Does my new necklace make my head look big?
Yesterday Dad gave me my new necklace. He says I can wear it out for walks and runs, which is what he calls fast walks. And then he put it on me and we went for our walk. And it was like I'd never been on a walk with him before. No. It was like I was on walks with him before, but never knew it. No. It was like we could talk to each other on our walks for the first time EVER!
All the times before when we went on walks, Dad (or Mom - who is still THE BEST MOM!) would clip a rope between me and them so that they wouldn't get lost. It is because they REFUSE to sniff their way on the walks. I know I shouldn't be so judgy, but I have to say it like that. Because I show them every single time we go out how to sniff everything and they never sniff ANYTHING... not even the really smelly bits that I stop and point out to them.
And on all of our walks before they are really tuggy, because they don't know where they are and they are SO afraid when I get too far away that they tug the hardest sometimes. And when we see another doggie who I should say "Hi!" to, they get even more scared of getting lost and pull me even closer and harder sometimes. Or that's what I always thought.
But now I have this new necklace. And instead of clipping the rope to my collar, Dad clipped it to my necklace and all of the sudden I could hear everything he was thinking RIGHT THROUGH THE NECKLACE! IT IS AMAZING!!! If he even starts to think I'm walking away to far, I can hear it right away! He says through the necklace, "Oh? are you walking away? You are already so far away from me." And when I hear that, which is SOOO EASY now, I just come back to Dad, because then I hear, "Oh! I'm so glad to have you back by my side. I like walking right next to you!" And how could I walk away from him when he's talking so sweet to me? And also as soon as we see another doggie, I hear Dad's voice through the necklace, "Oh. There is a cute doggie, I hope Nima doesn't jump up and try to meet him before I get to meet him." And I realize that I was so selfish and rude before, and then I stay near Dad so he can meet the doggie too. And it is SOOO FUN to meet doggies with Dad and Mom!
And now me and my Dad and Mom can talk to each other all the way through our walks! Which is THE BEST EVER!!! And it fills my head full of SO MANY thoughts all the way along... Which makes me wonder, does my new necklace make my head look big?
Hi Nima! I'm glad you're enjoying walking your mom and dad. I tried a prong collar on my first dog Isis, because she pulled so much on the leash. She already was a nervous dog, and the collar made her anxiety a lot worse. When I corrected her for lunging, it just made her more afraid of the other dogs (and bicycles, and people).
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't sound like you're afraid of other dogs, but there are lots of other ways to communicate with your people on walks. Isis's favorite was a Halti head collar and a harness. I had a leash with snaps on each end that fastened to both the harness and the Halti. Made steering much easier. Plus, I communicated with her using a clicker. That's the combination that finally helped Isis walk right beside me.
I love your blog, you have such a wonderful voice!
Thanks! I'm glad your Isis found the right necklace for her. I made Dad try mine on first because it looked scary at first. It also made his head look a lot bigger. But even after he tried pulling it hard he said that it wasn't nearly as scary to wear as it looked. So I tried it too and it was great for me!
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