Rusty walks again.

Some serious progress has been made in the curing of Rusty's dominant, aggressive alpha dog syndrom. I went to Petco after work last night and bought this gem of a collar...I AM THE ALPHA DOG DAMNIT, what I say goes!!...but I digress...

Kristen suggested this collar, or a harness that clips at the chest, and since this is what I found at Petco, this is what I went with.

Actually he looked nothing like the dog on the package. That dog looks comfortable and content, Rusty looked more like he was sentenced to life in prison. He did however, walk without pulling, lunging or barking, and I was able to keep him right at my side where he could see my feet walking before his. I am the alpha dog after all (I will keep saying that so shut up!).

I tried it out just walking back and forth in front of the house at first. I was initially nervous that he could get out of it, and since I fastened the gentle lead not only to his leash, but also to his collar, I was especially concerned. He was defiant at first, thrashing his head back and forth trying to get out of the contraption, but settled down after a while. I was pleased.

We actually took a long walk last night, which I have been reading is good for his instinct. Regardless of who is leading the walk, walks satisfy a primal instinct in dogs and I could tell that he was happy to walk again even with all the initial thrashing. I haven't walked him since the biting started, so I was super happy to take him out when very few people or animals were around.

We did come across a couple of people getting into cars, a few night joggers, and a few barking dogs and he did not try to chase after anything and did not bark or lunge at all. He showed some mild interest when we passed a house with a couple of dogs in the front yard protecting their territory and he did not lunge or make a peep, he just kept up with me and the walking.

He also spent a lot of time lying at my feet yesterday and following me around. I think he is starting to get it. I hope today will be a repeat of yesterday and I hope I can keep posting good things about Rusty.