Rusty's 180

I re-watched the DVD “Initiating Dialogue: The Foundation” yesterday (my youngest male dog really likes when I watch my dog training movies). The videos showing ordinary people learning are really helpful, especially where you show the common mistakes (such as turning the wrong way) and how to avoid them. I have started the 180's with two of the dogs. Rusty, my Catahoula foster dog and Reilly, my 18-month-old mixed breed pup.

Rusty is by far the dog with the most issues, including aggression. He is most anxious and very reactive. I have to say that I am impressed how well my first Dialogue® sessions went. Both Rusty and Reilly are habitual pullers. Rusty did extremely well; I could not fool him. Even if I thought he wasn't paying attention to me, I discovered he was listening to my voice and quickly figured out when I turned around. I praised constantly, and his tail was happily up as he followed along beside me. And I allowed him to sniff and mark within his bubble. Rusty is a dog who pulls like a train so I am very excited about this. 

Reilly, my most confident dog, also learned to follow me very quickly…he made very few mistakes and was quick to catch up when I did my 180's. A fun story: Reilly is a serious poop eater. Tonight I was taking him outside and I knew there was a "job" out there that I'd missed, so I put his leash on his flat collar to take him out, as I normally do if I suspect the yard might not be "pristine." I didn't use the chain collar, and I gave no indication that we were going to practice since we weren't. We didn't even go into the "practice section" of my yard. But when we went outside, he was SO attentive to me. Tail down a bit and still unsure, but he kept watching me, trying to anticipate where we were going to go! And he didn't pull at all! On a flat collar! WOW... I sure didn't expect that after only a couple of sessions of 180's practice. Of course I praised him like mad.

I will DEFINITELY be recommending Dialogue® to the lucky people who adopt my fosters (Rusty and Bandit).

Angela, Ontario, Canada