Dogs need leadership, limitations, and boundaries. Dogs have been known to thrive when they have assertive, calm and strong leadership. It gives them clarity and security about their duties and responsibilities in the pack. Believe it or not, all dogs are not born with a desire to become the alpha of the pack. In fact, in order to be the alpha dog, your dog has to be the most stressed dog in any pack. Alphas are responsible for meeting the nutritional needs and protecting the rest of the pack. They are supposed to remain alert at all times for fears externally and internal challenges for competing for their positions as well. Hence, they are always on alert. So, by taking the lead, we can provide our canine family members with a stress-free life accompanied by an assertive, clear, strong, calm leadership and direction. It actually helps them relax and behave better.
Here are few tips for training that helps during dog walking. Firstly, what matters is your attitude which should represent that you are in charge and the one who is taking the lead during the walk and not the one to be dragged down the road. Establishing dominance starts when you are putting the leash on your dog. Is your dog being hyper and going nuts? You should have a pause until it calms down or commands “stay/sit” and wait until the creature is calmer. The dog should not be a reward for an undesirable act. Once calmed and leashed, you should not allow him to pull the leash tight. A “loose leash” is the industry standard. We are talking about walking with a leash with some slack in it. This comes in handy when there is some incident, and the presence of some slack is utilized to manage any emergencies that may arise. Nevertheless, this guarantees for a more relaxed walk for both of you.
So now a lot of you would be speculating about the real challenge here, i.e., how to accomplish loose leash with your canine buddy. After months, if not years, of permitting your dog to drag you around your region of the walk, how can you employ new tricks for training your good ol’ buddy? This should not worry you. Believe it or not, dog training is possible at any age and beyond any undesirable behaviors, no matter how long the practice has been going on.
There are a number of practices that can be used to make it obvious to your dogs that the rules have changed and they are expected to behave differently now. Get your dog’s attention at the first signs of tension on the leash by snapping the leash with a wrist-flick. This does not hurt them. Don’t worry. You will catch them off guard for the first few times, but this is not intended to hurt them. This helps as a way to make it more obvious that pulling is not going to be tolerated from this point onwards. Snapping the leash should be accompanied by a correction noise like a particular chunk of your tongue or another sound you feel appropriate to be used to correct your dog. Capture their attention with a brittle snap of their leash and noise correction. That is the most straightforward truth that seems to work with most of the cases.
Author Bio
Deborah Bridgestone also known as ‘the Doggie Diva,’ owns and operates, her own professional dog walkers Oakville services, a licensed, insured, and bonded pet sitting business in Oakville. Deborah intends to exceed her clients’ expectations by tending to thoughtful extra details to show she cares.