The girls, Decker and I went on another four mile (1 hour) power pack walk this morning. He did excellent until we turned onto on road. Apparently there was a jogger approaching from the rear. Decker was nervous about it and kept turning to see him. I just kept correcting him until he quit looking back and started concentrating on the walk.

Later this morning, we had a friend come over to the house for a visit. I instructed our friend not to look in Decker's face, so not to challenge him or make him real nervous. Things went OK with him until our friend pushed Decker a little too far. He started growling and was immediately taken to the ground and bitten with my hand. Decker was not real comfortable with our friend, but this visit was good because our friend was not afraid of Decker in the least. Decker needs to feel that energy. A little later we were playing with the girls and Decker on leash was beside me. The play got close to Decker, and he half-a s tried to bite our friend's foot. Granted. his foot did get real close to Decker, and I know that Decker's buttons had been pushed. But unless he makes mistakes, and gets corrected for them, he will never be rehabilitated.

This visit was real good for Decker in that respect. He growled several separate times, and got corrected. I noticed that Decker was trying to avoid our friend. Perhaps this is one of the first steps in his rehab. Dogs have four responses to stimuli; flight, fight, avoidance, submission, in that order. Decker has done the first two responses, and is starting the third. I can't wait for the last!