I am so pretty

Bella had Spa Day today.

Bella had Lesson #2 last week

And she - and I! - did very well. She walks better on the leash and I am getting more comfortable being the Alpha.
But training is exhausting.

The bed covers have arrived

Rectangular bed

Round bed

Even the cats like them.

Riley "helps" me type

Bella's training

I finally decided it was time to rein in Bella's "enthusiasm" while on the leash and I also needed her to learn to jump in and out of the car. Up until now she has been afraid to jump in the back seat of my SUV and once there afraid to jump out. She is excellent once she is in the car.
She also still pulls a lot when she is leash walking and lunges and barks at other dogs and people.
So I approached Tracy from Pals Inn Pet Resort for some help. Tracy is a trained animal behavioral expert and dog trainer.
Bella had her first lesson last week and did very well. Within minute, Tracy had her jumping in and out of the hatch of my car. She's not crazy about having the hatch closed though so I pushed the back seats down and now she has the entire back of the car to herself. I put a bed in there for her too.
Then we dd some leash walk training. Again, Bella was a little lady. She walked well for both me and Tracy and she was polite when she met up with other people and other dogs.
So, I bravely tried it on my own Saturday to see how she would do.

We went early because it was cooler and I thought we would run into less people.

I also walked her around the block here at the house since that would be our usual route if this continued to work.

The first two legs of the walk were fine.

There was another couple walking their two dogs about a block away from us and Bella didn't even seem to notice them.

She walked well on the leash with very little pulling and listened to me when I told her not to pull.

Then as we rounded the turn and were heading right I saw a man walking his dog to my left heading toward us about a 1/4 of a block away.

Bella saw him too and started barking, growling, and lunging. It took everything I had to pull her in the direction we needed to go and distract her.

Oh, and did I mention he was walking a friggin' mastiff!!!!!!!!

Yep, Bella wanted to take on a small rhinoceros. 

So we are on to Lesson #2 on Thursday.