· By Minou Tpain
Author: Denise Partlow
Instagram: @modernk9 Carolinas
I see this all the time, owners tell me they have worked on walking with their dog by using the turn around method- when the dog pulls, they correct, they stop, they turn around and keep going but this method often doesn’t work because it’s teaching the dog the wrong pattern.
In this scenario we’re teaching the dog that when the owner stops & corrects, the dog should come back to the owner and then continue on their way. Within a few seconds the dog is back to pulling. There was nothing in this pattern that taught the dog the value of staying next to the owner or the value in keeping a loose leash, the dog just knows that when my owner yanks and stops I need to come back.
In addition, correcting your dog during this moment is not fair because the dog has never actually been taught what to do so we’re correcting a dog for not knowing what to do. This ends up becoming a very frustrating situation for both human and owner.
The last mistake is the continuation of walking. What I mean here is that continuing on the walk just constantly yanking and stopping doesn’t help one of the biggest causes of pulling, the excitement level of the dog! It’s only natural that every new area entered during the walk will just make the excited dog get more excited, so when we keep entering new territory, the dog is never entering a calm state therefore only attaching that excitement level to that activity. Instead we want our dog to be calm during the practice so that they can attach that emotion to the activity.
In order to do this, I love to use the “BECOME A TREE” method which I will talk about in tomorrow’s post!
#looseleash #looseleashwalking #dogtraining#dogtrainer #doglife #dogpawrents #dogclt#charlottenc #dobermanns#rhodesianridgeback
