Henry will be worse before he’s better…
I’m getting the feeling that Henry will be worse before he’s better. He’s been seeking every little bit of attention from me that he can possibly get… which is none. (Although I did once subconsciously pat his head while I was working on a project from .) He’s been begging, pleading, trying to move his head under my hands to pretend that I’m petting him. Yeah, I think he’s gonna get worse before he’s better … but he is playing with Eowyn some more. I just hope that he doesn’t turn to her completely for attention.
Eowyn was a pain in the rear before we went on the walk tonight. On the other hand, she’s been an absolute charmer on walks compared to her normal behavior. She hasn’t tried to drag me, even when we’ve walked right past a cat. Henry’s been especially good, too… walks are one of the only way for him to get praise right now. I give praise because every time they’re on leash their training time is “on” even if I don’t have treats. Where normally I have had to correct both of them nearly constantly on walks (together or alone), both of them walked with me on a slack leash for almost the entire 1 mile walk tonight. We’ll try walking a little earlier tomorrow night.
For both behavior modification programs, the goal is “a quiet and confident dog that either has a neutral or positive reaction towards events during which they would previously have shown signs of distress.” Well, good luck on that. I’ll cover behavior plans in more detail tomorrow night.