Monday, April 16, 2007
To Heel or Not To Heel..

My human and teacher have worked diligently to teach me all sorts of interesting and apparently useful tasks. Most I went along with readily because it seems to make everyone so happy. As you know keeping the humans happy is a never ending job but one we dogs must do. If the humans aren't happy they can be very boring to live with.

With all my talents and skills you'd think something as trivial as heeling wouldn't be such an issue for my human. After all could Lassie push the elevator buttons for you, I think not! Yes this issue of heeling keeps coming up and this is where I put my paw down. All four paws are down in fact. I do not want to heel. I can be just as stubborn as any human.

I just don't see the point of walking at my humans' side. She's slow and waddles a bit when she walks. When she uses the scooter we do get around faster but I still insist I should go first. It's for the best that I go first really, someone needs to make sure there are no dangers lurking around the corner or that some rabid squirrel isn't going to dart down the tree and attack without provocation.

I also see it as my duty to sniff the ground to see who has come before us and if there are any other potential threats in the area. Plus if I happen to find a scrap of food, well we don't want the human to step in it, so I should just eat it real quick – don't ya think?

Granted I used to be much worse about pulling ahead of my human but after way to many hard yanks on the leash I realized I was only hurting myself and my human seemed to be getting a lot stronger in that arm. So now I will walk ahead until I feel the slightest tension on the leash. It's just enough that I know I'm at the end of the leash but won't get yanked back right away.

For a short while this seemed to work, at least for me. As usual however, my human figured out what I was doing and changed tactics. Now if I pull ahead just a little she stops moving. I stop. Then look back at her. Then look forward again, trying to encourage her onward. I get no response; she won't even look at me! Now it's a test of wills. I sit and wait very patiently for her to move. She doesn't move. I wait, she waits. This is intolerable and rather annoying. I could be missing something interesting just ahead but she still refuses to move.

Maybe she's stuck in that spot? I walk back to investigate and once I'm at her side she gives me a treat and moves forward. What a dirty trick.

So I pull ahead again and once more she stops moving. Ok this is proving annoying and I'm pretty sure she is thinking the same thing. I move back to her side and she starts moving once more. Naturally I must then hurry to regain my position in the lead only to feel her stop moving again.

This goes on and on every time we go out and practice in public. I honestly thought that after the first 3 weeks of this I'd win this battle, I was wrong and the battle wages on. I don't know who will win in the end just yet. We are both very stubborn individuals but once this is resolved I will inform you.

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