FROM THE SECOND THE COLLAR GOES ON FOR A WALK, DOG GOES NUTS
Watching my boy Benji while out on a walk with him today, made me realize how far he had come. Gone was the Bouncy, nutty dog that used to bounce up about 3’ in the air, try to chase every cat he saw, and thought that every approaching dog was to be taken out – he was walking next to me like an absolute gentleman.
His worst was when we were getting ready for a walk – jumping up and down, twirling around, circling, whimpering and beside himself with excitement – this is what had to change first, and this is how I did it.
If you do not have a dog in a calm and balanced frame of mind before you leave the home, there is precious little chance that he will calm down on a walk, and his reaction to any other dogs and cats will just be maximized.
I did not want to change his personality, I love the bouncy side of him, and I did not want to damper his excitement for his walk, so this is what I did.
I must say I believe the Balance Lead we use in TTouch was a huge bonus, and I will do a post on the use of this another time. Happy Walkies guys!
Watching my boy Benji while out on a walk with him today, made me realize how far he had come. Gone was the Bouncy, nutty dog that used to bounce up about 3’ in the air, try to chase every cat he saw, and thought that every approaching dog was to be taken out – he was walking next to me like an absolute gentleman.
His worst was when we were getting ready for a walk – jumping up and down, twirling around, circling, whimpering and beside himself with excitement – this is what had to change first, and this is how I did it.
If you do not have a dog in a calm and balanced frame of mind before you leave the home, there is precious little chance that he will calm down on a walk, and his reaction to any other dogs and cats will just be maximized.
I did not want to change his personality, I love the bouncy side of him, and I did not want to damper his excitement for his walk, so this is what I did.
- I brought in a Excite and Settle exercise. First I would excite him, and then I would stand still, absolutely silent, and as he calmed down I would ask for a sit, and say ‘settle, settle’. At times he was still a bit over the top, so I would do the Calm the Tail, Calm the Dog exercise. For this, I would run my hand gently along his back, and as I got to his tail, would gently apply pressure on the tail in a downward motion, so that it was against his hindquarters. This would instantly calm him down, and then I would ask him for a Sit and Settle. If I had spoken, I would just have been adding to his excitement. At the same time I taught myself to feel grounded and calm, and see in my mind’s eye what I did want – a dog sitting quietly while I put on his collar and lead. Needless to say we did many repetitions!
- Next came collar and lead (I don’t use a harness as he can wiggle out of all of them, so make use of a Balance Lead) and I would just stand next to him, totally relaxed, not talking, until he settled down. I would then start to put the collar on him, and each and every time he started getting excited, I just stood absolutely still and would only go to the next stage when he had calmed down. He quickly realized that his exciting behaviour would not get him anywhere – who says dogs are not clever!
- Once we had successfully achieved the above, with him by my side (the second a dog goes in front of you, he will start to pull), we made our way, step at a time to the door, where he has to Sit quietly and wait until it was open and he could walk calmly through it. On the other side, he had to sit quietly, and we went nowhere until he was calm.
- I did exactly the same on our walk – taking it slowly, with me remaining calm and stopping and asking for a Sit and Settle, and gently stroking his head when he became excited seeing a cat or another dog. Once past, we progressed as above. With a dog like Benji, you need to become aware of his body language, and the second I saw the tail go up, I knew he had spotted something I hadn’t, so I would immediately Sit and Calm him, and then we would go on our way.
I must say I believe the Balance Lead we use in TTouch was a huge bonus, and I will do a post on the use of this another time. Happy Walkies guys!