Who is walking who?

One of the things I see a hundred times a day are dog owners being dragged around the streets by their dogs! The dogs are out in front pulling their humans to every lamppost and clump of grass and barking and pulling towards other dogs and people! If you stop for just a moment though and think of what you are saying to your dog you might change your mind!

When out in front the world is a scary place, the dog is deciding on direction and when, where and what it does, now if you have a calm and placid dog it will not be too much of a problem. But if your dog is either aggressive or timid then you could be storing up a lot of problems.

The aggressive dog. Walking ahead and on the lookout for trouble. Anything that comes near is going to get it! Everything is a threat and everyone needs watching. The dog will pull the owner along and ears up and body bristling this dog will cause trouble, probably bark and try to get at other dogs and will get attacked by other dogs because of its attitude. The timid dog surprisingly will do just the same but this time it will be in a desperate attempt to protect its weak owner and to make the threat go away or to bluff others to stay away. Either way your dog is not viewing you as in control and your leadership is undermined. The dog will be under stress and the walk will not be a calm and pleasant experience for either of you!

So what to do? Well first thing is to get your dog to walk at your side and be under your control. This can be achieved by either body language and energy which is my prefered way, or using tools such as Halti or Canny Collars or other anti-pull devices which can even up your lack of control.

Second, be in control and don't allow your dog to dictate the walk. Don't allow it to sniff and drag you around, walk from A to B and then allow the dog some free time and then walk back again under control.

I will go into more depth on future blog entries but in the meantime please just get some control of your dog and you will reap the benefits in many other ways!

Happy training!

Steve

Come back Millie

Millie the English Setter is a lovely dog and has no real behavioural problems, however her owner was reluctant to let her off lead in the park if there was a road near as she was struggling to get her back!

We put Millie onto a training line (for her owners benefit, she didn't need it! :) and allowed her to wander free and play with two other dogs that we had present. As Millie got to the area of the road, her owner called her back and because she was on the line and there was no real danger, the owner could call in a warm, higher pitched and relaxed voice although with excitement in it; which caused Millie to return every time.

The only time she didn't recall was when I experimented with the line off and the owner became nervous and the recall became a shrill shout which was not going to be listened to! Once the owner was reminded to relax and try in the good voice, Millie came flying back and even took some shmacko as a reward, which she doesn't normally do!

So the moral is, if you are unsure about your dog, put he/she onto a training line, this isn't admitting defeat, just going back to training mode which is the best way to get the results you want. Use a high and loving voice tone and if your dog looks at you but doesn't recall, run in the opposite direction calling in the same excited voice and watch your dog fly back! I would also recommend a toy to encourage recall and to build the owner dog bond and I will do a post about that in the future!

(P.S. Click here to see some training lines from the lookafteryourdog shop)

Happy training

Steve

Taz - the anxious fighter

I spent a very enjoyable morning today working with two dogs and their owners, both with different issues. The first dog Taz is a small brown Terrier who has a dog on dog aggression issue. Taz will fly into any dog that he decides poses a potential threat without too much warning. This has caused a lot of anxiety with his owners which perpetuates the problem.

Taz is basically a nice dog with anxiety issues which he tries to hide by getting in first. This was made worse by him not being castrated at an early age, allowing him to develop his hormone driven agenda and ingraining his aggression into a habit.

Now he has been castrated we can actually influence him on a normal dog level; rather than competing with hormones which often is impossible to do! First thing was to put him on a 30 feet line for his and the other dogs safety! You have a duty and a moral obligation not to hurt another dog if you can avoid it! It is unfair for peoples loved dogs to be bitten unnecessarily! It is also essential the dog is on a training line so you can control the speed and intensity of their meetings, as this can cause attacks by itself! That done we let him meet pretty much every decent dog we could find and control the meetings with a tug on the line and a distracting jab if he tried to bully the other dog! The majority of dogs passed without problem and only occasionally did he try to dominate another dog.

I handed the line to Taz's owner who accidentally got the line caught and he flew for an English Setter called Millie that he had been passive with all the way before. This show the power of the energy the owner exerts and also the pressure on a lead that can cause a fight.

Disagree with this behaviour, free the dog and off we go again. Don't isolate the dog from the one it attacked as this reinforces the reason the dog did it in the first place which was to drive it off! Instead put them back together and carry on in a relaxed vigilant manner.

Taz came on in leaps and bounds and although only one day and many more are required, breaking the bad habit will free him from the stress of constant battle and he can go back to being a calm, settled member of your family!

I'll let you know about the other dog Millie on the next post!

Happy training! Steve