Retention Ponds


To practice our long line work, Rye and I first went to a retention pond on Saturday evening. Retention ponds are nice because they're big empty fields that no one goes to because they're boring. This one in particular I targeted because it was next to her vet's office, and I want her to get accustomed to going there. Unfortunately I didn't get my GoPro set up right and all the video was upside down and way too dark.


This morning Rye and I went to another retention pond off of Lakeline and Treeline. This one was labeled as an actual park and there were a few batting cage fence things in the middle of the field. 


We had a good time. We only saw one jogger and another lady walking her dog from far away. We even found a tennis ball.


Since completing the 24 hour fast, Rye no longer seems to have diarrhea. She stayed in her kennel the last couple nights without incident. Her nose is healing.

We are still working on a lot of things:

  • Getting out of the car from the crate without launching outward
  • Staying beside me while walking
  • Correctly moving back to my side
She is protesting at me when putting her in place. If she's excited she'll howl and won't go to place immediately. She'll nibble at the lead or back tie when excited as well. I'm trying my best to catch and interrupt those as they come while offering more direction on what she should be doing.

This evening she has been chewing at one of her dew claws. It doesn't look bad, but her nails really need a trim. I was able to get a little off one when she was distracted, but she is still protesting with her mouth. We're now trying a Kong with jerky stuffed inside to give her some stimulation. I am supervising next to her as I type this out. So far it's a hit.

I've gathered a set of gear as an Every Day Carry for when we go out. It includes:
  • sturdy backpack with lots of straps and buckles
  • GoPro with backpack strap attachment
  • long line coiled up and dangling from a strap on the backpack
  • treat bag that holds her breakfast and roll of poop bags
  • fanny pack to hold phone and car keys
The GoPro videos from this morning were much better! I'm uploading now.

Watching the videos on how to break up a dog fight that her trainer had linked to me, I realized that if Rye is muzzled and a strange dog approaches us, we have no way to defend ourselves. Even if we do everything right, everything we're supposed to do, we can still be attacked. I began researching pepper sprays on Amazon. I looked at the reviews for sprays marketed towards defending against dog attacks but the anecdote were not favorable. Several claimed that they deterred dogs but several also said they canisters did not have enough juice and/or were too mild. My boss does cycling every day, and he said he gets chased by dogs frequently. A lot of the reviews were from cyclists or people walking their own dogs. A stupid amount of reviews were absolutely useless as they said, "Never had to use it but it makes me feel more safe!" Instead I looked at pepper spray marketed for self defense (against humans). There where a lot more helpful reviews. Most of them were success stories against dogs (though a few were scary encounters with crazy people).

I ended up getting https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXQ78C3L "SABRE Crossfire Pepper Gel" and will figure out how to attach it or carry it so it will be handy.

Tomorrow we have a lesson with Cynthia in the morning.


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