I got an Easy Walk harness as he was a champion puller and it has been a great success so far, but today is the first time he's walked along beside me on loose leash with his attention tuned to me. He was doing that high, bouncy, head up, proud dog walk, restraining himself from pulling ahead. It surprises me a bit as I had been slacking on his training, mostly just taking him out on a retractable leash for exercise and sniff around as he was neutered last Friday. This is the longest walk we've done where it felt he was consciously being 'well behaved'. I felt quite proud of him. I'm usually the one being dragged along hither and thither past other dog owners with their hounds trotting neatly beside them.
On another front, he has taken full advantage of the cosseting he was getting in his recovery from surgery. He hasn't been much of a couch dog, but I was having him up on the couch beside me in the evening to stroke him. Until now, I always lifted him up, but yesterday he sprang up beside me without invitation and pressed himself into the cushions against any attempts to remove him (I don't mind him being on the couch; it just has to be by invitation). I ordered him off and he squooshed in tighter. I lifted him down and within a couple of minutes he was back up again, this time bringing out the big guns and hurling limpid spaniel eyes at me. He never looks quite so cute as when he'd doing something he knows he's not supposed to. So, we've been in a battle of wills. Much springing up, much putting him down. But all in all, things are going well.
