Walking is one of the joys of having a dog: wandering along in your own little bubble, chatting away to each other and coming home pleasantly tired and happy. Everyone should enjoy their dog walks and we’d love to help you enjoy yours.
What happens when you pick up your lead?
Does your dog turn into a whirling dervish with excitement? Or do they run away and hide?
The first can lead to you being pulled along by a panting huffing canine. The second can lead to you pulling a reluctant, dead weight. And boy oh boy, if a dog doesn’t want to walk, they can dig their paws in big time. (Which reminds me, I saw a funny graphic on Facebook recently, a graph of increasingly heavy objects which in turn were a heavy crate, a car, the earth, a black hole, and a dog who doesn’t want to move…)
Gus will sometimes stop dead on a walk if either he hears a loud bang, or if he decides he doesn’t want to go in a particular direction, usually because he wants to go a different way than the one I intended. Sometimes I shrug and agree to his choice, at other times I become as stubborn as he is and we have an unseemly tussle until one of us gives way.
Gus and I have great walks together
He walks on a loose lead and I allow him to sniff what he wants. Unless it’s something truly disgusting, when we move quickly on.
Walking is one of the joys of having a dog. Wandering along in your own little bubble, chatting away to each other – well, to be fair, I do most of the chatting, but Gus is a great listener – and coming home pleasantly tired and happy. It’s nice to get occasional compliments too about how nicely Gus is behaving and what a good boy he is.
Do you have pleasant, enjoyable walks?
Or do you dread having your arms pulled out of their sockets and an aching back from trying to keep control of your lunging, pulling canine?
Everyone should enjoy their dog walks and we’d love to help you enjoy yours.
Our Masterclass is back by popular demand
We’re running our Wonderful Walkies course as our last course of this year. You get two 90 minute sessions over two consecutive weeks on 4th and 11th December, with lots of games to learn and play so that you and your dog enjoy your walks together.
Come and join the fun!
Keep training and stay safe,
Carol
