Most of today’s walk with Koda was an exercise in frustration. That was the point. We worked on two things today: letting me go out the door first (ha!) and keeping the leash slack. Koda knows, before we go for a walk she has to sit still so I can “get her dressed” in her collar. She’s willing to do that, and she will happily sit still and let me walk away with my back to her when we’re playing a treats game out back. But when it’s time for our walk, when my hand touches the door handle, her brain says “stay!” but her legs can’t help but move. Whoever goes out the door is the leader, and I want her following the leader, not the other way around. She did much better in the loose leash department. I held her tightly at heel across the street and down the hill, and reminded her it was a “working” walk. We got on a trail, and she tried to start pulling and meandering, but every time she pulled, I held her and slowed to a crawl. Once the leash was loose again, we would walk. As soon as she pulled, we went much slower. Koda knows this exercise and to her credit quickly did the math to understand that in trying to go faster we were actually going much slower. She got that. She paced me comfortably without straining. I was very proud. For about 20 feet. And then a rustle of the leaves, and her puppy instincts took over. Math out the window. It’s expected that she’s excitable and curious at her age. She will KNOW what it is she’s supposed to do long before she WANTS to do it.