Walking the Dogs

We have had some beautiful weather the last couple of days. It has actually made it up to the 60's (70's further south in the state) and it is definitely starting to feel like spring.

With the warmer weather, I have been cutting down on the dogs' food; I give them extra during the cold months. They no longer need the layer of insulating fat they had thru the winter, so I am trying to work it off of them by taking them for walks.

Our first walk was Wednesday evening. It was probably pretty funny watching me try to keep the leashes sorted out while at the same time trying to keep them from either jerking my shoulders out of their sockets or taking me for a run down the driveway.

Once we got to the road, I turned them to walk uphill. They work off their excess energy by traversing the grade plus they help pull me up the hill. After a couple of minutes, they settled down and they pulled me steadily uphill - with a few sniff and pee breaks along the way.

Once we got to the top of the hill, we turned around and headed for home. The downhill portion is where I do a little training work - getting them more used to walking on a leash. This is the portion of the walk that they are more concentrated on walking since they have already sniffed what they wanted, marked where they have been, and worked off the initial energy.

Wednesday evening, I just started with simple "leave a little slack" exercises. These consist of walking along and waiting until they really start pulling on the leashes. At that point, I quickly turn around as if I am heading back up the hill. The dogs feel the extra presure, turn around and see that I am no longer following them, but going the other way. Hey, they want to be with me so they trot back to join me. We do the same thing going back up the hill, then walk a ways down the hill and repeat. It takes much longer to get back home that it did to get to the top of the hill.

Let me say right now, I don't need them to "heel"; I just want them to walk nicely in front or beside me - I don't care which. I make sure never to "jerk" on their collars (that can cause injury). As long as they pay attention to where they are in relation to me and don't pull on the leash like they are trying out for the Iditarod, they can have total freedom of movement to do whatever they wish (within the scope of the walking area of a 6' leash anyway).

Thursday evening, the start of the walk went much better. They were remembering how to behave on a leash. I also had them in-tandem, using one leash attached to a "splitter". The splitter adds a couple of feet to their walking area, however, they also have to walk in generally the same direction. They behaved pretty well up the hill (still need some work, but that is always their excitement time) and I added another exercise for the downhill portion.

When we are walking, and I need the dogs to stop right now, I use the word "HO". This is usefull for when cars are coming down the road and I need to gather the dogs to my side, or when the dogs are tangled up in the leash. On the downhill portion of the walk, on Thursday evening, we worked on the "pay attention to me" and the "HO".

On the "pay attention to me" portion, I add a new twist to the "leave a little slack" rule. Once the dogs were walking with a tinge of slack (very little, but enough that I was happy), I gave the leash a little "flip" just before I turned around. After just two repititions of this and they got the idea that every time the leash is "flipped", they should look back to see what was happening (it may not be that I turned around to go the opposite way, it may be that I have stopped, or that I have made a course adjustment to the other side of the road).

The "HO" command is a bit different. On a "HO", they must stop immediately. No casual stop or just looking back at me to see what I am doing, they must stop right now and at the same time. They already know this command (as they know the other stuff), but we haven't used it for so long, that they must be reminded and drilled on it.

The tandem splitter is great for the "HO" exercise. Since the dogs are fairly close to each other, I can tell if they have both stopped in the same instant. They get massive praise if they have - if they haven't, they still get a bit of praise for at least stopping. Since most dogs prefer the massive praise, they get the idea pretty quickly.

We will be working on this stuff quite a bit for the next week or so. By that time, they will return to being decent to walk and will have walked off a few pounds. Of course all bets are off, withtheir behavior, if WS and I are both walking them since it is an entirely different situation (as Cop Car and HH can attest to that - when they were here last fall, we took a walk in the woods and the dogs acted like they had never been on a leash before). Each different situation takes additional training, even if just one factor has been changed. In the case of the walk with CC and HH, a couple of factors had changed - new people, and walking in the woods instead of on the street.

We all have fun during these walks. We have enjoyed the bug-free weather (one of the prime motivator for walking and bug-free won't last much longer), gotten some exercise, done a little thinking (the dogs and myself), and done something different from the norm. It doesn't get any better than that!

Comments

[Jackie]

We plan to start walking our friend's dog again, now that the weather has improved (we're cat people, and must resort to "rent a dog"). Jake is a big yellow Lab and also needs to take off some pounds. He pulls like crazy on the leash; am going to try your trick. Do you literally start walking in the opposite direction, or just turn and face that way to get their attention?

[Cop Car]

Bogie, I think that you should let your readers know the name of the business that you have on the side. I'm sure that they have read of your pet-sitting duties, but is there any reason not to let them in on the name of your business?

You have such a great understanding of animals. I'm always freshly amazed when you write about working with them. Your "Ho" is like my "No" from your childhood. After observing other mothers of young children who said "No" to everything that their little ones tried, I decided that "No" should be reserved for life threatening situations--to keep you and Dudette from dashing into a street, for instance. "Don't" worked for the more mundane things that I just preferred that you not do. I cc'd your posting to HH--AGAIN.

[bogie]

Jackie - it depends upon how hard they are pulling. If they aren't pulling too hard, I literally start walking the other way (I let my hand trail back a bit, while keeping up the pressure, so as not to jerk their necks).

If they are pulling super hard, I will just stand and face the other way - if I have to, I will make a noise, like clearing my throat, to get them to pay attention. Once they start my way, I will start walking the way I am facing. After jsut a couple times of that, they are more aware and lessen the pulling so I can use the 'turn and walk" method.

[bogie]

Cop Car - Actually, just as with my real name, there is no reason to bandy the business name around. My customers know how I am with animals and ask my advise on things from health care to training. Hmm, maybe that is an idea for a post.

I wish I could take credit for being an animal genious. However, much of my knowledge comes from reading about other's experiences (from novices to dog trainers).

Sometimes I have found that good old common sense is the best way to do things. Of course you have to look at it as common sense from the animal's point of view, not a humans. Fortunately, pets are very forgiving and tolerant of mistakes when we try to teach them as if they were human!