The Heralding Hound

A Good Citizen???

Great news! Ricochet earned his Canine Good Citizen (CGC) award. What does this mean? It means that he completed a beginner and intermediate obedience class as well as passed an evaluation. The evaluation is a ten point test that focuses on good manners, obedience, and responsible dog ownership. Ric passed with flying colors!!! He is an outstanding citizen! But here’s the thing… he’s not.

Passing the test is a big milestone but all of the work (and the evaluation) take place indoors. At this point, Ricochet has been going to training classes for several months and he has learned how to be on his best behavior when he is in that type of indoor training environment (which is a good thing!). He was focused during the examination. He kept his eyes on me and off of other dogs. He stayed close by my side while walking and remained on his “place” when asked. He really was a good citizen… indoors.

Outside is a different story. Outside there are interesting dogs that might look at him, rabbits that may run near him, squirrels that may reside in any and every tree, and school busses just waiting to be chased! Outside there is a whole world to explore…and bark/lunge at.

On the night of Ricochet passing his CGC I was so incredibly proud of him. This was a big win for us. Heck, it’s a big win for reactive doggos everywhere. I proudly took pictures of him and his award. I sent messages, and posted on instagram. I had to let the world know that we were getting our act together and we were heading in the right direction. This is how I celebrated. Want to know how Ricochet celebrated?

By running away.

I’m not even kidding.

My husband usually puts Ricochet outside one last time after he finishes his work and school for the night. Sure enough, at 1am Mezzy woke me up and said that there had been a rabbit in the yard and Ricochet jumped our fence chasing after it. I felt so stupid. We had always kept him on a long lead in the yard and were just starting to let him go out in the fenced yard without it because he had been doing so fantastic. Timing is everything.

I jumped out of bed, put on my boots and coat and started looking for him. Unfortunately at 1 o’clock in the morning you can only yell so loud as most normal humans are sleeping at that time. So I walked up and down the streets looking for any trace of him. I walked for about twenty minutes without any sign of him and no idea which way he would have gone. My mind instantly went to when Waffles got hit by a car. This was it. It was going to happen again. I am a terrible dog owner and I should never be allowed to go near a dog again.

So, I’m walking down the street ugly crying in my pajamas at 1am looking for Ricochet, who I am positive is dead at this point, when all of a sudden I hear it. A jingle of tags. I let out one loud “RICOCHET!!!!” and all of a sudden I see Ric and he is running at me full speed. He runs right to me and sits down in front of me with bright happy eyes. He is clearly saying “oh hey! I didn’t know you were out here too. Nice night for an adventure, isn’t it?”

I’m mad. All of the fear and sadness, turned into a huge wave of relief when I saw his gooney face, but then just as suddenly that relief turned into anger. I want to yell at him. I actually feel like hitting him (don’t judge, we all have feelings sometimes). I want to scream in his face “DON’T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU SCARED ME?!?” But I don’t. Because he doesn’t. He has no idea that I was scared. He was having a great time chasing a rabbit just like dogs are designed to do and, when he heard me call him, he came running back. In his mind, he is a good dog.

He is a good dog. No, he shouldn’t have run off in the first place but a few months ago getting him back would have been an impossible task. He would have darted away from me when I called him and turned it into a huge game of chase or would have ignored me all together. This time was different. He made a mistake and gave into impulse, but when he heard me calling his name he ran right to me, sat down, and waited for our next adventure. Maybe he’s not an outstanding citizen or even a good one, but let’s just say at this point he’s “pretty okay” with potential to be great.

Understanding the Why

I am still learning my way through dog training. Every day I educate myself a little bit more and each day I am acutely aware of just how much I have to learn. Sometimes (all the time), I think about areas where I went wrong with Waffles. Now, I absolutely refuse to play the blame game. Waffles was an extremely loved and cared for dog with a great life and I truly worked hard at training him. He knew all of of the basics and even a few adorable tricks. However, the truth of the matter is that, while Waffles knew a lot of commands, neither he or I understood how those commands were supposed to be applied in our everyday lives. We understood the how but were completely clueless on the why.

When I was reading about how to train Waffles, many of the books and videos emphasized the importance of teaching a good “place.” This is where you tell your dog “place” and they go sit or lie down in their designated spot. I’m not going to go through the steps of how to do this, there are too many people with tons of experience that have put out great how-to videos on YouTube, definitely look it up if you need to learn how to teach the skill. The videos are amazing and will teach you step-by-step directions; however, what they don’t teach you is why the hell you should teach your dog this skill to begin with. The only thing that I will also add in is that a lot of the videos use a dog bed for “place.” I truly think that a raised dog bed is the way to go with this command. With a dog bed, the dog sometimes lays near it, half on it, has a paw on it…there is wiggle room. With a raised dog bed the dog is either on the bed, or off the bed. This takes away any confusion that the dog might have and also takes away any wiggle room for them to play the system.

Waffles knew place but I didn’t know how to apply it (it’s always the human fail, truly it is). We used “place” mainly during dinner time. I have a bunch of kiddos and didn’t want the dog hovering under the table so I taught him to be at his place while we were eating. He picked it up pretty quickly and, eventually, whenever Waffles saw anybody sit down at the table he would go to his place without being asked. Now, this is great, and I still do this with Ricochet too. Many chicken nuggets have not been stolen due to my dogs knowing this expectation. However, the place command can be used for for situations other than the prevention of stolen chicken nuggets.

Right here, this is where I am going to share with you how the proper application of place could have saved Waffles’ life, so read closely. Place can be used WHEN.EV.ER. , your dog is in a situation that they don’t know how to navigate safely or appropriately (or, honestly, if they are just being annoying and need to settle a bit). Take Ricochet’s obsessive staring at the window to bark and lunge at busses. Now, during the morning from 7:30-8:15 am when the busses are driving past our windows, Ricochet is in his place. His place is by the window so he can still see what is going on outside and hopefully desensitize to busses. When Ricochet is at his place, he is on his bed, laying down, I keep his leash on him at this point so that I can guide him back to his place if he breaks before I tell him to, and I treat him every couple of minutes for holding his place. This has resulted in a dog that is calm (and often falls asleep) during the morning bus time instead of the dog that we had a couple of weeks ago who was running from window to window barking like a crazed lunatic at the school busses. He has learned that the morning pick-up is a time where we are calm. This also means, that he is laying nicely on his place when the kids go out the door for school so there is no chance of him slipping out as they leave (safety first my friends).

I also use place when I know that friends are coming over. When people walk through the door Ricochet gets so excited that he jumps all over our visitors. Now, when somebody comes to the door, I tell Ricochet to “place.” This way he can see who comes in but needs to remain calm while our guests come in and get settled. After a few minutes when the excitement of somebody coming into the house has lessened and he has had a few minutes to see who is here, I release him to calmly greet our friends. If he is still overexcited, I send him back until he settles. You see??? Are you seeing what I’m doing? I’m using the place command to teach Ricochet how to be calm in overexciting situations as well as impulse control.

THIS, this is what I didn’t know. These are things that could have saved Waffles. If I had taught him to calmly wait at his place when the kids are leaving the door, if I had taught him to remain calm when he sees something or somebody exciting, if I had taught him to listen and look to me for guidance instead of taking off after every impulse. I didn’t teach him these things. I didn’t know. I thought Waffles would just grow out of these behaviors. I taught Waffles the commands and skills but never understood the underlaying reasons for why these skills are important to my dog’s safety and my sanity. I know better now and, now that I know better, I am doing better for Ricochet. Ric is safe, and so are the chicken nuggets.

Stuck in an Infinite Loop

Training Ricochet has often felt like being stuck in an infinite loop. I need to work with him on impulse control and communication so that he doesn’t run out of the house to chase critters, busses, other dogs, weird looking butterflies, plastic bags, etc. I should start in the house right? Free from distractions? Wrong, because the windows in my house are all low to the ground so he completely fixates on what’s outside and literally tears around the house from window to window looking for… whatever he’s looking for. I should just close the blinds right? No. He then pushes he head right on past the blinds and rips them.

This obsessive behavior has been hard to get through. I read a training book (Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution, check it out!) that said that behaviors like these often stem from a dog that isn’t getting enough exercise and that I should exercise my dog with long walks or a game of fetch. Hmmm… I’m still stuck in that loop because taking Ricochet for a walk means his going after anything and everything. Playing fetch with Ricochet means I’m flapping toys in front of him like an idiot trying to engage him while his hyper focused collie eyes are darting around at everything trying to find something to chase and then he takes off and I have to grab his leash to redirect. This results in a smart dog with high energy needs not getting any exercise, so I am left with obsessive behaviors.

I am so happy to type this next sentence, you don’t even know. Okay, here it goes. The past two weeks… I think we may have broken the loop! I am an early bird that normally likes to wake up, sit down, look at my phone, and drink a delightful amount of caffeine. However, the past couple of weeks I have been taking Ric for a walk right away in the morning (like 5:30 in the morning, gross). It’s the perfect time of day because the little critters aren’t out yet (or very few), delivery trucks and busses aren’t out, and we rarely see other dogs. It’s amazing to watch Ricochet’s body language. When we first start our walk his ears are straight up, his body is tense, his eyes are alert, he is drooling. Literally everything about him just looks charged and tense. Then about 40 minutes into the walk you start to see him loosen up. His ears relax, his gaze is curious as opposed to crazed, it’s like his whole body just does his heavy sigh and says, “okay, we’re good.”

When he get’s home, he still looks out windows (still the same dog), but not in an obsessive way. He lays on the couch and looks out the window in kind of a “hmmm, I wonder what’s on Netflix” kind of way.

I have also really been pushing Frisbee. At first he seemed to prefer the ball so I had given up on frisbee. The problem with the ball though is that he runs to the ball, picks it up, gets distracted by something else (even if I run with him or try to make the ball exciting), drops the ball, and wanders away. Frisbee has been different though! Instead of throwing it right away I have been using the frisbee to play tug for about 10-15 seconds before each throw. This not only gets him SUPER excited to chase the frisbee but he also can’t wait to bring it back to me because he gets to play tug and he now thinks that I am a lot of fun too!!!! He has really been learning to love the game and it’s amazing to watch him bring the frisbee back. Now his hyper focused collie eyes are centered right on me and he is clearly saying, “oh hey! we can do things together, wouldn’t it be fun if we were a team?!? (No shit Ric, that’s what I’ve been saying this whole time…but I digress).

Having a dog that has been getting enough exercise has made a night and day difference in our training. I won’t get into everything we’ve been working on because I don’t feel like typing a novel today (and you probably don’t feel like reading one). I will end with this though. Now that Ricochet is getting the exercise that he needs I am able to cut though all of that obsessive behavior. Yes, he is still interested in other dogs, busses, and critters but now instead of this hyper “I will die to reach that plastic bag in the road” focus he is responsive to my corrections and redirections. Because he is responsive to my corrections, I am able to interrupt his thought process before he gets out of hand, because he is not getting out of hand our communication is improving and he is having more successes day by day. It seems we have entered a new loop! This loop is still a lot of work and will have it’s ups and downs, but dang this one seems like it will be much more fun for both of us.

Getting Help.

I have help now. Ricochet’s crazy prey drive and reactivity was making enjoying him difficult. He is clever and quick to learn a trick but his anxieties and explosiveness are rooted deep. Every walk, game of fetch, run, etc. was a test of patience and, at times, infuriating. I came to the realization that trying to figure things out on my own was only stalling progress. I needed help from someone who knows that they are doing so I signed us up for an obedience class.

The first week I was so apprehensive about Ric freaking out. I just knew that he was going to bark and lunge at other dogs and be a huge distraction to class. We walked in and Ric went into nervous/unsure “I’m just going to be a quiet observer” mode. Ugh. Of course. He acted like an angel. I had told the trainer all about my crazy dog and, here he is, sitting peacefully and quietly looking about the room. He decided to show up as mild-mannered Honeymoon Ric. Don’t get me wrong, this made the class super easy. I learned some excellent tips on getting my dog excited about learning and engaging with me. I was educated about leash manners which was really helpful. It was great but I didn’t get the opportunity to work on the real issues.

Then came week two. The honeymoon was OVER. Ricochet decided that he was more than comfortable enough to bark and make himself known to the other dogs. I knew that this needed to happen to get the help I needed but it was also anxiety inducing and more than a little embarrassing.

The trainer was excellent. She gave me SO much useful feedback on how to guide Ric through these explosive situations. She showed me how my constant leash tension (the tension that I was providing to hold him back and calm him) was amping up the situation. The tension on the leash was basically telling him, “it’s go time.” She (the trainer, let’s call her Jen) showed me how to properly hold the leash so that it was loose and calm. This way, if he did try to pull at something, the leash would give a small “bop” that would help take his attention away from the offending creature/vehicle.

Jen also taught me that I was over-treating Ricochet in these situations. I would pop treat after treat in his mouth thinking that I was teaching him that he doesn’t need to be afraid of these stimuli and that they are rewarding. What I was actually doing was creating MORE excitement to an already over stimulating scenario. She taught me to only reward when Ricochet was calmly observing the critter or vehicle so that I am rewarding his calm behavior and not just teaching that these things yield lots of treats. Basically, Jen told me that my anxious behaviors were only making things worse. I needed to settle down because I was as bad as Ricochet (she said it nicely, I’m just providing the Cliff Notes Synopsis).

Ugh. To watch Jen provide Ricochet with the exact feedback he needed to calm down and interact was amazing. She provided a couple of corrections and that was it. After that, Ricochet engaged in the class calmly and peacefully. He did not react to the other dogs but observed them with calm body language. It was frustrating to see somebody do this with, seemingly, so much ease. I had been working for months and things were only getting worse. Jen worked with him for three minutes and was getting through to him.

Then I remembered something important. She has studied this and has been doing this type of training for ten years. I am the beginner. I joined the class because I was a lost beginner who needed guidance. I was getting exactly what I needed (and so was Ric). Jen even shared with me that she got into dog training because she had a highly reactive dog (just like Ric!) and didn’t know how to handle the situation. At one point she was the beginner too. I feel so fortunate to be getting the help that Ric and I need. We are practicing hard, we now have support and guidance, and I can’t wait to see where this leads. Wish us luck!!!

Reactive Ric

The struggle is real. I have been trying to find a good time to take Ricochet for a walk/run. 5:30-6:15 AM super dark outside, 6:15-7:00 AM rabbits and squirrels galore, 7:00-7:30 AM school busses are out and Ricochet freaks out. Any time after that the day has started and I need to get my own kids ready and get set for the day. It’s frustrating. Keep in mind this isn’t him cowering, or even just pulling at the leash. This is full on barking, lunging, springing from the ground., and causing a fair amount of mayhem.

My first instinct with these behaviors was that Ricochet had high prey drive because he is a high drive working dog. I don’t think this is true anymore. The more I get to know him the more I recognize his behaviors as fear, anxiety, and insecurity. He isn’t the dog who can play fetch for hours because he is crazy focused and needs a job. He gets excited, runs after the ball and then gets hyper focused on something in the yard (usually a critter) and then ignores everything else around him. In the house he will spend hours looking out the window just waiting for some woodland creature to bark and stare at. That doesn’t seem like high drive to me. I think he is a rescue dog that was not properly socialized as a puppy and now has a ton of anxieties.

This realization of high anxiety versus high drive has really changed how I work with him. I have been focusing a lot more on keeping the environment calm and introducing experiences to him slowly.

This means our runs have really changed. They are shorter and often when it’s still dark outside. Even further, I have taken to running him up and down the same two streets. These two streets are low traffic and pretty uninteresting (for people and dogs). I carry treats with me and reward him when we have to go past something that I know will steal his attention. This means that whenever there is another dog, squirrel, bus, rabbit…gust of wind…we stop. I stop and get his attention on me so that he can learn that these situations don’t have to be fearful and that he can pass these things peacefully without having a full freak out.

This makes our runs and walks incredibly boring and he will still have at least 2-4 reactions on the quiet streets. It’s frustrating. It makes me sometimes feel like maybe this was a mistake. I am still enamored with my mistake. He is such a sweet, quirky, loving, funny dog. Ricochet is a lot of work. He requires an enormous amount of consistency and effort. Nothing is easy with him. Luckily though, there is no training deadline. I said that I was going to commit to 45 minutes per day of training for a year but, realistically, that was to keep myself focused. Ricochet’s fear and reactivity could take years of effort and, even then, he may always be fearful of these situations. Teaching him that he can be unsure or anxious but not need to react to such extremes is going to be a long road. At the end of it all Ricochet has his own personality, experiences, and demeanor. He’s not going to just magically turn into the perfectly behaved dog that I created in my mind. What I have to do is embrace him, appreciate him, work with him, encourage him, be patient, and know that I got exactly the dog that I needed.

Learning From Experience

We are officially back in New York. I am happy to report that there were not crazy shenanigans to be had on our journey back. I took the leash chewing, semi-chasing, bone burrying, and demented kangaroo jumping experiences from the last trip and made a few helpful changes.

Change number one. Didn’t bring the dog. Juust kidding. Of course I brought Ric. This time, however, were weren’t alone. The whole family was in the car and I think that gave him a lot of peace of mind. He sat by the kids in the back and that seemed to make him less apt to chew and dig the floor mats.

Change number two. I didn’t count on the rest/gas station stops. Last time, when Ricochet lunged and barked at Semi Trucks he was so hard to control and the situation made me feel really uneasy because, Ricochet can be hard to control. Also, the experience of having Waffles being hit by a car made me have cold sweats and my heart race when I thought what could happen if I lost control of Ricochet’s leash. Instead, we found a couple of parks and a beach along the way to go for a walk so that the doggo could go to the bathroom and the whole family (two legged and four legged) got to move around and have fun. The benefit was everybody had a great time. The drawback was that the car smelled like wet dog for many hours. You win some you lose some.

You could argue these changes may sound more like avoidance than training. I disagree though. I am working with Ricochet to learn how to remain calm during these situations that he finds exciting. I am adapting so that he and I are not put into a situation that could be potentially dangerous that we are not yet ready to handle. Lunging at the trucks in particular could be a deadly mistake. When we are out walking I always keep treats on me so that, if we encounter a vehicle that he is triggered by, I have him sit and “look at me.” We do not move on until his is calm. This may take a long time but, eventually, the goal is that he learns to stay calm and look to me for guidance when he sees a big and exciting semi-truck. Our progress may be slow, but it is steady.

Ricochet, Rabbit Killer.

I was outside playing with the kids the other day. I was pushing my youngest on the swing when all of a sudden my daughter screamed and fled onto the trampoline (I’m not sure why this was a refuge but…to each their own).

“What’s wrong Z??” I asked.

“Ricochet is eating a rat!!!!!!!” *deciphered between screeches*

Eeew. No. Ewww. This was NOT okay. Number one… I don’t want to think about there being wild rats traipsing about my yard. Number two… I don’t want my dog eating one!!! Number three…I’m not touching it!

I ran over to where Ric was playing with, what I had previously thought was a ball. “DROP IT!”. For once, he obeyed and he dropped the rat out of his mouth only, it wasn’t a rat… it was a sweet baby bunny. Amazingly, the bunny looked to be unharmed and hopped on over by my deck.

“Let’s go inside to give the bunny some space and, if it is still there in 20 minutes, we’ll take it over to the wildlife rescue center in case it is injured.”

I stepped out to check on the little guy 10 minutes later and he had died. Poor bunny.

Later that night, Ricochet needed to go outside. Mezzy, smart guy that he is, decided that he would walk Ric on his leash in our yard so he wouldn’t have room to bother any little critters.

Sure enough, about two minutes into their little stroll, a rabbit popped out of nowhere and ran past. Ricochet did his demented kangaroo hops trying to get to it but, luckily, he was on his leash. Lucky Bunny! Then Ric stepped forward and bit something that let out an awful squeal. A baby bunny. There had been two. Ugh. Another one bites the dust.

Okay…so…Ric is a bunny killer. This literally makes him the villain in every. single. Disney movie. He brings harm upon precious fuzzy floofs for his own amusement and joy. I am living with the canine version of Farmer McGregor.

I seem to have a gift for falling for dogs with high drive and poor impulse control. I am looking into strategies to help Ricochet control his excitement over these adorable hopping appetizers. For now, the best solution we have is to put a basket muzzle on him when he is outside so that he can’t get ahold of anything. Rest in peace sweet bouncing floofs.

Let’s Get on the Same Page

Oye. This past week has been kind of a one step forward two steps back type of situation. I have stuck to the 45 mins of training daily. Now, I know that it’s only been a short time (as in 5 days…it’s been 5 days) but the magical instant fix certainly is not happening.

Ricochet is learning a bunch of adorable tricks quickly. We are also working on the basics which he does well with. But here is the thing. Ric does these wonderful skills in a quiet room with a shut door, free from distraction. Even still, he is lackadaisical. He is not highly motivated by treats. He requires strong lures (where you put the treat right in front of the nose and slowly guide the doggo). He won’t work for play. He loves play but the second he sees that ball he goes nuts and structure is lost

Once Ricochet leaves his quiet room, listening decreases. Once we go outside or if there is distraction, listening is non-existent. He still pulls on the leash. He still chases after any little critter outside. He will not so much as “sit” or “look at me” if he is outside.

It can be so hard to appreciate that our animals are separate from us. We feel such connection with our animals. We feel so understood by our animals. They know what we are feeling and understand our needs better than we can ourselves. S0… WHY WON’T HE FREAKING “SIT???”

It’s because Ricochet has his own mind. His own way of experiencing the world. He expresses himself differently. He doesn’t take the world as seriously as I do. He doesn’t feel the urgency that I do. We have to learn to work together. We will eventually understand each other better. In time, we will appreciate the others’ work ethic and become a partnership. Ric and I just need to stick to it. One day at a time, training session by training session.

Committing to Change

Ricochet’s great escape still has me feeling panicked whenever I think about it. I feel like I am back in the same boat. Having a wonderful, sweet, friendly dog…that is impulsive and doesn’t listen. It makes me think about how providing Waffles with more training could have saved his life. I can’t go back, as much as I wish I could, and I refuse to play the blame game; however, there is truth to the statement that Waffles’ fate could have been different if he had more training. I wish I had worked consistently on listening, house manners, impulse control, and recall so that he would have known not to rush the door whenever he saw something exciting.

I can’t change what happened to Waffles, but I can change how I respond to these behaviors with Ricochet. I have the chance to do things differently. Waffles was a beloved family member. He did everything with us, went everywhere, and there isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t think about him and miss him. Yet still, we treated training like more of a fun hobby rather than a true commitment and responsibility. Waffles knew some really cute tricks and some basic obedience, but we never dug deeper. We never practiced training in distraction, moving beyond the basics, or teaching him to always look to us for direction.

So today, August 9, 2021, I am making a commitment. I am committing to spending 45 minutes per day (it can be broken up throughout the day) training Ricochet for one year (I know it has to be longer than one year but I am type A and LOVE projects and deadlines). I want to enjoy our time together and form a great bond. I want to become a team with him. I want to have fun and try new things. Also, more than anything, I want to make sure that Ricochet knows how to stay safe.

That Rascally Rabbit…

I was watching over a friend’s house this weekend. I was really excited to do it because they have a massive fenced in yard and said that I was welcome to bring Ricochet over. This was going to be the perfect opportunity to work on recall, to practice listening outside, and to get in a really good game of fetch. Nothing could go wrong.

Now fast forward to the part where everything went wrong. I release Ricochet into the yard and he is so excited by the amount of room for activities that he begins darting around the yard, running in circles, and mostly just being a maniac. This is no issue, I’ll just give him a couple of minutes to explore the environment before we get to work. I wait a bit before grabbing my secret weapon…his FAVORITE squeaky ball. I call his name. Nothing. I squeak the ball. Nothing. I wait until he is accidentally maybe kind of running in my direction and throw the ball. He looks over excitedly…and then proceeds with his planned activities (which, clearly, do no include listening to me).

I let it go. He’ll tire out. I realized I should have grabbed the training leash from the car so that he didn’t have quite so much freedom. I’m not going to worry about it. Today can just be for fun and free play and then, tomorrow, I’ll put him on the leash so that we have more structure. This is what I told myself. This is what I believed. I was happy with this decision. I was happy until that dang rabbit came into the yard.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Mr Rabbit decided to pick this moment to pop out of the prairie. Ricochet’s ears perked up, he hunkered down, and started staring like only a collie-ish dog can. Oh no. “RIC LEAVE IT!” “RIC, COME BACK!” Ric did not leave it and he did not come back. What he did do is dart off faster than a bat out of hell and chase after that rabbit. The rabbit was fast and smart (well, smartish. He could have just stayed in the prairie). Mr. Rabbit ran across the yard and straight under the fence. Safe.

Nope, Not safe. Ricochet chooses this moment to show me his special talent. The dog JUMPED OVER the 4 ft fence! I ran to get around to the second part of the yard (the yard is divided with multiple fences, I should still be okay). Sure enough, he clears the second fence with even greater ease. He is now loose in the neighborhood, running after a rabbit.

Luckily, Mr. Rabbit went into a bush which slowed Ricochet down enough for me to catch up with him and put his leash on. No harm. The rabbit was safe minus a tuft of hair, and Ricochet was now leashed and heading back to the yard (where he would stay on his leash for.ev.er.).

The whole experience just got to me. My heart was racing and I felt panicky. Waffles was hit by a car because he got overly excited and ran to greet a dog. Ricochet could have just suffered the same fate. It was in this moment that I decided to get truly serious about training. I need to teach this dog to listen and not be so impulsive. Training is about to get real.