More reactivity success!

Yay! Last night on our last walk of the day, we again met the dog we saw yesterday during our first Kaboom! session. I put Luna on leash and she behaved beautifully towards this dog. Inquisitive, a softly wagging tail and no stress (‘oh, it’s just a dog, not a monster’). I used verbal praise and petting to let her know what a good girl she was, and the owner of the other dog did the same. That was very nice!

Then two more dogs came our way, a blonde and a black Lab. Luna has been reactive to the black Lab before, so I decided to sit on my haunches with Luna sitting between my legs, and my arms around her stroking her chest. She felt very comfortable this way and was able to remain soft and inquisitive towards the two Labs, who were also very friendly and non-invasive. Again more verbal praise from me and the owner of the first dog (isn’t that nice?!), and I continued to hold Luna so that she was constantly physically connected to me. She actually did a little happy talking and tail wagging and, well, she just LOOKED happy! I am SO proud of her!

To top it all off, the owner of the two Labs had cookies, and when Luna located those she asked if Luna could have one. Of course! Anything that’ll help Luna believe that other dogs are good news!

All in all it was a GREAT experience for both of us. Fun, safe, relaxed. And yet another technique I can use to help my little girl. I decided on this one because I felt three dogs was a little too crowded to use a lot of treats, and because Luna was responding so well to verbal praise and being connected to me. It was very nice.

On the weight-loss front; she was 68 pounds today. In other words, no progress. And I have NO idea why! It may be muscle gain though, because she does LOOK thinner than three weeks ago. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing now. As of this Friday she’s off hiatus (knee injury) and we can start introducing cycling again, and from there we should be back to regular activity in a couple of months. If her weight hasn’t improved by then, I’ll have her checked by the vet.

The picture shows a gorgeous head shot of Luna at 8 months. All these little gems I find now that I use a picture for each blog! I remember seeing a White Swiss Shepherd for the first time in real life, and thinking, ‘wow, they even have white eyelashes!’