I am filled with joy tonight. Indy has had a few meet and greets with the big Golden Charlie that have gone very well, and we even took a short walk last evening with Charlie and his dog mom. Indy last night also went up to the neighbor be had been hesitant about, seeking his attention, while he was on a GOLF CART, not once, but on two different occasions. Not only was he warming to the neighbor, but he has lost his anxiety around golf carts. BUT THEN TONIGHT Indy walked to and then visited the dog park, off leash, with Charlie the Golden and the neighbor, who happens to be Charlie’s dog dad. Sniffs were exchanged, and love and pets shared all around between two dogs and two owners with no signs of anxiety or stress. Indy’s excitement to see the neighbor and his reaction to the attention would seem to indicate that he is now one of Indy’s people 🙂
And this was before the butt scratching even started!
We are continuing to work through the steps for preventing the resource guarding from repeating and he is doing great. He is becoming an absolute dream on the leash, only occasionally pulling, but a few of those times I think were in his honest hurry to get to a proper place to pee. We have gone ahead and started “Leave It” training early because Indy is showing a liking for pine cones. I do not see how they could possibly be tasty, but whenever he grabs one and starts to chew I get flashbacks to when our GSD many years ago ate raffeta from a flower pot. When it came time for her to pass that we were both left traumatized.