and going for a really long walk on a pretty Spring day.
Some of you may recall that I believe Bugsy has lost some confidence in the last year. I mostly attribute it to feeling weak due to knee pain and then having to go through the surgery and restrictions. Whatever the cause he has certainly shown himself to be less confident and this has meant he has at times been reactive on leash.
The reactivity hasn't been consistent but I have been working hard to get my Bugsy back.
Over the last few weeks we have joined some other walkers with their dogs as we do our daily stroll which seems to distract him, he is clearly more relaxed walking in a pack.
We've also been reading "Scaredy Dog" and "Control Unleashed" and doing lots of short training sessions.
Which brings me to today. DH & I went out with Herr Bugsy and shortly after leaving our street I noticed one of the neighborhood ladies out with her two very large german shepherds. Bugsy wanted to run up and meet them but I kept him fairly slow.
By the time we caught up to them, they had met up with 3 labs so when we arrived there was Bugsy surrounded by 5 large dogs all sniffing his butt.
It was all fine and the only sadness was when we all went our own way.
It was my Bugsy of old whose greatest joy in life was meeting a bunch of dogs.
I felt such a wonderful sense of joy and relief.
Later in our walk we passed some runners and then we came upon a small dog that was slightly excited and barking. At first I didn't like Bugsy's body language - but then it softened and the tail wagged furiously so we went to meet this little guy too.
So all told we met 6 new dogs and he was wonderfully happy and relaxed with all of them.
We also did our longest walk since well before surgery. He was very tired and clearly sore towards the end. When we got in I gave him Traumeel and he rested. At the moment he is out stalking squirrels so I believe him to be fine.
When he gets up tonight for his final business of the day we will know for sure.
Hopefully the limping of last week is behind us and we are now on the path to a play date!
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