Coco the wonder dog aka The Ginger Ninja

Met up with this stunner again today to progress his loose lead walking. What a star. He did so well especially with a kamikaze squirrel running around in one of the trees.

I'm already using less treats this week but reinforcing his behaviour with praise now. It is so important to avoid bombarding our dogs with cues - let them choose to follow us and reinforce this when they do. We need to make sure we are relaxed and calm too - dogs pick up how we are feeling and if we are impatient or stressed - it will affect their behaviour and responses.

After a few repetitions in the familiar area we moved on to the car park. A difficult task for Coco as he thought he was going off in one of the cars.

Next, out onto the street. Although Coco is choosing to follow me and to interact, he is not sniffing or interacting with his environment. He is still on alert for any possible "threats" (or squirrels)! Calm, relaxed sniffing will come next as he starts to feel more comfortable.

It is essential to set dogs up for success and to work at their pace. Coco is coming on leaps and bounds but if we try to rush it or take him somewhere too busy, he will struggle to concentrate. First we teach the connection and then we slowly introduce more and more stimulating environments.

Remember the four C's 

• Calm
• Connection
• Choices
• Confidence

This is how we finished our session - snog and cuddle time ;)