As Asa and I continue sharing our previous posts on How to Train Your Human, today we look back to the all important skill of teaching Mom and Dad to walk on a leash. However, as you read this post from August 2018, you will see our lessons were at first interrupted by a lightning fast snake! I never did figure out where that hissing noise came from, nor how it tapped me without the trainer noticing. Yet I’m happy to report despite the rude interruptions that day, Mom and Dad eventually learned polite leash walking without the need of a treadmill, as I originally thought!
Follow the Leader (August 2018)
We have finally reached the point in Mom and Dad’s training that I’ve been waiting for, polite leash walking! The reason we enrolled Mom and Dad for summer school was because of their refusal to follow Asa and myself when on a leash. There have been many times where we see a friend to greet, a menacing squirrel to chase, or even a blowing leaf to investigate, that requires us to lunge forward at full speed. Yet Mom and Dad refuse to run as fast as us, which forces Asa and myself to drag them along. It’s almost as if they are trying to stop us? Well all that will get solved starting with today’s class!
Being a firm believer in teaching by example, their trainer took my leash and we began walking around the classroom. Finally Mom and Dad could watch how leash walking should be done. I immediately noticed ferrets in a crate, and proceeded to run forward to investigate. After all, as Asa taught me in that first class, it is our responsibility to search the room for any hidden dangers for when Mom and Dad are wandering off-leash. Little did I realize though, the ferrets were not the hidden danger. A far more menacing creature was lurking!
There was a lightning fast snake hiding somewhere in the classroom! Everyone knows snakes are my kryptonite! My nemesis would wait until I was distracted and surging ahead with Mom and Dad’s trainer in tow. Then out of nowhere I would hear this hissing noise, followed by a tap to my hind end! Instantly I would turn around to confront it, but the snake was no where to be seen. At first I thought I was just imagining it. After all, the trainer didn’t seem to notice the snake. However, it continued happening, especially when I tried to lead the trainer to a presumably snake-free area. After that I cautiously walked by his side, keeping my eye on him to make sure he was ok. He may be Mom and Dad’s trainer, and a possible cat person, but it’s also my responsibility to keep him safe while tethered to me.
Eventually it was Asa’s turn to go for a walk with their trainer. I have to admit I didn’t focus on what Asa was teaching Mom and Dad. I was distracted looking for where the snake was hiding. Well that, and I was also wondering where their trainer kept his treadmills. How are Mom and Dad going to build up their endurance to run after me without some treadmill training? Then again, perhaps the trainer knows what I’ve been suspecting all along. Mom and Dad can run, they’re just lazy. Take for example when Mom and Asa got caught in a downpour last week. Asa said Mom ran really fast with him to get home before the thunder got closer. I’m not sure what the trainer told Mom and Dad about polite leash walking. All I know is I certainly have my work cut out for me this week as I lead by example helping them with their homework.
