Part two

Hi all:
Here am I with part two of our journey. This time my friend the outside
dog is the main character. The next day we went to the pet store again -
the nice spaceous one - and after a lot of looking around we bought a
head halter harness. The bad thing about this was that I had to act as
fitting model, which I didn't like after a while. But Chris says I did a
good job given all the stress. I don't like it when a stranger puts
things on me - I even dive out of my harness when mom tries to strip it
over my head <mischievous grin>

For those who don't know: the head halter is a device that gives a human
more controll of the dog's head. The leash is linked from under the nose
to the person's hand. If dog wants to disobey, person can very caerfully
pull that end and refocus the dog to another direction. And generally,
dog won't pull so much on leash. However, the other end of the leash
should always be connected to a collar, because the head halter is not
for out of reflex leash pulls - in fact, it could injure dog badly.

Then Chris and sister also bought two bags of treats. So when we arrived
at home, sister got the outside dog and put the head halter on him. But
she told Chris to walk him, so she could watch. Chris let me off my
leash to run. At first I thought it was play time, and the clicks she
was making with her tongue were meant for me - but instead she delivered
treats out of my bait bag to sister's dog. Allright, so I stopped
barking and just ran around Chris and the outside dog in circles quietly
while they were doing a training unit.

My friend was very calm as soon as he had the head halter on him fitted
perfectly. Chris first did a few sits and ups with him. And when he did
a sit nice and fast, he got a tongue click and a food. Reminds me of my
first clicker days. And then they walked a few steps, the dog not
pulling much, thus earning another tongue click and treat. They didn't
work for long, and then my friend and I were allowed to play. But after
a break he was called to Chris again. And boy was she proud when he came
tail wagging at the sight of the leash and head halter! They did another
training session just to remember, me just lying still. I had given up
the hopes of earning a click and treat for his good behaviours. But the
rest of the evening was free, just sister walked my friend with the
normal leash and head halter as instructed by Chris, and she was
surprised by the result she got. Looks like Chris is a good dog trainer,
eh?

The next day Chris packed the bag after she had helped sister prepare
another salad. She got ready to leave, put the suitcase and myself into
the car, only to find out that sister could not find the key for the
gate. She searched for so long that we missed our train and I was called
out of the car again. That was strange, I thought they would leave me
with the sister, so I didn't want to go back upstairs.

But we, Chris and I, did take another train later, and I was a good girl
all the while. We changed trains with two nice assistants, and at our
home station another sister waited for us with her little dog. We
walked home, and Sister even accompanied us on the dog walk with the
tiny dog. Boy was I tired when I was finally in my house, fed and ready
to sleep!

There we are, now you know all about our exciting trip. But I have more
to tell you, so keep checking in!
Cheers, Hapoo.