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A good trick to get my mutt to walk nicely at my side is to give him something to carry in his mouth. Since he is a retriever, carrying is serious business. I try to avoid tennis balls and give him something like a stick or water bottle. Carrying the stick becomes Ace’s job, and he does not pull ahead or stop to sniff. His whole walk changes when he is “working.” His head is up, and he carries his body proudly.

Ace is doing well heeling with me. Now he needs to learn to heel when someone else wants to take him for a walk. It makes sense, Ace heels better with me because he’s used to walking with me. It’s an event if Josh or someone else comes on a walk! We’ll be working on that in the next week.

Ace’s cairn friend Radar is staying with us for a day or two, so that will be perfect for Ace to practice heeling with another dog.

This is day 18 of my 30-day challenge to work with my dog on loose-leash walking. Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts.

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This is Sasha, a shepherd mix who is waiting with 4 Luv of Dog Rescue in Fargo for a forever home.

This dog loves to jump up and give anyone kisses! She loves all people, and everyone comments about her tail that never quits wagging. Sasha is really optimistic despite all she’s been through. She has not given up on humans.

Sasha has been waiting for a home for a long time. She was adopted for a few weeks in October but then she was returned. From the shelter, I take her for runs and started taking her to a beginning obedience class.

Someone willing to train and walk Sasha on a daily basis would make a great home for her. She is eager to learn and only wants to make people happy. She already knows sit, stay and down. She often looks up at me with her tail wagging as if to say, “I’m being a good dog, right?”

Sasha responds well to heeling when someone gives her the leadership she needs. She is very strong and will pull on the leash if she can get away with it. I started using a prong collar with her and she responds very well to it. She tries to run up to any dog, which doesn’t always go well if the dog doesn’t match her energy. Sasha also has an instinct to chase small animals like squirrels so she needs to be supervised around other pets.

Like any dog that’s living in a shelter, Sasha has lots of pent-up energy. But after I take her for a run she begins to calm down. Imagine how good she would be if someone took her for a long walk every day!

A great thing about Sasha is how quiet and still she is in the car. When I took her to obedience class she rode in a kennel in the back and waited patiently. She is obviously kennel trained and jumps right in.

Sasha is a good girl and deserves a home. You can read more about Sasha on her profile at 4 Luv of Dog. If you would like more information about Sasha or are interested in adopting or fostering her, send me an email at Lindsay@thatmutt.com.

I might feature a local homeless dog on my blog every week or month. What do you think of that idea?

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Your dog is perfect, right? It’s all the other dogs that are annoying.

I love dogs, but I can see why some people don’t. Most dog owners just don’t control their dogs, and that makes it really easy for others to continue disliking, fearing and misunderstanding dogs. Everyone who reads this blog loves or at least tolerates dogs. But that’s just it, we tolerate dogs owned by our friends, family members and neighbors because we love dogs. Imagine what it’s like for the people in our lives who don’t love dogs.

Last week I asked you what you tolerate from your own dog. But now I want to know what you tolerate or don’t tolerate from other people’s dogs. Even as a dog lover, I get annoyed with dogs all the time. For example:

Big dogs that jump up at my face. In most cases the owners have done nothing to teach the dog not to jump. Instead they act annoyed, like it’s the dogs fault. And although little dogs are more likely to jump on me, it’s the big dogs that test my patience. It’s probably because I assume a small dog will jump. We all know it’s highly unlikely that the owner of a small dog will teach the dog any manners at all.

Dogs that lack any self control. When friends or family members visit with their dogs big or small, the dogs typically run all over like they own the place, including the furniture. When I visit them, the same happens in their own homes. It’s chaotic and stressful for everyone.

Dogs that chase my cats. I understand why dogs want to chase cats! But it’s a big pain in the ass to feel obligated to lock my cats up when someone’s dog is visiting.

How about you? What is most annoying about the dogs you know?

Friends and family of mine who read this are strongly encouraged to rip apart Ace and I. Believe me, I know my mutt is far from perfect. The same is true of his owner.

Email your dog-related question to me at Lindsay@thatmutt.com, and I’ll post it for others to answer. Click here to read all my weekly question posts.

(Image from flickr.com. I steal photos from Flickr all the time. If people don’t want their photos used, they shouldn’t post them on the Internet.)