Another kind of agility

I spent one and a half weeks without my hurricanes due to travelling, it was tough. All three were taken care by a good kennel. For Kumma it was the first time, I'm sure it was stressing for him. Hoppu and Neeo recovered fast, they have plenty of experience. It feels good to be at home again, and today I made a nice long walk with Kumma (too cold for IGs).

Our walk raised some thoughts about walking on leash, and by coincidence there was a related question in Viiru's blog today (Kumma's brother). In the ideal world I would stop each and every time my dog is tightening the leash, and moving forward only with a loose leash. In the real world my puppy is full of energy after a day inside, it's freezing cold outside, and I might have two other dogs with me. In the ideal world I wouldn't take my dog walking with me on leash until he is skilled enough. In the real world I need to offer him exercise and experiences. Walking nicely on leash is mainly about accepting. How much pressure and pulling do I accept? I have not been able to be as consistent as I would like to. Kumma is reacting pretty well to my stopping by loosening the leash. Whenever I'm walking only with him, I'm able to control him better and react faster. Today I realized that in addition to reacting by stopping (negative punishment) I should reward good behaviour more often. Not only walking on my side with eye contact, but walking anywhere around me with loose leash. If only I could handle treats fast enough without taking my gloves off...

During our family vacation to Tenerife we went to see another kind of agility to Loro Parque. I was impressed and warmly recommend this park. Our children enjoyed it too :)