We have officially survived a month without our dog trainer. It has been really awesome thinking back to where we were with Jackson on his first birthday and how much things have changed in the 9 weeks since then. Certainly our dog is not perfect but he is so much better behaved. Alex and I have been exchanging a lot of high fives in the last couple of weeks for many small victories.
We are now well equipped with tricks {and treats!} to keep Jackson in line while we’re on walks. Our walks are substantially shorter now, but they’re more meaningful. Typically we walk up to the park to play ball and that’s how Jackson gets his exercise.
For the most part we can now go outside without Jackson and he will remain calm and collected. This is a huge milestone, as any time we would go out and do yardwork without him he would just cry and bark until we came back inside. Our neighbors love us.
While we have seen major improvements we still have a lot of work to do. Two of the biggest things we are working on are solidifying his ability to walk nicely on a leash, chill out when he is by himself and really just extensions of our biggest victories to date.
So, overall, we are beyond thrilled with the progress Jackson has made, but he still has a ways to go!