Update: everything cleared by Wednesday. The roof will have to be repaired on the place where it hit and bounced off but so far it appears no damage inside (no rain damage noted inside beneath the dinged area on roof).
Good news / bad news. The good news, and one I am not ashamed to praise and thank God for, is the rotten tree behind / beside the Training Center (next to the alleyway that you can use to drive around the building) finally snapped at the base and came down in the 2nd storm today — just hitting the corner of the roof above my office (by the back door) and rolled down onto the parking lot. The praise / good news is it was leaning towards the building and if it went down the direction it was leaning it would have down right through the roof square in the middle of where my office is —- but because of the direction of the winds today, it went more to the west instead and largely spared the building except the very corner of the roof, the gutter, and the soffit. Also, no vehicles were parked back there in that area at the time so no other property damage. Whew!
The bad news is the tree is laying across that alleyway blocking it and it’s covering about 1/4 of the back parking lot at the moment. Not a huge deal but will take some work to get cleaned up and the roof / soffit, etc. repaired.
The property owner has been notified and he is working on getting someone over here as soon as he can. Just be aware you may not be about to go all the way around the building if you have an appt here tomorrow (not sure how soon someone is coming to get things cleared…hopefully it will be done by tomorrow).
Why “Heel”? Most people just want their dog to stop pulling on the leash on a walk. Thats a great goal! But why is it beneficial to teach them a more structured walk / to walk in a lose-leash heel…(meaning with their head beside or slightly behind your leg…at a minimum, not walking ahead of you with no tension on the leash?
Several reasons:
1) Your dog is under control when on a walk.
2) It develops your dog’s ability to focus, concentrate, and to practice impulse and self-control.
3) It is mentally and physically taxing (therefore tires them out more).
4) You and your dog become like dance partners, which is fun.
5) If you have a dog who is reactive with other dogs and/or people, it puts you in position to be the first to encounter a perceived “threat” instead of the dog which can help toward addressing that reactivity.
You don’t want to hold (restrain your dog) to walk in heel…there is no training in restraining and it will only cause the dog to pull more.
“But I live in the country and we don’t walk in a neighborhood”… okay, but you do at least take them to the vet, right? It’s a lot safer if the dog comes into the vet’s office under control… they have a job to do when walking in heel which can help ease anxious thoughts.
All dogs from toy breeds to giant breeds can benefit from learning how to walk in heel.
Do they have to do the entire walk in heel? NO! In fact, I don’t recommend that. Stop and let them sniff and explore a bit periodically on the walks, let them potty if it’s a longer walk. However, you want to practice it and build some endurance in maintaining a heel.
Every obedience training program I offer starts with learning how to teach a dog to heel and to not pull when giving them more leash to explore a little. If you don’t need a full obedience program but your walks are miserable, check out my Walk Doctor program that just focuses on the walk.
Here is what just 7 days of learning an
Whole Dog University, LLC works with dogs 8 weeks through senior adults with early puppy training, obedience training and problem behavior resolution.
