"How to Walk a Dog"
I have half joked many times that someday I’m going to write a book entitled, “The Zen of Walking Your Dog”. I say half joked because there is probably enough information about dog walking to write an entire book and because there really is a Zen-like calmness that is required of every party involved in order to have a good one. Of course, this is not the proper format to write an entire book, but it is a good place to review dog-walking basics.
CHECK YOUR ENERGY
This is not the first time (nor will it be the last) that I will remind you it is your energy that walks your dog. Cesar Millan says, “You are the center of your dog’s stability or instability”. The walk is our way to mimic the hunt that canids in the wild experience daily.
Does the alpha wolf have to use a leash to control or send messages to subordinate pack members when they are tracking game? Of course not; an alpha wolf controls its pack members with his energy, and your energy must be both CALM and ASSRTIVE in order to convince a dog that they should follow you. Relax, take a deep breath, center yourself and think of something that makes you feel like the most powerful and confident person in the world. Then you are ready to walk your dog.
DON’T FORGET YOUR DOG’S ENERGY
Your dog also needs to be in a balanced state before you start your walk. If you don’t start a good walk you won’t have a good walk.
I understand that many of you are thinking, “But I need to walk my dog to calm him/her down”. While it is true that the walk is key to draining energy which will, in turn, create a calmer dog, we need to remember the first rule of affection here: anytime you reward your dog you are nurturing whatever state of mind they are in. So, if part of my vocabulary for affection includes giving my dog what s/he wants (this will be discussed further in future posts), and my dog wants to go for a walk (what dog doesn’t?), then I need to wait until my dog is CALM and SUBMISSIVE before I start my walk. Anything else and I am nurturing a dog with behaviors I do not want to live with. This can be tricky at first, but the extra few seconds you spend patiently showing your dog what is expected before you start your walk will inevitably be made up in time you save on correcting your dog’s behavior later.
USING THE LEASH AS A TOOL
While it’s true an alpha wolf can control pack followers with energy alone, we live in the human world, and the human world has leash laws. So if we are going to use a leash, we need to understand how it works as a tool.
While a buckle collar is necessary in order to have your dog wear her/his tags at all times (this is very important), it is inappropriate for a walk or any “working” situation. There are many different collars that work well for walking. I like martingale collars or “slip leads” for small or low to medium energy dogs. For higher energy dogs or dogs who need practice I recommend a “choke” collar (an unfortunate name but a good tool). I only recommend a “pinch/prong” collar for high energy dogs over 40 lbs., and even then, I only recommend the “Sprenger” brand collar with NO QUICK RELEASE. Other pinch/prong collars are manufactured poorly so they can injure your dog or even pop off when you give a correction.
Additionally, it is important to understand that slip leads and choke chains only correct to one side. That means that you need to decide before you leash your dog which side you want to walk them on and keep with it throughout the walk. If you do not know how to tell which side your collar corrects to, a reputable pet store should be able to assist you. Martingale collars and pinch/prong collars will correct to either side, making them more hassle-free.
(LEASH) CORRECTING YOUR DOG CORRECTLY
So why not use a harness for walking your dog? Because, and this is absolutely the most important thing to understand about the way your dog works; DOGS PULL AGAINST TENSION. ALWAYS. It’s called opposition reflex, and it’s the reason why dogs pull sleds. Think about it, what is the first thing a musher does when getting his dog team ready to run the Iditarod? (the world famous sled dog race). Harness the dogs! Harnesses create tension across the chest, making the dogs want to pull. So if you want your dog to do pulling jobs (like pulling a wagon) use a harness. But if you want to walk your dog, use a leash and appropriate collar.
Because dogs have opposition reflex, it is important to learn to give good corrections. Your body should be relaxed when walking your dog. Hold the leash loosely at your side with your arms relaxed. I try to remind my clients that when you are walking a dog correctly, it should be like you are taking a nice walk and your dog happens to be with you. A leash correction is just a quick, firm, “pop” directly up or directly across the front of your body. Once you give the correction relax your arm again. DO NOT LEAVE TENSION ON THE LEAD. This will only cause your dog to pull (and can potentially irritate your dog’s trachea to boot).
Because we have body memory, giving good corrections can be a tricky thing to retrain your body to do. But once you learn to do it correctly you will never do it wrong again!
FOLLOWTHE RULES
Again, the whole point of the walk is to mimic the ritual of the hunt that a natural pack experiences daily. As such, the purpose of the walk is to drain the dog’s energy while they recognize the leader and practice a working and focused (calm/submissive or active/submissive) state of mind. To that end, dogs must walk behind the leader (when you take a step forward your dog’s nose should be behind your toe) and are not allowed to stop, sniff, urinate, defecate or alert during the walk. Of course, you may instigate “breaks” for your dog if s/he has earned one.
I have found that some people are uncomfortable with this concept, asking, “But when does my dog get free time?” My answer is, “For most dogs, the rest of their life is free time. This is the time we require them to work”.
Remember, dogs are social pack animals that were born with an innate desire to work for someone their whole life through. Treating you dog like a dog is respecting who they are as a living being. Your dog will thank you for it!
“Dominance”
I want to discuss our "dog vocabulary" and the definitions we assign to the language we use when it comes to our dogs. This topic will be discussed again in the future, but I really wanted to address the word "dominance" here.
When many of us hear the word dominance, we automatically think of aggression. I would like to remind you that dominance and aggression do not always go hand-in-hand. Dominance is just a willingness to take over the role of leadership.
All dogs (and humans, for that matter!) are born with a certain amount of dominance, some more than others. Remember, in a natural dog pack, someone HAS to be the leader. So if your dog does not see leadership in a way s/he understands (begging your dog to listen or screaming at them at the top of your lungs don't count) then they must become leader by default.
Again, in the natural pack, the most CALM and ASSERTIVE dog holds the most dominant position. As you can see, the most dominant dog is rarely aggressive, because when one is aggressive they give their power away. Balanced dominance is CALM and ASSERTIVE energy.
That being said, UNBALANCED dominance can very easily become aggression. A fearful/insecure dog who is showing dominance will very easily escalate and may bite. A hyperactive adolescent dog who is allowed to practice dominance may show aggression because that is what s/he is being rewarded for.
The key to having the dog you want is learning to become the most dominant member of your pack by being the most calm and assertive member.