Disobedient dog running and dragging a man by the leash
If you haven’t had this happen to you, you’ve no doubt seen it on your street and in your neighborhood.
The dog owner taking their pup for a walk and that dog is CRAZY!
They are pulling on the leash with all their might. You can hear them gasping for air as they accidentally choke themselves on their collar.
And the owner looks embarrassed or in pain.
(We actually had a client tear her rotator cuff, before coming to us, because her dog pulled on the leash so much.)
This is an all-to-common problem and one that ends up spiraling out of control for most dog owners.
The reason this happens is because people are walking their dogs before they’re trained.
So it gets tricky because if they’re not a dog trainer and they don’t know what to do when it comes time to take their dog for a walk they’re kind of stuck.
Because, they don’t feel like they have a choice (or some of them don’t realize this type of behavior is actually bad) they have to go out and then their dog starts bad behavior.
So the owner allows the dogs to pull really because they don’t know how to stop their dogs from pulling so it’s not their fault really, but they are allowing those behaviors that are enabling their dogs to pull them down the street.
And they don’t really know any other way.
In reality walking your pup is one of the hardest things for people to really do with their dogs unless they’re doing it properly from day one as a puppy.
You can control the walks.
Again most people don’t take that control because they think
“oh he’s little it’s not that bad”
“he’s so cute”
“it’s OK”
“He’s just excited.”
Then it just gets worse and worse and worse as the dog gets older and bigger.
What you might not be aware of is that it starts in the home. Before you even open the door and step outside.
You have to get your dog used to getting the leash. Put it on in a nice calm way, FIRST.
Then comes leaving the house. The last thing you want is being dragged out the door.
The ideal situation would be your pup sitting and waiting nicely as the door opens up and then walking out of the house together.
All of that has to happen BEFORE you even start the walk.
That leads us to what a well-behaved walk looks like.
Basically you want to have a “loose leash” is what we say.
Your dog doesn’t have to be heeling perfectly by your side. But if they’re walking on a loose leash with a loose collar that’s ideal.
We don’t want them pulling at all on their neck.
What that will lead to is injury in the dog, injury in your shoulder (or worse), and then a series of coping mechanisms to “get the walk over”
And what we really want is this walk to be a time of rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation for BOTH you and your furry friend.
Stacy Hirsch
Owner
Westchester K-9
Work: (914) 393-2346
doginfo@westchesterk-9.com
www.westchesterk-9.com