Järavallen, me, Mikael, Ingela, Anette with Manuel Golda and Arnold. Heavy wet snow-fall. The dogs - happy and running like crazy. Especially Manuel since the snow does not stick to his paws or legs (like on poor Arnold). I noticed that the obedience-level on Manuel has decreased and honestly, we have been lazy for a while, since he has matured and all has worked fine for years now, and  bla bla bla.... 

So what happens? Golda goes first, smells something, Arnold second, smells the same, Manuel third - lifts his nose for half a second, and whoooosh follows the track right into the bushes - gone. YES it is my fault, YES it is NOT OK, NO it is not fair towards the wild animals or other people walking their dogs. A reminder of that obedience is evanescent. We, as any other owner KNOW that of course..but...but..but.. 

So a tough reminder, that luckily ended well. But I had my time of fear of him being stuck somewhere, hit by a car, meeting a responsible owner with a (perhaps aggressive)dog on the leash, hurting/stressing some animal, or just be gone. He is very independent, and the trick of walking away and hide if he is not reacting when you call for him does NOT work..."so what" he says. 

So when we gets home, there is some centimeters snow on the ground at the pavement..uuuuaaa Manuel does not want to walk there, it is WET. EEEE "hellooooo"... but running in half a meter of snow, in thorny bushes is OK! Well, the Akita way says it is more than OK - if worth the while - you know, it is all about prioritizing.

Well HE might have that kind of prioritization but even though we let him have his saying in many discussions, here, he has no saying. This will have consequences regarding training and boundaries. He will still be allowed to be off leash, but not as far away from me as before, the "mental leash" will be shortened so that it will not break. /Charlotte