Walking Basics Part 1

Does this look familiar?  Does your dog’s idea of a walk include pulling you down the street and your shoulder out of socket?  Do you feel like you get more of an upper body workout walking your dog than being in a gym?

One of the most common problems that I see is leash walking issues.    There are several smaller parts of the bigger picture that work together to make things more confusing to figure out how to get your dog to settle down and pay attention to you on your walk instead of dragging you from distraction to distraction.

So lets break this down into the 3 basic problems areas:

1. Nature
2. Equipment
3. Tricks of the Trade

You might look at that list and think, what does nature have to do with how my dog walking on a leash? Well the answer is…  everything.  Dogs have what is called an Opposition Reflex.  

An Opposition what you ask?  Have you never noticed when you pull one way your dog pulls another?  The Opposition Reflex is an instinct that dogs have that cause them to do this.  When something pulls or pushes on them they pull or push the opposite way.  This is a great tool to use for teaching dogs to pull sleds however it’s not so great for teaching loose leash walking.

The other part of the Nature is life’s variable reinforcement schedule.  If you have ever taken a class or worked privately with a trainer you will have hear the trainer talk about starting to change up when your dog gets a treat for the behavior.   Life has a way of doing this with leash pulling.  When we allow our dogs to pull on the leash they learn that if they keep pulling they get to go where they want.  So in their minds, it worked last time so it might work this time, or next time or the time after that, so this thought process makes them keep pulling.

It's on a daily basis that I see someone getting pulled across the street or parking lot, or park by their dogs.  The look of utter frustration on their face as they yank on the leash and yell at their dog to come back to them.  If these people would listen to me, I would tell them one piece of advice; If your dog's leash is pulled tight...  Stop walking!!!  It's really that simple.  How can it be that simple you ask?  Well think about it from the dogs point of view.  Dogs are opportunistic, simply put - if it works, they will do it. 

You take your dog outside and from the first step outside the door, your dog is at the end of the leash right?  Well what do you do?  Do you keep walking and let him go where he wants?  Dogs don't really understand the words we say to them, when you are yelling at your dog to come back, think about Charlie Brown.  Remember what the grown ups on Charlie Brown sound like?  wonk, wonk wonk...  That's what our dogs hear from us until we teach them to associate a behavior with a word. 

Dogs don't understand the difference in "good puppy, yes good dog" and "stop that right now, get back here"  To them it all sounds the same...  Wonk, Wonk, Wonk...  ohh, I must be doing something right because mom is giving me attention and I'm almost there, if I pull a little harder maybe she will walk faster...

Many parents will say...  "My dog knows better than to pull me..." but again, if you are walking with your dog and his leash it tight he has learned that pulling you is how he gets where he is going.  How does that prove that he "knows" not to pull you?  

"But I don't have time for that, we have to get from the house to the car or I will be late for..."  Another trainer that I have worked with used to have a motto...  "Consistency is the key to successful dog training"  If you decide to try and work with your dog on loose leash walking, you have to do it EVERY time the leash is on.  If you are running late for work and you let the dog pull you out to the car, but then when you get home for work you try to train him, you are not going to get any results.  This is because you have allowed him to pull you sometimes, but not others.  You are teaching him that it works sometimes, so he will keep trying to find out when it works.  I have spent the better part an hour teaching a class with loose leash walking being the main focus and then watch the person let the dog pull them all the way out to the car.  

Dog training is something that has to be put to use every day....  not just when you feel like it.

Keep an eye out for Part 2!!!

What a year!!!

It's been almost a year since I last posted on this blog.  In that year my career has taken a turn and I think I'm a much better trainer for it.  I left Atlanta, Ga and moved to Rochester NY, started my own business, and met a wonder mentor there.  Sherri Romig owner of  http://www.tailsofsuccessny.com/ really made a huge impact on me both as a person and as a trainer.  She taught me so much about positive reinforcement dog training that I will forever be grateful to her.  

I thought I was a positive reinforcement trainer in Atlanta, but after working with Sherri for a few weeks, I realized that I had so much more to learn.  I had used luring before, but Sherri taught me how to train so many behaviors without even having to touch the dog.  That kind of knowledge is a gem when working with fearful dogs, so that you can work with them without causing them more stress.  

I learned so much more about my own dog as well.  Sherri has a very holistic and natural approach to things.  Working with her made me wish I had paid more attention to my mother and grandmother when they tried to teach me about herbs and the "home remedy" way of doing things.  She sent me to a vet just outside of Rochester that leaned more towards the homeopathic ways than normal vets do.  

On our first visit Dr. Mathas was able to tell me what had been wrong with Tazie for the last few years.  His aggression had been getting worse, none of the training I did with him seemed to help much, and we even tried drugs that didn't work.  Dr. Mathas however said that he had Rabies Miasm.  Which sent me on a whole new search for knowledge and answers to my questions about Tazie and mindset about vaccines.  (more on that later)  After taking some homeopathic treatment and some time to work though our symptoms again, we seem to be making a lot of progress.  My dog is like a different dog!!  I am very happy about that!!!

I met a lot of wonderful people in Rochester and I hated to leave them, I had some good friends and clients there and some dogs that I fell in love with.  Tazie and I found some amazing hiking trails to go on and the best thing about New York....  no poisonous snakes!!! I am really going to miss that.  

I've been back home in Alabama for a little over a month now, and I'm training again.  I feel that passion for training that I had lost with so much drama in my life.  I'm glad for the drama to be gone and things to be settling back down.  Since the company that I am now training for requires a non-compete, I can't write my professional blog anymore so I thought I might pick up this one again.  I'll be adding some posts from my other blog but might water them down a bit for people that don't really want to read all about dog training, but that will still be my primary focus.  At least by working with this blog again, I am writing which sadly I had gotten away from with so much going on in my personal life.