My dog is friendly. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR No it's b@@@@@ well not.

Morning all. Shaz here. We have recently had some issues with Sophie whilst she is out. She was attacked on two occasions, though not hurt it has really knocked her.

Due to the problems with her diet and fur loss dealing with those issues have had to be our priority.

She has always been very stressy (if that is a word), even the vet calls her his little stress head. Recently, when her stress levels bubbled over whilst out on a walk (seeing lots of cats or being in a place where there are too many people for her to cope with for examples), she started to attack the lead.

We were calm and patient and tried to regain her focus with treats etc but were not particularly successful as once she had lost the plot that was it, and the best thing was to get her home ASAP.

Anyway, our attempts failed so we called a recommended dog behaviourist. She came out and spent about three hours with us and is due to come back in a couple of weeks.

We have been working really hard getting Sophie to focus on us whilst out and she was doing really well taking her on very short walks. Behaviourist said only expose her to a couple of things on any one walk and gradually build it up. Exposure could be walking past children playing or stopping to talk to someone or like last week being ambushed by a moggy. Five or six very short walks for her each day is better rather than her panic and be a long way from home.

Anyway, after last weeks moggy episode, Sophie was fearful to walk along that part of the road. She was searching intently and staring at the hedges and up the drives and you could feel the tension in her. This morning she was doing really well. I kept her stress levels down whilst we walked past the moggy zone and was praising her like mad, treating her all the time. I was really pleased with her but when we were about 100 yards from home we saw a lady with a JRT coming towards us. Sophie adores absolutely all dogs. She has NEVER growled at another dog, just lays on her belly wagging like mad.

As this woman approached, I asked if her dog was friendly. "Oh yes she replied, no problem with other dogs" so cautiously I let Sophie approach for a nose sniff, her body language wagging and belly down. Suddenly, the JRT flew at her growling and snarling. Thankfully, I managed to yank Sophie away in time. The woman was less than apologetic and more or less carried on walking.

Sophie did her usual panic attack and started chomping on the lead. Thankfully we were very close to home and I managed to regain her focus and calm her down when we were back in our own road.

I have a friend who knows her dog is both dog and people aggressive whilst out and she crosses the road if encountered and gives a clear warning to anyone not to approach the dog. Whilst not ideal at least she recognises her dog has a problem and deals with it the best way she can.

Why oh why do people like this JRT owner say their mutt is dog freindly when in hindsight it clearly isn't. She didn't seem very surprised by it's reaction, but it has potentially put Sophie back to square one when she was just beginning to learn to cope

I am so cross as we are really working our socks off to help Sophie enjoy her walks.

what an idiot that women is, i would of been fumming the fact shes not even apoligised is discusting imo. We had a women the other day said her dog was ok i let stan go say hi and the little thing went skitzo making allsorts or horrible noises lckily i had the other two on leads as they would have retaliated but stan ran away luckily the women was very sorry.
Your doing great with sophie and keep up the good work We need new piccys :Dxx

Cheers Shelly, but I have realised I have posted this on the galleries bit instead of the main staffy board. Perhaps one of the mods could be kind enough to move it for me. I was just so mad. We had really started to make progress and after all her dietry and skin problems she really has been through the mill lately. ><

It is very frustrating when you are starting to make progress only to have it all shot back down again by an irresponsible numpty owner. I know I can speak from experience with Rocky.

Hubby and me had an episode while out walking Rocky yesterday evening. All the usual suspects (the owner of dogs that Rocky gets on well with) were sitting on the park bench with all the dogs running around loose and playing together.

As we turned the corner I saw a big brown Mastiff I think it was, we had never seen this dog before or the white Atika that was there. The Atika seems very friendly and Rocky and it had a good sniff of each other, while the Mastiff was circling Rocky and staring at him, which he dosn't like. I do wish owners would stay close to their dogs when a strange one appoaches so they can step in if need be.

The Mastiff then grumbled at Rocky who grumbled back, the owner still nowhere to be seen while it all happenend.

I've no doubt though Rocky will get the blame for it although he was on the lead with both of us with him. Really pee's me off.


Post moved to Training & Behaviour

I can speak from the other owner's side now

Charlie is normally fantastic with all dogs, the only dog he growled at was a JRT a few weeks ago, and he growled at the owner too. I posted here and evetryone said it was a one-off, a bad day. He was fine on every walk after that.

But a couple of days ago, on a walk, a man with an off lead Westie was approaching and Charlie was off lead too. The guy looked a little wary, and I said not to worry, Charlie is friendly. They sniffed at each other, and then Charlie growled and jumped on the dog I was absolutely gobsmacked and grabbed him off. The man, quite rightly was very p1ssed off and had a right go at me. I tried to apologise, and tell him Charlie is not normally like that, but he was very very angry and aimed a kick at Charlie as he stormed off, luckily Charlie dodged it cos I would have had a real problem with that.

What I'm saying is that sometimes they do things completely out of character. I had no hesitaton in letting Charlie greet the Westie, I didn't think he'd go for him in a million years. So when I said 'My dog id friendly', I meant it, I really thought he was. As a result, Charlie is now kept on a lead and only allowed to interact with larger dogs.

I do think the lady should have apologised to you, but she might have been too shocked to do so, if her dog is normally friendly.

I can sympathise with both parties, too! Dempsey's friendly enough as long as the other dog is friendly, but sometimes he'll kick off without a reason.

I do apologise, though!

We don't expect ourselfs to like everyone we meet so why do we expect our dogs to like every dog they meet
If more people thought like that there would be less incidents as they notice a lot more slight reactions than we do
I never say yes my girl is friendly I always put her on her lead and say she's normaly ok

Gazagem wrote:We don't expect ourselfs to like everyone we meet so why do we expect our dogs to like every dog they meet
If more people thought like that there would be less incidents as they notice a lot more slight reactions than we do
I never say yes my girl is friendly I always put her on her lead and say she's normaly ok

I agree but because Charlie has been friendly to EVERY dog he met for nearly two years, saying he is friendly is second nature to me because we had never had an incident until a couple of weeks ago. If anyone asks now, I'll say he is fine with big dogs but not small ones.

Sorry but i picked up that she was going on short walks, i assume this is to have a good walk and build her confidence up? Personally i would be walking her a lot more. a tired dog won't have bother to be stressed..

Hiya, we are working with the advice of a well respected dog behaviourist. At this point, we cannot afford to be too far from home as if she does throw a hissy fit it would be impossible to get her home. The short walks are just a temporary measure to build up her confidence.

We would love to walk her for miles in one go but are following a plan that has been specifically designed for us. We are confident we will beat this current behaviour and will be back to our local country park as soon as possible.

Okay but just make sure she gets a lot of play at home, as an under exercised dog will never behave properly.

I am sorry you met an idiot who is blind to her dog's problems.

This type of behaviour is one I have had a lot of experience with, if I sound as if I am attacking you I am not, I am trying very hard to explain clearly which can come out all wrong.

As Sophie has been attacked she is very stressed, a stressed dog no matter what you do won't respond, their brain shuts down because they are in survival mode, on other words, fight or flight. As Sophie is on the lead she can't run away so can only fight.

In order to help our dogs we need to understand how their stress levels work, I wrote this for Victoria Stillwell's forum and it has helped a lot of people.

Stress levels

Hopefully this will explain a dog’s stress levels easier, we can only teach our dogs if their stress levels are well down, once they start to go up a dog will find it very difficult if not impossible to learn.


You walk your dog every day, starting off with stress levels being well down at zero, this is what happens.

Day one - Your dog's stress levels are at 0, you are having a lovely, relaxing walk when you come across another dog that races up to your nervous dog. Your dog's stress levels jump up to 6.

Day two - After a night's sleep your dog's stress levels have now dropped to 4, so your dog is still stressed from the loose dog you met yesterday. Your walk is a little stressful because your dog is not as relaxed as he should be. You meet another loose dog, your dog's stress levels then goes up to 10, you now have a very stressed dog.

Day three - As your dog was really stressed yesterday his stress levels have only dropped to 8 over night, still a very stressed dog. Meet another off lead dog and his stress levels go off the scale, he can't cope and shuts down, when a dog shuts down many owners think their dogs have got used to off lead dogs and think their dog is now fine, in fact, in this shut down state your dog is very dangerous.

Day four - Your dog hasn't relaxed over night, he is still very stressed and racing round with stress, you don't know what to do with him or to help him so you take him for another walk, thankfully you don't meet a loose dog and to your dog the walk was a lot better, his stress levels haven't gone up, he hasn't shut down and the walk has helped your dog because it was stress free even though your dog was very stressed anyway.

Day five - After the lovely walk you had yesterday you are looking forward to another today, your dog's stress levels are now down to 10, much better although still far too high. You meet another dog, again he shuts down because he can't cope.

Day six - You are now getting desperate, you don't understand what is happening with your dog, one day he is fine the next he wants to kill every dog he sees so you are also very stressed and many owners give up and stop walking their dogs. You go for a walk and don't meet any dogs.

Day seven - Your dog's stress levels are now down to 10 because he didn't meet another dog yesterday and doesn't today, 2 good days.

Day eight - Your dog's stress levels are now down to 8, so much better even though he is still very stressed, you don't meet another dog again.

Day nine - Your dog's stress levels are now down to 6, you have a much calmer dog although still stressed, he meets another off lead dog and he jumps back up to 10.

As his stress levels are now back to 10, including today, it will take your dog 6 days for his stress levels to go to 0 if he doesn't meet another off lead dog.

That is put very simply, it does help us understand stress in our dogs, how it happens and how long it takes for the stress to get back down again. Depending on how long a dog has been stressed will affect how long it takes for the levels to come down again. My foster dog was a very stressed dog when he came, it took him nearly 6 weeks to become relaxed and to be the dog he should be.

A stressed dog can't learn and in many cases they don't even hear you which is why she doesn't respond when you are trying to get her attention.

As she sometimes attacks the lead, get one which is mainly chain, a normal lead she can chew through, a chain one she can't.

This may sound stupid but it is how I got Gracie to be good with other dogs and there are a lot of people who have had a lot of success with this method as well. First is to get her stress levels down, that means when possibloe she doesn't see another dog until they are down. In reality that is impossible. A dog only attacks when they are frightened, take the fear away and they stop attacking, again very easy to say but difficult to do.

You are taller than Sophie so can see before she can, you can see over fences and hedges, she can't, so be aware of people approaching you, they may have a dog with them. I used to take Gracie into a field, up people's drives, hide behind vehicles etc. I tried not to let her see another dog until her stress levels were down.

I also taught Gracie to "Watch me", once her stress levels were down I tried to keep her at a distances were she didn't react to another dog but could see the dog. I stood in front of her so she could see through and round my legs then get her to "Watch me". I didn't expect her to hold it, just to look at me when I asked then I gave her a very high reward. The rewards have to be what our dog thinks of is a reward and not our idea of one. With some dogs this can be chicken breast, hot dog sausages etc. with other dogs it can be a short game of tugger or playing with a ball, we need to find out what our dog finds is a good reward.

Gradually this distance got smaller and smaller with Gracie until she was able to be quite close to the dog, I still asked for "Watch me" and I also encouraged her to look at the other dog then ask for "Watch me". She became so good she could be in a small area with quite a lot of dogs without a problem.

You are right to take Sophie home when she gets too stressed, keeping her out will only make her worse.

Did this behaviourist say anything about her stress levels and how she can't learn when stressed? Trying to get her to do something when she is stressed is a waste of time, it also sends your stress levels up and will make Sophie worse not better.

Many people think we should let our dogs be introduced to dog friendly dogs, this is a mistake, to introduce themselves they have to get close to the other dog and a dog that is frightened of other dogs can't cope with that, it just makes them more stressed, even worse if the dog sniffs at them.

Sophie is a very lucky girl to have you for her owner, you are prepared to help her get over her fears, far to owners don't bother.

Shaz here.

Wow, wow what a response. You have explained much more clearly what our behaviourist has explained. Perhaps because it was explained verbally it was harder to take in and reading it at my own pace it will be 'digested' more easily.

We are absolutely determined to get her back on track and enjoying her walks. We are pretty much in line with everything you have said like limiting what she comes into contact with. Until a few days ago we never had the cat problem but were ambushed by this stupid moggy. Ever since then when we have taken Sophie past that stretch of houses she is stressed and staring intently up the driveways and into the front gardens.

I don't know if you have seen a bit of Sophies history on this forum on another subject area but she has really gone through the mill lately.

She became totally intolerant to dog food and most other foods. She was being sick every day for months. We worked with the vet and she is now on a diet of chicken, potato, peas and carrots. We have managed to reintroduce a few bits like her rawhide bone and she has a stag bar to chew.

We have also recently found she is ok with fish4dogs so are using that as a training treat as to her that is a high value reward.

It ended up she is celiac and allergic to pasta, rice, cereal, yeast and dairy. She can't have a piece of toast or even a dog biscuit and the vet has said this will likely last for the rest of her life.

She also has what the vet thinks is stress related alopecia as she has now gone very thin bordering on bald on her tum and chest. The vet has done skin scrapes and now due to getting her diet and tum in control he is absolutely convinced there is no other cause. Again, the fur loss could be caused by her stress levels. Since the change to her diet she is healthy, energetic and playful.

Recently, she also had an allergic reaction to gloss paint and produced symptoms of severe kennel cough which subsided as soon as the paint smell went, so we had to switch to odour free paint.

I did get a funny look buying some in Homebase when I explained to the lad on the checkout I was buying this specifically for the dog !!!

Getting her physically well had to take priority as we simply couldn't work with a sick dog. Also, my son who she idolises moved to Greece for four months (he is back on the 11th September) so if you put that lot into one basket, she really has had a huge amount to cope with.

As said in the beginning, we will do whatever it takes to help Sophie get back to enjoying life like a proper staffie should, we just need to take very small baby steps and work on her confidence, training and getting her to manage her stress levels.

Again, going back a bit what you have said about the stress taking some time to subside, if we have had a bad walk we wondered whether to give it a couple of hours and take her again to try and reafirm a positive but our behaviourist said leave it for that day for her levels to subside.

I have had dogs most of my life and never encountered problems like this. We have had to alter our lifestyle round to suit the dog ie no holidays this year and I have restricted my work commitments so I can be around Sophie most of the time (but not so much she develops deperation anxiety if that makes any sense). Getting anyone else to look after her or kennels is simply not an option for her. In her own surroundings she is calm, loving and affectionate, it is just when we goes out she loses the plot

As I say, many thanks for your helpful advice, it is nice to know we are doing things right. I am sure she thinks her pink thundershirt is a fashion statement though

Will keep you posted ><

Just as an extra (editing post) the behaviourist said encourage Sophie to have a good shake (and really praise her when she does so) as that is another form of stress relief.

I am pleased you were able to understand what I was trying to say, it can be difficult to explain in the internet and if I get it wrong it can be dangerous.

Poor Cyril, my Staffy, was ambushed by a moggy one day, I have mobility problems and use a scooter to exercise my dogs. When I was teaching them to go with the scooter I had Cyril out on his own when a moggy ran out and attacked him, Cyril hid behind me and is now frightened of moggies.

When going past the houses were Sophie was ambushed try and keep her attention, does she love to play tugger, if so use one to get her past, I find them better than a ball because I can hold onto it. It won’t be easy at first but may help her. I find it better to make my own tuggies out of old material, fleece is quite strong, I cut the material into strips and braid them, plaiting will work but it is more stretchy than braiding.

No, I don’t know Sophie’s history but it looks like she has had a hard time. Having had a dog with a lot of food allergies they can be a nightmare, I learnt how to dowse to help my dog, always thought people were odd that did that but as I am odd I joined them. Many dogs can’t tolerate brown rice but are fine with white, Joe could eat white rice. A lot of dogs are intolerant or allergic to rawhide bones and chews so be careful with them.

Fish4dogs is good, I gave Cyril their salmon mousse when I first got him to help build him up, poor boy nearly starved to death, he could barely stand up when I got him.

It ended up she is celiac and allergic to pasta, rice, cereal, yeast and dairy. She can't have a piece of toast or even a dog biscuit and the vet has said this will likely last for the rest of her life.

She sounds like Joe was, he couldn’t eat raw meat either. The stress and alopecia can be her allergies.

I always use water based paint, B & Q do gloss water based paint, I have been using this for many years now as I am asthmatic and the smell of oil based can cause an attack. Does she have a long soft pallet? If that swells up because of her allergies it could cause her to have kennel cough symptoms.

I find that Serene-um helps, Cyril is a stressed dog, he is a lot better when on this, he doesn’t have the full amount. He never stops, races round everywhere, I put a lead on him to get him to settle down and have a rest or he looses too much weight, he can‘t eat enough to keep the weight on.

It is much better to let her stress levels drop down before taking her out again if she has had a stressful walk, this may take a day, it could take several. With Gracie she was so bad that it took me 3 months before she was able to integrate with my dogs. She was able to see them but not get to them, it was really hard work but worth it.

Sophie will teach you a lot about dogs, understanding how their mind works helps a lot, when dealing with problems I thing of a 2 or 3 year old child and what I would do if they had a similar problem. If one was terrified of something we wouldn’t force them to face it, we would give them the space to work it out for themselves while helping them by building their confidence up.

I bet she looks like a princess in her pink thunder shirt.

Our sexy lady

She does look like a princess

Wow she does look great in her Thundershirt, how is she doing with it now ?

Hi, yesterdays walking was not too bad but I was very impressed with her this morning. The part where she gets stressed going past moggygate we walked on the other side of the road and I managed to hold her attention most of the way (only about 30 yards, but we did it)using a mixture of clicking and treating.

She was already quite hyper as we had already met two neighbours, so this for her was quite an achievement.

We have just got to persevere with small baby steps and we will get there eventually. ><

Well done both of you

She will teach you a lot about dogs, how to spot what they are feeling by their body language, etc, it is dogs with problems that we really learn.

Fantastic - she's really responding well.

We still have a long way to go, but a walk like this morning was really encouraging

Tiny steps get you there, they rate of improvement doesn't matter as long as there is improvement. You will have set backs, what I did with Gracie was to take her back a couple of steps to build her confidence uup again. The set backs won't be your fault but idiotic owners who haven't a clue.

Another good walk this morning. Two people on the other side of the road passed us ( quiet housing estate) and I managed to get her to sit and keep her attention whilst they passed

I'm glad she is progressing well - you're doing such an amazing thing for her, she's very, very lucky to have you.

Shaz here. Many thanks for all the encouragement. What with this and her dietry needs we are totally ruled by her needs at the mo. But, as said before, we chose her.

We will just keep plugging away until we get her sorted. It is just such a shame as she is missing out on walks in our lovely local country park and also the beach is only a couple of miles away.

Shaz here. Not been around for a couple of days due to decorating chaos. The day before yesterday Sophie was a nightmare on her lead. She attakced the lead endlessly without us encountering anyone or anything.

There was no rhymme nor reason to it so just kept calm and brought her home. Focused on doing some trianing indoors and in the garden instead. Having said that though the house is all upset as far as Sophie is concernend due to the decorating, so that may have contributed.

Yesterday, she had a lovely encounter even though we didn't leave the cul-de-sac!!!. We have a new neighbour who has a rescue staffie bitch and an american bulldog. He is magnificent (the dog, not the neighbour).

Anyway, neighbour saw us waling past his house and he came out specifically to make a fuss of Sophie. Normally, because she is so full on in her enthusiasm she is likely to knock most peole flying but knowing he is an experienced dog owner with two challenging and excitable breeds we allowed her to make a fuss of him to her hearts content. He is strong and around 25.

Sophie was on such a high (happy) that we took her home rather than let her cup floweth over and rin a really positive experience.

Today, I took her. Twice she half heartedly went for the lead with little provacation but both times I managed to get her focus and bring her out of it.

We are doing a lot of focus work. Some days it goes in, others I wonder if her head is full of cotton wool.

Pets at Home had a sale on. Much to Bob's horror I found a red mac for Sophie for £1 Will get Bob to post a piccie later.

sorry to hear about your bad experiences, hope all your hard work pays off. hate naive dog owners like this, this week while walking buster i had him off lead and i spotted two dogs and owners with their dogs off lead. i called buster back and put him on lead and made him sit as the other dogs walked pass as they went passed one of the dog went for buster and the woman just kicked the dog off of buster and said "sorry he always goes for dogs on leads". if he always goes for dogs on leads maybe you should put him on a lead and take a wide berth you moron!

When onyx had demodex/hair loss I used nu-stock. My breeder friend recommended it to me. It's used in the farm industry and smells of sulfur hell. But it works!!!!

Glad she is doing better. Love the pink shirt.

I make the mistake sometimes of being too accommodating myself...letting Cal greet dogs too easily perhaps...fortunately she is pretty resilient at this point. But there is nothing wrong with saying "I'm sorry, my dog is in training at the moment,"and walking past if you're not 100% sure. In fact I think I need to do this more with little dogs as they seem always to be the ones who snap, or with ones whose body language is not 100% relaxed.

Morning all. Shaz here. Sophie had a lovely short walk this morning. We went out of the house and saw the neigbour who owns a staff and am bulldog. I have no hesitation in letting her say hello in her usual enthusiastic way obviously with his consent (hurling herself at him), as he is quite robust and knows exactly what he is letting himself in for.

We walked out of the road and into the path of a guy who has a spaniel. He let them go and eskimo kiss without any stress or aggression. We then followed him a short way up the road.

At one point Sophie did go for the lead, but I managed to distract her and 'bring her back'.

On our way home, I made a very slight diversion and allowed her to have a second fuss made from Mr Staffy/Ambull which made her day. Again, she went for the lead, but not in an agressive manner, I think just excitement but was brought back down to earth by another neighbour making a fuss of her.

The last couple of days, she has been quite positive but I know we still have a huge way to go. My son is due back next Tuesday (being away for over four months). Sophie idolises him so that will be brill for her, and now the decorating is nearly done a return to her normal routine will also help.

OUr behaviourist is visiting on the 20th (again whomshe adores) so hopefully we will be able to show some progress.

good for sophie!

Afternoon all. Shaz here. The day before yesterday Sophie turned into a moo on her lead. To be fair, it was already hot so I didn't put her thundershirt on. Whether it was coincidence or what I don't know. She wasn't particularly 'challenged' but she lost the plot big time, biting the lead in quite an agressive manner. I immediately brought her home and gave her some quiet time but was really disappointed.

Today, she was quite a star (well, for her). We went off and a short way from home she spotted another moggy that deliberately taunts dogs.

We had passed where mog sits but Sophie spotted it in the road after we had passed a van. I managed with the use of treats to get her attention away and we carried on. She was sniffing round quite a lot but walikng quite nicely. Got to the junction and a young girl (teenager) was walking across the junction. I made Sophie sit and kept her attention. Sophie was quite calm and didn't do her usual trip of trying to hurl herself at people for a fuss.

She sat quite patiently and the girl ignored her and carried on her way. Sophie would normally get over excited at this point and start to lead bite. She turned on the lead and put it to her mouth but again, I managed to distract her and we had a nice walk home. She got one of her very special sea jerky treats for that.

It is only a small step and I don't know if her bad behaviour was exacerbated by the lack of thundershirt the other day, but todays short trot was actually enjoyable rather than having to 'work' at the walk if that makes sense. I'm sure she enjoyed it too.

Wonder how she will be tomorrow, she is just too unpredictable to be far from home but I long to take her for a proper walk.

It sounds like it's going quite well - one step at a time. At least she's starting to listen to you!

In doggy terms she is a teenager. What teenager ever listens to their mum

Sounds like you are making some progress at least.

The weather is supposed to turn a bit cooler for the coming week so you may be able to get the thundershirt on again without it being too uncomfortable for her.

Cooler would be nice. We bought Sophie her own pink paddling pool and the moo won't go in it

Afternoon all. Shaz here.

Update on Sophie's walking. Until the last few days we have walked Sophie in the morning and then taken her in the garden for training in the afternoons. This is due to the hot weather we have been having and as she has to wear her thundershirt it has been too hot during the day.

Due to my work and other commitments we are usually unable to take her out of an evening.

Anyway, we have had some good walks (avoiding the mogs), some medocre walks and some terrible walks. I have walked her every day and Bob has come with me when not at work. The reason we have stuck with just me was to provide the continuity.

Training indoors and in the garden has been very much on madam's terms depending on how receptive she has been.

We have taught her a number of different things to do recently to cement the training.

She now has to sit on her mat whilst we eat. Also once her tea is ready she has to go to her mat briefly. She then comes to us on command and either does a 'twizzle' or give one bark to get her tea.

We don't expect her to wait around or humiliate her, it is just another simple thing to get her thinking.

She is also now sitting on her mat and we can throw f4d around the floor and she has to 'leave' before given the command to help herself. Again, just a very brief wait.

Anyway, back to the walking. Now it has cooled quite considerably I am happy for her to go out during the day with her thundershirt on. Perviously, it would have put her health at risk or she would simply flop on the path and not move.

The first walk of the day is hard going. She has pulled so hard she has actually injured my elbow. She is very much on a high during the first walk and is also very stressy. Like I said at the beginning we have had a real mixed bag of walks.

Yesterday afternoon we took her for a short walk and she was like a different dog. She walked nicely and didn't get stressed at all even though we met a lady with two giant poodles (who bark at every dog) and a lady with a tiny spaniel puppy. The only slighty hairy moment we had was a few yards from home our neighbour has two tiny kittens. They had clearly only just started being let out and were very curious of Sophie. It got a bit dicey when they started chasing her

Today, I had a meeting to attend so took Sophie early. When I returned late lunchtime, I took her out. Again, she was very calm and not stressed. I will take her again this evening before I go to my meeting. I work mostly from home, it is just the way this week has panned out.

This seems the most positive thing, now the weather has cooled and I can get her out during the day. I will make a point of doing this as many times as I can this week and we see the behaviourist on Thursday.

If this progress keeps up I will be dead chuffed with her, it seems she just has too much energy/exhuberance on her first walk in the mornings.

Sorry for the long winded post, it is just nice to share when something appears to be going right with her