Making progress feels pretty good!

Salvador just went for a morning walk - it's pretty freezing today, but it has been for the past two days and I could see if he stayed in one more day he was going to go a little crazy.

For the past month I've been gradually getting him to listen to the command 'COME' when out on walks. Because we live on the farm, he doesn't go on the lead when we go on walks and being the smell-orientated dog that he is, he often runs way ahead and never came when I called. So, treats in pocket, I started calling him back every once in a while and then rewarding him.

As I've said, I've been doing this for about a month now, gradually increasing the amount of times I call him back and also doing so in situations where I can see he is too excited by a smell or sound - you want your dog to come no matter what - and this morning we had a break through! That moment when you think, 'all the work has paid off'!

On our way home he sped ahead as usual and I heard the people living up the hill's dog barking. So I call him back and he eventually comes, but as we walk on I see the dog, which happens to be a German Shepard, was outside the gate playing with the neighbor's son... Now, Salvador, in this case, would normally rush towards this dog with arrogance written all over his face, but this dog, being much bigger and potentially dangerous, is not the one you want to mess with (this is not Salvador's way of thinking, but mine...) SO, there was a brief bark and a bit of a rumble and I called him back thinking to myself 'pff, like he's going to listen to you now!' And low and behold, he actually came!
I gave a treat and said 'sit, wait', as calmly as possible and he did! Eventually, with me holding on to his collar - for fear of jinxing his good behavior - we walked past and we were off home!

Now perhaps I'm being over exited about this, but if you have ever tried to teach your dog to do something  you previously thought was going to be very tricky and it eventually, after a lot of repetition and patience, paid off, you will know this glorious feeling of accomplishment!
I guess what I'm trying to get through here is to stick with slowly incorporating new lessons and tricks for your dog. BE PATIENT, CONSISTENT, CALM AND CLEAR and it WILL pay off!