Up above, unless you are viewing you computer upside down you will see one of my favorite photos of Barney. It is a shame the screen got in the way but the fact is if not of for the screen he would not be posed in such a way. At this point in his life his ears both have popped and the leash he is wearing was a constant part of his life, for a while he hated it.

I was told you have to train a pup to walk with a leash and to do that you should walk your pup in the grass, actually it is not walking because pups don’t like the leash so you have to drag them. So dragging is what I did and by doing so the at the time girlenemy had many choice words for me but what had to be done had to be done.

The leash turned out to be more of a pain for me. It drove me nuts taking him for a walk because the leash would always get in the way. He no longer wears a leash because I made of point of training him to walk next to me without one. It took more work then one can imagine because being the Westie that he is his instincts instructed him to run after any and all rabbits, birds or any other rodents.

Test

Where I lived at the time was a pond with all kinds of ducks. I would sit down next to him, take off his leash while holding him back from chasing the ducks all the time saying no. I would let him go and he would chase, sometimes even going into the pond. When he did this he got scolded, after a few times of getting in trouble he would wait about 10 seconds until he could not hold back and chase them again. Over a few weeks he finally understood and he got to the point he understood he had to stay by me until I said “okay” or “go”…