Rabbit dogs

Well, even the trainers dogs are bad sometimes. That's right; infact it seems to bring some comfort to others that my dogs are bad sometimes. But as I always say dogs will be dogs. My husband and I took all three dogs over to a nearby High School for a run this morning; this is where I usually walk Jessie because there is so much concrete (she's allergic to grass). But this morning instead of splitting up we all went to the school, Tilley loves it and Luke has not been there for years.

Being that the first thing he saw as we pulled up were three squirrels and a rabbit he was primed. Before I could open the back hatch he was whining and pacing back and forth. And being the cautious guardian that I am; I stuck my arm in as I raised the hatch knowing full well that there was a good chance Luke would forget his manners and dive out. So as a very tiny reminder I touched his leg and brought him back to reality.

With Luke leashed the whining got louder until he was allowed out. You would never know he had gone on two walks yesterday; one being a huge run in the canyon. Being reactive is at it's worse when he is highly aroused and the critters had done their job. We meandered around the parking lots and school having a nice little Sunday walk when I had a quick look around and thought I should let him off leash to let off some steam. No sooner had I unleashed the beast when rabbit darted off to the left of us and he was gone like a flash.

I wasn't too concerned as we were in a very secure area and he had headed off towards the fenced part of the school, he had to stop sometime. What was bothering me was that he was screaming his head off while chasing the rabbit down a hallway that was acting as an echo chamber. You could hear it everywhere and anyone within a mile was surely freaked by the sound. All I could think was "I sure hope nobody is down there." Just imagine a huge dog running your way screaming, not good.

Well the rabbit lost him by the end of the walkway and he started darting around in search of his prey when I yelled. Oh he heard me because he came quick. I said nothing and let my body speak the whole thing, he quickly flew into heel position and we continued our walk. I hadn't told him that he couldn't chase after the rabbit; rabbits are fair game everywhere else. So it was my bad, not Luke's.