Training a terrier - (I do believe) it is possible

Patience, patience, patience ... We're making slow but steady progress with Khloe by continually praising and/or rewarding her for good behavior and for making eye contact with us as we're working on teaching her "watch me." Those rare instances when I am able to divert her attention back on me during her "hyper-reactive" behaviors feel like such a huge accomplishment. Khloe has a number of triggers that send her into crazy, lunging, barking terrier mode - a passing vehicle, or pretty much anything with wheels, is one of the biggies. One day I decided to take Khloe out to sit near the road with me, and with a pocketful of treats we'd work on sit, down, and "watch me" when a vehicle passed. This went well until a motorcycle passed ... I got her calmed down again for a few more vehicles and then, what the ... ? I couldn't believe my eyes. What I initially thought was a police officer pulling a driver over was actually a police officer just driving very slowly and escorting--wait for it--a small group of runners, followed by an ambulance and flanked by a motorcycle, and I think there was also a bicycle in the mix, too. Plus traffic was backed up behind this group--more motorcycles, of course, which were allowed to pass the runners and caused traffic to slow in the opposite direction almost in front of us ... trucks, one with a boat trailer. All I could do was laugh my ass off while I waved to the nice police officer and held tightly to my crazy, lunging, barking terrier's harness. Little did I know we would have a front row seat for the "trigger parade." :)

How?

How a person can ultimately decide the best thing they can do for a dog is to leave him tied up on the roadside then drive away is beyond me. Earlier this week I came upon a dog in this very situation. My first call was to the business owner to confirm the dog wasn't known, after which I contacted emergency services to arrange for the dog to be picked up by dog control. A very sweet boy, a beagle much like our Lola, I stayed with him while waiting for dog control. I could hear him whimpering as I parked my vehicle, obviously scared and confused, and he continued to tremble as I petted and comforted him. He sure did enjoy having his shoulder blade scratched though, and the double-shoulder-blade scratch elicited a roll onto his side for a belly rub.

Of course Khloe got extra kisses and belly rubs that night.