I have recently started another round of outdoor, socially distanced, puppy classes. I enjoy teaching these classes because I love working with puppies and their owners, helping them to get off to a great start. I always ask people at the first class meeting what they most hope to learn in the class as that gives me a better idea of how I want to focus each of the hours we spend together. For this group, more than half of the class had issues/questions/concerns/frustrations around leash walking and on-leash behavior. This post is for them, and for any of you with similar concerns.
First off, walking nicely on leash does not necessarily come easily to most dogs. While most dog owners have this preconceived, pie-in-the-sky notion of blissfully walking their dog, side-by-side, in reality this is rarely how it goes. Puppies do not come pre-programmed to love wearing a leash and collar. Most scratch and fuss with their collar and resist putting the leash on. Once the leash is on, many fight it, digging in, dragging their feet, trying to bite the leash. Or just sitting down and refusing to move. This is all normal behavior. The whole point of using a leash is to keep your dog safe. You know that, and I know that. But dogs think you are trying to control them and keep them away from fun things. And for many dogs, leash walking is a total nightmare as the dog is pulling constantly and racing back and forth trying to sniff everything while the human is vigorously trying to shorten the leash, reel the dog in, and keep them from sniffing all of the time. It looks like a battle of the wills! In order to (eventually) have a pleasant, well-behaved walking companion, you have to begin with that puppy you just put a collar and leash on, desensitizing her to wearing both. Break out the treats and reward NOT scratching at the collar and being able walk around, dragging the leash behind her. Don't pick up the leash and try to hold it until your puppy can successfully navigate dragging the leash around without fussing. Once you do pick up the leash, just follow your puppy around with it on, saying their name and giving them treats for glancing your way when they hear their name. Walk your puppies indoors before moving outdoors where there are lots of distractions. A young puppy truly can get all of the walking exercise they need walking around on a leash indoors and in their backyard!
When you do move on to walking your puppy outside in your neighborhood, don't set them up to fail. You still need to carry treats with you and you don't want to set a time or distance goal for your walks. Better to have walked one block nicely than 10 blocks miserably. The focus of your walks should be on exploring and safe sniffing, not on a rigorous heel. I'm not suggesting that you let your pup drag you from one sniff spot to another. On the contrary, moving from one sniff to the next should be joyfully controlled, that is at a speed that suits you and your puppy. Don't let them drag you; change direction, stop and ask them to sit, etc. until they can pay attention, then resume walking briskly to the next sniff spot. And for those puppies who spend the majority of their walk sitting or standing and just assessing their surroundings, that's okay too. Don't drag them along and try to force them to walk. Let them be; some puppies need to assess their surroundings quite a bit before they feel comfortable dropping their heads down and their attention away from what is going on around them.
Yes, I know puppies like to sniff and then pick up and potentially eat some of the stuff they find on their walks. This is why you bring treats with you for trading/distraction AND why you should be working daily on drop it/leave it at home (see last week's blog post for details). For those puppies who simply cannot walk without picking up everything they find, go back to walking them in your house and yard where you can better control what they find on the ground AND you can work on leave it/drop it in the context of on-leash walking there.
Another leash issue that came up in class was wanting to know what to do about the social butterfly puppy, you know, the one who wants to race up and greet every other dog on walks. I'm definitely a party-pooper about on leash greetings. I just don't think it's a good idea to let dogs on leash greet one another. And if you start when your puppy is young and first on leash, never letting them socialize while leashed, they may show interest in other dogs, but they won't be over the top every time they see one as they've never had success meeting other dogs that way. Even in pre-COVID classes, I never let the puppies interact on leash, keeping owners apart, standing on their puppy's leash. The puppies did all their interacting unencumbered by leashes. Dogs greeting each other on leash appear strained. Their faces are distorted, they are pulling on leash, often gasping for air, and dragging their owners behind them. When they get to one another, it is face-to-face, not face to butt as normal dog greetings would be if there weren't leashes involved. Those face-to-face strained greetings can often result in dogs tangling themselves up in the leashes and then panicking when they are all caught up. When you drop the leashes to untangle them, you have now put your dog at risk for taking off, dragging the leash behind them. Better to just acknowledge those other folks out walking their dogs with a friendly "Hello!" and move on with your walk. That way, your puppy sees you being friendly, but learns that you aren't stopping for more than that. And definitely walk away from those people hollering "My dog is friendly!" as more often than not, that isn't the case and your puppy doesn't need to have that fear-inducing memory burned into her consciousness and associated with on-leash walking.
Finally, there are a couple of older puppies in the class who are very anxious on leash already. One had a bad experience with an on-leash greeting and the other is rather timid and fearful naturally. The pup who had the bad experience barks ferociously at any dog passing by her when on leash; off leash, she plays quite appropriately. The timid puppy is timid off leash as well, but does pick and choose who to interact with based on their energy level. When she's on leash, however, any passing dog is assumed to be an enemy and she will growl and snap. Thankfully, when we walk on leash in class, social distancing is in place and no dog/dog greetings happen. Hopefully through repeated exposures to this type of on leash walking will help these two pups to relax, focus more on sniffing at the treats dropped by their owners, and respond favorably to the loosened leashes and less anxious owners they call their own. Interestingly enough, when I took each of these puppy's leashes and walked them myself, I saw much less of the anxious behavior. Why? Because I wasn't cuing the them to react by shortening their leash, talking in an anxious voice, etc. Instead, I put the focus on me and the treats in my hand pointing out great sniffs to be had and other things to look at in the environment. The puppies were still alert and were definitely still anxious, but much less so with that on-leash experience than with what they were used to doing with their owners. We definitely have a lot more work to do on leash in class for everyone to feel confident and successful!
As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.
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