Cesar Millan to the Rescue
Most of us who live at lakeside have dogs. My husband is fond of saying that “there is no greater protection for your home that a barking dog”.
Yesterday I went to lunch at a friend’s house and they have three very large German shepherd dogs that I did not know. They barked themselves hoarse while I pulled into the off street parking area so we leisurely looked through the renovations they are doing. By the time we entered the living area (the dog’s domain) they were calmer and I followed Cesar Millan’s sage advice of No Look, No Talk and No Eye Contact. I walked into the living area with calm and, hopefully, assertive energy and all was well. There was a little sniffing and hand licking but that was it. They realized I was not a threat and went back to what they were doing which was sleeping happily on the floor. Another tool we have purchased recently for the walking of our two dogs was the extension leashes which are totally game changing. We had been walking our dogs beside us with a fairly short leash as advised by Cesar but bought these particular leashes as we were taking our dogs to the beach and thought this might make things more pleasant for our dogs.
As it turns out it made the walks more pleasant for us. You can totally control the length of the leash with a couple of handy buttons on the hand piece. Walking the dogs on the beach was a real pleasure for everyone. Our cockapoo really enjoyed “crabbing” and could happily run after the crabs but be reined in if he got too close. I did not relish a crab hanging off his little nose. It did, however, our dogs a new sense of freedom which they thoroughly enjoyed.
You do have to watch one or two things when first using these leashes. One our Labrador ran behind us and then darted forward and you could get caught up in the leash and get a nasty “rope burn”. The other lesson I learned was not to hold the leash with your hand as if your dog saw a crab or some other delectable prey you could lose a finger. Other than that once you have mastered the buttons and reining in process you are set.
Now walking our dogs is a total pleasure. We still have to keep our eye out for “off leash” large dogs in our neighborhood but the whole process of the walk is fun for everyone. Some of the things to watch out for are other dogs, cats and the demon iguanas which seem to drive our dogs to superhuman strength.
I always rein them in going around corners as you never know what might be around said corner and crossing streets but other than that our dogs feel as if they are off leash. I also put them on the short leash option when I am feeding our neighborhood burros, Chula, and her son, Chulito. God knows what trouble they could get into while I am feeding apples to these wonderful burros.
On a totally different topic there is a contents sale in lower La Floresta kitty corner from Villa Formosa on the north side of the divided street where the horses are rented. Take the last entrance to lower La Floresta and go down to the second to bottom street and turn right. Watch for the signs. 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturday, August 4th and Sunday, August 5th. There are some great deals on quality items.