Recently, I have been struggling to retrain Koa to be less “dominant” out on our walks. He’s typically a very easy-going pup but when he’s on a leash he can be a little barky. He pulls on the leash, barks uncontrollably, and can look rather ferocious to the unsuspecting dog owner. Two weeks ago, I took him to the neighborhood park and let him run free with his leash still attached. He was doing great until he decided to start barking and showing his teeth to this little gray dog. His owner grabbed Koa by the leash and yelled at him. Then for the next 30 minutes I got a lecture from this supposed expert about how I have to do this and that to correct this terrible behavior. *sigh* What a downer.

So, I’ve been going back to the same park across the street where I’ve met a group of dog owners who hang out there every evening. Luckily the mean dog guy hasn’t been there all week and apparently he has lectured each and every owner that goes there for one thing or another. I guess I’m not the only one.

For the past week, Koa has met a new dog each day and it’s hit or miss whether he’s going to bark at him/her or just sniff and move on. They all play off leash and I’m a hesistant to let him go so we’ve been walking around on leash or standing at the perimeter just watching. After a while, I got to get to know the owners and I’ve been staying out longer than usual in order for Koa to get more comfortable with all the dogs and owners. They all know his name now and bring him treats.

I also bought a new collar for him to help correct his behaviors. It’s a German-made “pinch collar” that looks like metal spikes around his neck. He’s so muscular around the neck that the average choke collar wasn’t doing anything but hurting my hand when I pulled. So, I bit the bullet and got the evil-looking collar and it’s starting to work. I only have a yank quickly and he usually stops whatever he’s doing and gives me a look like he’s saying “alright!!” I’ve also stopped leaving food out all day and only feed him in the evening when I can be the “alpha dog” and control his feedings.

He was doing rather well until yesterday when he was barking at everything that moved. I was so embarrassed. I felt like the mom at daycare that has the kid with a hitting problem. In fact, his barking was so out of control that when he finally calmed down, there were only two dogs left at the park. How sad. How pathetic.

Well, this evening, I went back to the park and told myself that he’s not going to get better unless I keep trying. We slowly made out way around the park to where most of the dogs were hanging out. We stood at the edge and I let each and every one of them come around to sniff Koa. He just stood there and even whimpered a little as if he wanted to go play. So I walked him to the center of the grassy area and let go of the leash. He zoomed around and chased the other dogs and looked as happy as can be. He even went around to each owner to greet them and got some treats. I couldn’t have been more pleased. The wanker was behaving and playing well with others. One owner actually came up to me and said, “We don’t think Koa’s aggressive. He’s just barky. He’s doing great today.”

As we walked home, the group of owners all put their dogs on their leashes and started to follow us home. They were actually on their way to the corner bar to grab some drinks and invited us to come along. I said I’d take a rain check but in the meantime we were quite a sight to see…6 people with 6 dogs on leashes and Koa was one of them. He wasn’t barking or pulling or causing any trouble. Did we have a breakthrough?! Or will my wanker be back tomorrow for some more trouble? We’ll just have to wait and see.