10 Things I’ve Learned About Leading
Dogs
Lesson #3: One of the great pleasures of dog companionship, admittedly also
a potential source of serious angst and anxiety, is the daily ritual of walking with
them. When we sign on for the privilege
of having the unconditional love and loyalty of a dog in our lives, it comes
with a responsibility. It’s there, in
the small print.
You gotta walk
the dog.
Dogs need
exercise. Well, so do we, and for a lot
of us, it’s our dog that gets us out in the world to walk those 10,000 steps a
day. But I know. It can be a little like brushing your
teeth. You know you need to get the dog
out to walk and sniff and pee, but maybe it’s not exactly the highlight of your
day. Especially if your dog is leash
reactive. Who looks forward to having a
lunging, charging, snarling dog at the other end of the leash? Or a super scared, anxious dog who balks and cringes
with every new experience?
So, if
walking on leash in the neighborhood has proven to be a little difficult, maybe
you decide that the best way to exercise your dog is to head off to the local
dog park, where you can let your dog off-leash and watch, as other dogs keep
yours active and entertained.
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| Leila did great in the dog park at first. |
I did the
dog park thing, with Leila. It worked really
well, for a while. She got along with
most dogs and ran and played, and I loved watching her in action. She was only about a year old. But as she matured, we continued to meet dog after unbalanced dog who sensed things about her that I was only just
beginning to understand. She got a lot of crap from those dogs. And when
challenged, she responded in kind, and then some. I was pretty much on top of it. Nothing terrible happened. But generally speaking, these dogs were
unattended. Their people were immersed
either in conversation or their electronic devices. They had no clue their dogs were being rude or bullying other dogs. Worse, there were sometimes people – and children
- at the dog park without anything like good dog sense, and their behavior made
Leila nervous. Me too.
In any case,
when we started our behavior modification training program with
Leila, we were told in no uncertain terms: “No more dog park.”
So, what was
left? Neighborhood walks, for sure. Those were important in our training. We had to walk in the neighborhood (her
territory) and practice and apply the obedience principles that we were being
taught, because that was the area where Leila was most likely to be reactive. But would Leila ever be able to run and play
off-leash again? I didn’t know the
answer, at first. And I worried about
it. But, I was forced to try something
different, and when I did, here’s what I learned.
Lesson: Walking with your dog out in the world, exploring and having
adventures together, can be the most meaningful bonding experience you can have
with your dog.
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| Leila wore a Baskerville muzzle for outside activities, until she proved her trustworthiness. |
We did a lot
with Leila that contributed to her rehabilitation, and we had excellent
guidance from Kathy Kear and Mahogany Gamble that we couldn’t have done without. But looking back, an absolutely essential
ingredient was the time I spent with her on leash, every morning, walking parks
and trails, exploring and discovering with her. We still do this today. It's been built into a lifetime habit, and I'm kind of addicted to it.
Here's how I think about it. The 30,000 years old relationship
between dog and human was first developed when we learned a way of hunting
together. Listening together. Sniffing the air together. Noticing movement and changes in the
landscape, together. Walking with your dog in
whatever constitutes your “wilderness,” being in tune with her perceptions and
responses is a great place to learn to lead.
We gave up
the dog park and started walking together every morning, always on leash, and with Leila muzzled. We began exploring the amazing parks of Oakland and the East Bay Regional Park system. At first, just the areas around the dog park
that we were familiar with. Then further
out, walking mostly trails that didn’t allow bikes, since they were a huge
trigger for her. (Eventually, I took her to trails where I knew we would encounter bikes, so that we could work on her reactions to them.)
I was intent
on learning to be her leader, but I started by paying close attention to everything she sensed and responded to on our walks. I stopped when she stopped. And then I called her to follow. I allowed her to move ahead of me when she
scented something important, and then I pushed ahead of her to lead when the
timing felt right. There were a million little moments of attention and adjustment on both our parts that built our on-leash relationship. A lot of her
confidence in me was built on those trails, and I have to tell you, I didn’t
start out confident, at all. I didn’t
know really what I was doing out there. But I listened to my instincts and paid attention to her responses. I stepped in when something spooked her, and encouraged
her to “check it,” when it was really nothing. Now, when she hears me say, “check it,” she already knows. Huh. No
big deal.
Obedience training and behavior modification gave us the tools to help Leila change, and we practiced those every day. But being together every day out on the trail helped make Leila want to change. It was a big part of what made her trust me, as her leader and her friend.
It’s
hard to describe how it felt six months into our program when Leila was given the freedom of being on a long lead (a 20 ft
leash dragging on the ground) in one of our favorite parks. To see how responsive she was, how much
she could be trusted already. Her recall was so solid. And her gratitude and happiness
at having the freedom she had earned with the work we’ve done – well, I see
that to this day.
Walking the dog will never again be
a chore for me to get through. It’s the best part of my day.
