First walk with harness

Today I was lucky enough to be the first person to get to go outside with the dog in harness. This walk was a short 4 blocks with the trainer holding the leash while I held the handle of the harness and gave the commands. The first set of commands we have learned is forward, right, left and around for a 180 degree turn around. There are many more commands to come. We got the dog to find the curb, up up to forward onto the side walk after finding the far side curb. So that was pretty fun. Bogart was being distracted by the other trainer who he had a strong bond with. Will certainly take some time to get used to following a dog and trusting a dog but I think Bogart will have earned my trust (and I his) by the end of the program.


Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse in the afternoon. Considering that a huge branch had been blown off the tree in front of the school blocking the entire road. the winds were up to 100 km per hour. with this in mind I could understand why the trainers didn’t want to take us out in the afternoon again.

The afternoon was pretty laid back, doing a bit more harness fitting and hallway walks. We finished up by doing obedience and working on getting the dog to go into the harness. Bogart was stubborn to begin with but as we were about to give it a rest he put his head through the harness when it was more at my side then in front of him. He got much love for that little step forward.

Due to the bad weather I have been concerned that Bogart is getting a bit hyper (i.e.: not listening) due to not having enough exercise or walks outside. I asked if I could let him run in the off leash courtyard they have here since I thought that would also help with the bonding. I was told I could do it on Sunday around 10am so I’m sure Bogart will enjoy that.