Harley has been here for a week and one day, now. We had him to the vet yesterday, who checked him out and gave him his shot. Harley has a bit of an ear infection - in both ears, so he was prescribed an antibiotic ointment. Not including the cost of the medication, total charges were well under a hundred bucks, and that includes a fecal analysis, to ensure he doesn't have any parasites that he could pass on to Delilah. That's a helluva lot cheaper than I paid in Guelph for vet visits. What's up with that? This Staples Vet Clinic is pretty awesome. Spread the word!
Harley and I have been walking using the umbilical method - instead of holding the leash, I make a lasso and it goes around my waist. This way, he learns that I am in control, not him, and he can't jerk my arm out of its socket if he pulls suddenly. My brother has been using this method with his dog Kilo (a female Anatolian Shepherd Dog/Husky Cross) and has seen vast improvements with her pulling. Basically, the idea is to do this umbilical exercise with your dog for as much time as you can, each day, during your normal INSIDE daily activities. You walk around as you would, at the same pace, etc, and ignore the dog. This teaches the dog to look to you to see where your feet are going to be, and this in turn teaches the dog that YOU are alpha, the pack leader, and you control where he goes. This is a great theory. We'll see how it works. So far, we've done 3 or 4 walks with him attached to me, and today was twice as good as yesterday. I have yet to do any in-house umbilical exercises but that will start tomorrow. Wish us luck!
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