Monday Night

It is devilishly hot here in central Illinois. My basenji boy Dash (black and white) really doesn't like to be outside when it is over about 80 degrees especially when the sun is out. My girl Magick and Akua both seem to have the basenji gene for laying out in the sun no matter what the temperature is. They both laid out in the grass in the sun for a while yesterday. Then they discovered that the sun spots in the house had air conditioned comfort too, so they then moved indoors.
We didn't train outside, as I couldn't focus, so I didn't think that it was fair to ask any of the dogs to do so. So we did some training inside. I have been working with the clicker and akua seems to get it. We have also started working on "go on". Although at this point it usually means all 3 basenjis are on the same mat! We also worked with ringing the bell. All three get that if I hold it in my hand, they should try to ring it. Once I drop the bell below their front "knees" they seem to not acknowledge its existance. So I am working more slowly towards getting the bell on the floor and them ringing it. I should have worked on this years ago with mine.
After some training the basenjis laid around on the steps. If it hadn't been so hot, I would have taken them running with the bike, but it was still to hot for that.
We waited for the sun to go down, and it was a long walk for all. My human boys refused to go outside. So it was me and the basenjis alone on the walk. I have to admit that I have let the basenjis get by with murder when I have been walking them alone. I just felt it was easier to deal with them each pulling one way or another than dealing with the pulling. I don't know if it was the heat last night, the fact that my arm was hurting or what, but I decided the days of me being pulled around by 3 basenjis had to come to a halt. So rather than going for distance, we went for "quality". By quality I mean me enjoying the walk as much as them. So anytime anyone pulled we stopped. I became a tree and waited for them to come back to me. We then moved forward again. The first few times, we only made about 2 steps before we started all over again. By the end they all got it, and when they pulled they quickly came back and stood by me. My goal for the next few nights is to get this pulling under control. After all, I feel guilty that I was lazy and let it get out of control, so I really feel obligated to at least have it on the road to being fixed.