About the Leash
Dogs are all about movement. Every part of the body displays what they are thinking and feeling. They communicate through body language and vocalizations. No matter what you think, they do not understand your words; unless they are trained, and that only means a word has been taught to cue a specific behavior. It is our responsibility to learn the language of our dog, not the other way around.
When we put a leash on and restrict their movements, we cripple our dogs. It’s like taping our mouths shut or handcuffing us. I imagine if my mouth were taped and you took me out in public; I’d feel rather frustrated, inadequate, even unsafe. Now imagine that a person approaching you also has his mouth taped. How do we communicate? I bet my gestures would be larger than normal. I’d probably get frustrated because I can’t express myself. If I felt unsafe and I couldn’t express it, I bet I’d get angry. Think about it. Dogs feel the stress of restraint. Added to that, we often punish them for acting like dogs. We deny them the ability to follow a scent with their noses, to stop when they want, to choose the pace of the walk, and even to avoid something scary. Outside the house, our environment is natural. Your dog is natural. Add us holding a leash and everything becomes unnatural. Your dog needs to know that being on a leash is a necessary part of his life, but he can trust you to handle it and him; to keep him happy and safe. Ask yourself this: does your dog trust that you can keep him safe?
YOU are responsible for your dog while he is on leash. You need to care about how your dog feels; not how the rest of the world feels about your dog. It’s all about you and your dog when you are out on leash. YOU need to teach your dog a communication system to replace his natural one. When a dog sees another dog, a predictable sequence of events occurs. Within three seconds, most dogs decide if they want to play, avoid, or fight the other dog. On leash, none of these things can occur. If you walk your dog up to another dog on leash, you usually have a human induced stress bomb.
Here are some things that make leash walking successful and safe:
Your dog defers to you for decision making and trusts your abilities.
You don’t drag your dog and your dog does not drag you.
Learn your dog’s communication and respond to his needs.
Keep your dog out of stressful situations.
Do not greet unfamiliar dogs or people.
Be consistent, fair and confident.
Teach your dog what he needs to know to be successful.
Teach your dog to accept the leash equipment happily.
Teach your dog to give into leash pressure.
Teach your dog to listen and respond to trained cues.
Allow your dog to make unimportant choices and be a dog.
Knowing how to implement the list above will produce a calm dog that you will want to bring with you everywhere! If you do not know how to teach your dog the above skills, you must first go and learn them yourself.
