“Going for a dog walk,” sounds like a simple enough phrase. But it is not always that easy. Sometimes there is one dog and he or she is scared of the outdoors, or does not like having their harness or lead put on.
Some may weigh 40 kilos and pull on the lead, dragging you down the street. Or there are two, or three, furry friends in the home and they all need to walk together without getting tangled up or arguing as you go.
Now these three beauties get on a treat and here they are walking at the private field I hire for such delights.
But if you are having difficulties with this seemingly simple activity, do get in touch. I can come to you, or you can come here, where it is quiet and empty. There is actually quite a lot to ‘going for a walk’ and we can break it all down and make things better.
Happy walking! ♥️
Now this little beauty is amazing at checking in with the human walking her. As you can see she is trotting along watching me. Her guardians contacted me before welcoming this little pup into their home and have worked so hard to support all the important elements of life together - from calm and slow introduction to the cats who already lived there, to getting used to a harness, contacting a gentle force-free groomer, toileting and more. I have the pleasure of continuing to help them train as she moves into teenage…and get to take her out for ad hoc walks just her and me ❤️
Here is the private training field we use to help dogs with loose lead walking, recall and gentle introduction to people and traffic (down at one end). Get in touch to book a session. Having such a large space really supports dogs to have relatively little distraction for learning.
Here are my top six tips for calming your dog. Many dogs I train with need to work on calming before they are ready to learn.
And no, it doesn’t mean you can never do these six things again - in time they may be able to say hello to dogs out on walks in the right context, and they might be happy to snuggle up to you when sleeping.
But for now, give them some space. Any questions - ping them over below!
Shall I do another training Q&A? Comment and let me know your training issues!
I was bored so thought I would start training a new trick. My dog Nova jumps up so the ultimate goal is to teach her to go between my legs when she sees people instead.
First step: luring her with a tasty treat
Step 2: doing it again but getting her to stay there for a bit longer by throwing a treat on the ground
Step 3: as above
Step 26 (once nailed it): call it something - I like the word ‘middle’ but you could call it ‘banana’ if you like because (here’s a big secret) dogs don’t speak English!!
You can see that her default is to come round the front for a treat. Why? Because this is what we have always done. Behaviour change takes time and this is literally the first time we have tried this.
The cone and bits of wood are there because I thought we would be really precise and do it where I knew the camera shot would be. As you can see, as in real life, it is a lot messier than this and I ended up having to step sideways to get her into the position I wanted.
We stopped after this as short and sweet is the order of the day…but will try again soon. It was lots of fun!
What are your fave tricks/activities with your dog? Bonus for posting below!
Love a bouncy Border Terrier! Look at this gorgeous pair!
So in the autumn I am going to be launching small intimate dog training classes - in my garden! 🏡 🌳
I have some exciting ideas about what to cover - but would love to know what you would like to see!! Please post below ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
