Learning to walk

At first I just spent time with him. He would retreat to the doghouse in his run when I arrived and would take treats only off the ground. Soon I began to work on touch with him, which required crawling into his doghouse. Next came leashing– again in his doghouse. He was uncomfortable with all of this yet put up with it quietly. The first time we left his run together, he tried to run away and panicked when he hit the end of the leash. And the second time. But he learned, and soon we began going for walks. Though this is something we tend to take for granted in a dog, Enzo didn’t know how to walk with a person. He was nervous, constantly checking to make sure I wasn’t going to attack him, and erratic, frequently running into me, getting in my way, or winding the leash around my legs. His tail was often down and there were occasional brief freakouts. But we were walking, enjoying life together and building trust slowly. His tail began to come up.