Who currently has a weak or sore neck from their dog pulling them and yanking them down the street?
Me, I hear you cry! There are literally thousands and thousands of people who have to endure their walk with their dog rather than enjoy it.
So why not teach your dog to walk by your side with no pulling once and then enjoy every walk without any hassle!
Sound right? And the great thing is its not challenging! As with most things worth mastering it can take a little time, but not always.
Sometimes it can be a 5 minute turnaround as expert Dog Trainer, Doggy Dan, demonstrates in his vide.
But allow me to talk you through some of the really key errors that people are making when going for walks with their dog.
Now as I mentioned earlier there are many strategies to walking your dog on the leash correctly so that they walk beside you. And if you have a determined dog, (and they come in both big and small sizes) you would like to know all of them before you can dominate the walk.
But generally , the tips I am about to give you now will really help… So lets get going and get into the instruction.
The most important thing to remember is to keep your dog calm. If your dog is charged up like a furious animal as you head out of the garden , like the one in the video then getting them to walk calmly on the leash is going to be a lot harder than if they are calm.
So how do we calm them down? I hear you ask…
1. Calming your dog down.
Think about just before you leave the house. You bring out the lead and BOOM! Your dog becomes a rocket. They leap up, tail wagging, racing about commanding that you put the leash on them. Now if you simply oblige and put the lead on them they get even more excited!
The reason is simple. You are reinforcing their excited behavior with a treat, the lead. So this behavior gets more and more extreme. They become more excited not less excited. The same thing is happening as your dog drags you in direction of the front door, barging their way through first and then pulling you down the garden path. All of this is getting your dog more and more energized.
They will be at bursting point when you get onto the path!
Next time you take your dog for a walk, don’t hurry. Pick up the lead and then wait for your dog to calm down. That’s right. Simply carry on doing what you were doing and ignore your dog’s antics. If they don’t calm down simply put the leash away or put it on a table.
This may take a little while, several attempts or quite a long period, but your dog will eventually calm. When they are calm try again and repeat until they are totally relaxed as you attach the lead.
This strategy can be repeated all the way until you are on the path ready to start your walk. Either wait calmly with your dog on the lead until they are calm before progressing or take the leash off and delay the walk for a few minutes.
It may appear like you’re getting no place fast but better to take some time getting this fixed now or you’re going to be dragged around the pavements for the next ten years. The issue will not “self correct”.
Step two is a simple exercise that involves you turning around when your dog pulls ahead.
2. Change direction
Prior to starting your walk look at which way your dog is trying to head. If they want to go right, then you turn left.
Take a step to the left and repeat this until they are actually taking notice of what you are doing. On a larger scale you could simply change direction and go the other way when your dog starts to pull ahead.
Make sure you do this early, don’t wait till your dog is way out in front.
By performing this exercise your dog ends up behind you every time. Again it can take a little time but your dog will get it.
3. Decide an appropriate device
Take a look at some of the different types of devices available to assist you in getting your dog to heel. In the video you can see Doggy Dan using a special harness where the attachment is under the dogs chin.
This is completely different to a conventional harness where the attachment is on the back and the dog ends up pulling like a cart horse.
4. Remember the pack leader leads…
On the walk the pack leader leads from the front. So if you are not the pack leader in your dogs eyes they will often fight for that spot at the front. It’s as simple as that. You can’t cheat a dog, especially the strong minded determined ones! Learning to become the pack leader is a field all on it’s own, and is the basis of Doggy Dan’s world-famous training method. He’s developed 5 Golden Rules, which when followed daily, help you become the pack leader in a relaxed and gentle way. On his video website Doggy Dan’s website The Online Dog Trainer, he points out that before any teaching takes place, you first need to establish yourself as the leader using the 5 rules – and stresses that this is really important in handling almost all dog behavior problems.
5. Lots of extra tips
As I wrote earlier there are heaps of other techniques and tricks such as knowing how and when to give the lead a little pull without going over the top. Knowing when and where to let your dog have some freedom and go sniff and pee pee (after all that’s the point of going for a dog walk isn’t it!)
If you would like to master the dog walk today then look no further than Doggy Dan’s website The Online Dog Trainer , with over 250 videos. It really is the best dog training site around. There are currently 7 excellent videos on how to walk your dog correctly showing you how to deal with every issue and concern you may have. And there’s even a 30 minute audio inside the site – so you can listen while you walk!
Everybody wants to take pleasure in their dog and that includes walking them, so don’t put up with it any longer!
And keep in mind your dog will also be glad when the pulling stops and they can walk calmly by your side!
To get your 3 Day $1 trial take a look around this comprehensive site Doggy Dan’s website .