Easy Class and EZ Leash

My excuses for not blogging for over a week (long time for me) is that it was the last week of school for the kids, plus I had a show last weekend, going right into my younger daughter getting her wisdom teeth pulled. I think those are pretty good excuses, right? Hopefully, you concur.

Cabana continues to be her wonderful self. Here she is at our class at the humane society last week. We were early, and I needed to go to the bathroom (TMI?)--so I clipped her leash to the o-ring and decided to take a quick photo on my way out of the room. She seems to be looking at me like, "What the heck, Mom? Where are you going, and why are you leaving me here?" She doesn't have separation anxiety, so she just sat there calmly--but I do think she was wondering.

We have our next class later this morning. I really like the class, although I think it is way too easy for Cabana. I debated between taking Family Dog I and Family Dog II. The person on the phone encouraged me to take FDI, so that's what we signed up for. I have learned some new things in the class, but a good portion of it is review--things like sit, down, wait, watch me, and find it. There are still 3 more classes left, so I hope it gets a bit more challenging. Who knows, if I had gone straight to FDII, I might have felt lost and discouraged.

Here's Cabana outside the humane society, in front of their beautiful mosaic mural. Cabana is wearing an EZ Head Halter and Leash. The Guide Dogs for the Blind trainer that lives in our neighborhood lent me one of these for Cabana, and I really liked it. Although it's very similar to the head collar, I love the fact that there is absolutely no pressure or tightness around the top of her head UNLESS she's pulling. The nose portion is always supposed to be quite loose, either on the regular head collar or this EZ Halter.

I also like how soft and silky the EZ Halter is. It's a tubular jersey webbing, instead of the usual nylon or polypropylene. It doesn't leave a telltale mark around the dog's muzzle. And in some ways, it's very convenient to have both the halter and the leash all-in-one. The only drawback with the EZ Halter is that it can be a bit challenging to put on, especially if your dog is being squirrelly. For example, when it's time to leave the dog park. What I've started doing is just looping one end through Cabana's flat collar, then walking a little ways away from any distractions. Then, she's calmer and more tolerant of my fumbling and bumbling to get it onto her properly.

If you are interested, you can purchase an EZ Halter and Leash here. I was too cheap to buy one, though, and just made my own. But I might break down and buy one yet because my webbing is just not as soft as the original. I'm waiting, though, because this Family Dog I class is SUPPOSED to teach us to walk with a loose leash using just a flat collar, in which case I won't need this EZ halter. We'll see....