I was in Cumming on Thursday working with a Home Dog Training client and his Catahoula named Oliver. This was our first visit so I spent a good amount of time explaining his role as a dog owner and what Oliver really understood when he tried to get Oliver to behave or obey. He found it quite enlightening and was quite impressed how quickly we removed many of the Catahoula’s bad behaviors such as jumping, stealing food, and running out the front door. We then moved on to walking with Oliver. My client said that Oliver always pulled and whatever he did, nothing worked…
Robin and I have trained over 3,500 dogs during our career as dog trainers and over seventy-five percent of them have had problems with walking. Almost every time we hear that the dog is pulling or lunging and that the client can’t do a thing about it.
Well, we always get into the behavioral issues of leadership and focus and the fact that a pulling or lunging dog is not giving the owner the focus they require on the walk. We also discuss the fact that of the three safety environments a dog understands, the outside walk is the most unsecure and with the most distractions. These are all issues that can be resolved in the overall training, but not the topic of this discussion.
We find that one of the major contributing factors into a pulling and lunging dog is the equipment being used to control and guide him. Most people walk their dog with a simple cloth or leather collar. This is great for good dogs, but does nothing to help with a misbehaving dog,
When a dog begins to pull or lunge, we naturally pull or tug back on the collar. We are pulling one way while the dog is pulling another way. This escalates almost instantly into a game of tug-of-war. Dogs love to play tug-of-war, so the “fun” simply continues. Also, since we have done nothing to redirect their focus from the distraction probably causing the pulling or lunging, we have not that source of adrenaline from the dog. We need to find a way to break this circle.
We have found that the use of a harness where the leach is connected at the top of the dog’s chest below their neck is a wonderful tool to control them and keep their focus. The harness that works the best in our training is called the Easy Walk Dog Harness
When the dog begins to pull or lunge and the client begins to give a tug or pull back, the pulling action will come across the dog’s chest at a roughly horizontal movement from the ground. This causes the dog to change direction towards the owner while slightly raising up the side of his body nearest the owner. These multiple, physical sensations are not harmful or hurtful to the dog. They naturally provide a slight imbalance for the dog and turns him back towards the owner and allows the dog to provide focus back to the owner.
The slight imbalance will discourage the lunging or pulling and naturally decrease his adrenaline. The dog is now unadrenalized and refocused back to the client. This is now the perfect time to the client to correctly take charge and continue a walk on the client’s terms.
Please call us at (770) 718-7704 it you are in need of any dog training help. We have a lot of good dog training advice at Best Dog Trainers Cumming Georgia. Find all our phone numbers, text addresses and email contacts at Dog Training Help Center Cumming Georgia.
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