I think Raz has hit a turning point in his training. He's actually starting to listen. I can say stop or come here and after a moment's hesitation, he'll do it. Now, there's still times when he'll weigh his options "have unbounded joyous fun" vs. "probably get in trouble" and dance off to live it up while he can. More and more he opts for doing what he's told. The big success lately is getting him to walk without a leash. We walked the five miles into work yesterday and for the last 3/4 of a mile he walked next to me without a leash. He manage to keep his focus despite a noisy group of crows picking over trash forty feet away and a young girl a couple of feet away at a bus stop. When we reached the parking lot I had him sit, told him he was a good dog, and said he was free. He danced around as if laughing, did a couple high speed laps, and then jauntily trotted ahead of me to the office door.

This morning we tried an even longer stretch, walking down the rails to trails and then along a busy side street. He did great for the first mile or so, but then his interest in stopping to smell things overcame his interest in keeping up with me and I finally put him on the leash. Still, contrasted with the Raz of last year, he's doing remarkably well.