This month I made an effort to take Alpine out in public more as I know this is an area of her training that has been neglected due to COVID-19. Initially, this meant taking her out early in the morning before the stores got too busy. This was important in setting her up for success and slowly introduce her to high distraction environments. Alpine LOVES people and at times forgets her manners when seeing people. I started with rewarding her for ‘checking in’ when seeing people. She quickly learned that she can look at people and her surroundings but needs to regularly check in with her handler. Last weekend, we went to a grocery store at peak hours. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a big step forward in her training. This weekend she had her best outing yet! She maintained a loose leash throughout our shopping trip and ignored people when they walked by or told her what a good dog she is. Alpine exceeded my expectations on this visit, and I couldn’t be more proud of her!
Submitted by: Stephanie
