Gambit & Manners

Ever since Cameron and I relocated, it has been an on-going battle with Gambit and walks. He has bad habits to say the least; he pulls, lunges at both people and other dogs, and sometimes acts out aggressively to dogs, which worried us quite a bit. For a few weeks, he was getting better with these behaviors, but that was short lived and actually got worse. My theory is he has become comfortable with our area and is getting a bit territorial. In the past few weeks, it's been rather difficult controlling him on walks, especially when another dog comes our way. Cameron and I talked about maybe getting a trainer involved, but ultimately decided trying out a gentle leader leash/collar before we went that route. When I had to order some books off Amazon, we decided to go ahead and get it one and also purchased a pheromone spray that helps deter bad behaviors.

We got the gentle leader and the spray yesterday, and holy crap, do they work well! After about four sprays, Gambit just has to see the bottle and he stops that behavior. In case you're worried, the spray isn't harmful to him (it smells like hairspray to me). You simply spray near him and it makes him stop dead in his tracks. The first time I sprayed it at him, he immediately stopped and gave me a look of "what was that? I don't like that at all." Cameron used it on his walk today and said that after he barked at a dog and was sprayed, he didn't bark again. On my walk with him this evening, he sat quietly while other dogs passed him on the sidewalk.

I can't express how night/day this change in behavior is, and I'm so grateful that it was a simple and relatively inexpensive solution. We're really hoping that the leader and spray will work and that Gamby's behavior will improve for the long haul. Maybe we'll start feeling more comfortable introducing him to other dogs and he can start making friends!

Since he had a very good walk, Gambit got a doggie ice cream treat (which he's a fan of, cardboard cup and all).

To continue the Gambit post, here are some other fun photos.

This is how I see him in the morning before I go to campus if he's in his chair: 

 

But, if he's not, this is usually how he looks: 

 He's a fan when I do this (foot bellyrubs):

We need to buy more Gambit-proof toys. I picked this football/raccoon thing up for him and an hour later...

It's like he know's he did that too quickly.

And even when we're just watching TV, he's got to be in the action too.

What a cutie!