Max showed off some really great progress today when encountering unfamiliar dogs at the park.

Among several passing dogs, and although he was concerned with many, he was mostly able to resist barking and recalled back to me in most situations.

At the very end, as we neared the end of a path at the parking lot, I spotted two dogs coming against us, and one was a dog that got a barking reaction out of Max earlier in our walk.

I backtracked quickly and tried to find some space where we could stand on the side of the trail. It wasn’t much space, but we got about 5 – 7 feet between Max, myself, and the passing dogs.

With some reassuring encouragement and tasty hot dogs each time Max returned his focus to me after noticing the dogs, MAX ACTUALLY MANAGED TO LET THE TWO DOGS WALK BY WITHOUT EVEN A GRUMBLE!

It was awesome to see. Great job, Max! On the way home he ‘ruffed’ up some college kids from my car window while they crossed the street, but hey, no dog’s perfect.

Despite his great performance, it was no doubt stressful for Max so I gave him a whole afternoon of peace and quiet. A few photos below.