she went back to sleep. It was awesome. This is an important part of helping her overcome her anxiety; she attaches so quickly to a person or to people, and she’s so used to having at least her dog brother around when her owners are busy doing other things that she doesn’t know how to be alone. That’s really scary for her. So, I’m teaching her to realize that nothing bad is happening to her if she’s by herself for short periods.

Today, we’re going to be doing a lot of work outdoors. Peach completely disconnects when she’s outside, and that’s not safe for her, her owners, or any other people or animals that may be wandering around. I’m hoping the slip lead will help start the process of correcting that.

Obedience basics are also on the docket for Miss Peach. She’s been allowed to do what she wants, when she wants, with no consequences. She’s doing phenomenally well with the meal ritual, but that’s the only area in which she’s excelling. We need to expand her good behavior to all areas of her life. So, she’s going to have a very busy day today, working outside and inside.