Leave it

Our training sessions have been going very well. My daughter was visiting and came along last Saturday to both witness and participate in the session. The 3 main new behaviors we were there to learn were to walk on a leash without pulling, "wait" by the door until "okay" is said and "leave it" during a walk. So if I put the 3 things together, I'd attach his leash at the door and say "wait," say "okay" to proceed, then later go for a walk where he is walking at the same pace as me and tell him to "leave it" if he gets distracted during the walk.

Our trainer suggests a morning routine that begins with taking Jackson outside to "do his business" then taking a 1 hour walk, then feeding him. This routine would be repeated in the evening. It sounds like a wonderful plan - unless you normally can barely wake up at 6AM as it is.  I'd have to get up at 5. RIght! 

Of course, my wife, who gets up at least 15 minutes earlier than me and is on her feet all day, could easily fit this into her schedule. Right! Although, to her credit, if the day doesn't tire her out too much, she'll walk with Jack for a half hour or so in the afternoon.

At this point, we usually skip the long walk part and go right to feeding.

Now it's quite clear that an hours walk would do me and Jackson a lot of good. No question that kind of activity would get me the kind of condition like I was.....let's see how long ago it's been since them....well never, now that I think about it. But that's no reason why Jack can't get the exercise he needs. Maybe I'll try to train him to be like the dog from the Jetsons