It’s been awhile since you’ve heard about Mojo. No wonder really, she’s a teenager now and like most parents of teenage children we don’t really want to talk about it. You see, our perfect angel is testing boundaries and has been a little embarrassing on walks, which truly reflects poorly on the neighborhood veterinarian (and I thought dragging my sad 3-legged puppy down the street looked bad). The good news is that the teenage years last only a few short months, she never asks to borrow the car and she isn’t dating any questionable men. She is also the cutest thing at night snuggled in bed – nothing could be sweeter.

Two months ago Mojo finished her Back on Track physical therapy for the year. She had so much fun. She enjoyed her plethora of snacks and went into her usual relaxed trance while Dr. Shaw worked on her back. Then came the fun part – pool time! Mojo loves to splash in the underwater treadmill and went out with a bang on this session. She only seemed bothered by us stopping her to make her walk on the treadmill – sigh…work. There was plenty of cheating going on with her standing on the edge and she took every opportunity to splash! She will look forward to going back in February after her 1st birthday.

We also began an intense training program where both DeeDee and Mojo had to work for every piece of kibble. They loved it and it really helped focus DeeDee. Mojo learned a lot too and just like with her exercises she picked up the commands right away. Then it was out into the real world and things went bad. Pulling, lunging and barking at people, other dogs and the neighborhood crows. There was no focusing her outside. So finally I spoke with a trainer. Tamela Cantor had offered to come out and give a demonstration so I took her and her colleague Paige Allison from My Dog Walker up on the offer and they came out for a lesson. I was impressed by how well trained our dogs actually are. Paige helped by having us use a Gentle Leader on Mojo – a miracle! And it was also so helpful to have someone watch us train. Really Mojo doesn’t need to be trained – we needed a refresher on how to train her.

So, we are far from perfect but we’ve had some successful walks down Hawthorne with a lot of “leave it” commands and very few freak outs on Mojo’s part (we’re not counting the episode of the squealing child running by). She’ll greet people that want to say hi and will walk by those that don’t. I do think she’s getting it. Once we are at 90% success we’ll try walking the dogs together – that’s where things get tricky. I’m guessing that Mojo gets protective when DeeDee’s around and DeeDee is great at setting off a bark fest!

It’s one day at a time with them and it just makes me appreciate all of our clients that have puppies and what they go through. In the end it is so worth it to have a friendly, well trained and well socialized dog that you can share your life with. We love Mojo – even when we don’t love what she’s doing – and are so lucky to have her in our lives. I remember that every night when she’s snoring next to me with her nose in my eye.