Frustration-free walks with the dog
As a professional dog trainer, one of my core philosophies about walking the dog is that it should be mutually enjoyable: fun for the human and fun for the dog.
If either end of the leash isn’t having a good time, it’s not a good walk.
Most of the time, owners want my help with their walk because they are not having a good time.
They’re getting yanked around, ignored and embarrassed. All while their dog seems to be having the time of his life.
Let’s fix that!
A walk that is more fun for your dog can help unlock a walk that is more fun for you too.
The path to a mutually enjoyable walk usually requires mutual education. Often, the dog needs some foundation skills and the human needs to reimagine what the walk “should” look like.
Counter-intuitively, when you redesign the walk to be more fun for the dog in a couple of specific ways, it can quickly make the walk more fun for you too.
Here are two freedoms to start incorporating into your walks to make them more mutually enjoyable.
#1 Freedom to Sniff
A dog’s nose is a very powerful thing.
They gather so much information about the world this way, and we are completely oblivious to the majority of it. (Do you know any humans who can detect COVID and blood sugar changes via odor??)
The capabilities of the canine nose are staggering.
Using this superpower is both costly and beneficial for dogs because while sniffing is physically exhausting, it is also relaxing and lowers their heart rate.
When you give your dog freedom to sniff during his walk, you are strategically (and sneakily) accomplishing one of the biggest goals many people have for walking their dog: tiring him out.
While sniffing doesn’t completely replace physical activity and movement, it does help you squeeze as much goodness into and out of your walk as possible.
#2 Freedom to Move
Where I Started
Many years ago, I believed all dogs should stay right next to the human during walks.
I was occasionally walking a neighbor’s dog during this time, and I did all kinds of things to try and make her stay next to me — in Heel.
They didn’t work. At all.
Responsiveness to the human, not Heel, is necessary for a nice walk.
Looking back from where I stand now, I can see how utterly unrealistic and misinformed my expectations were (especially for that particular dog).
How incredibly frustrating and confusing it must have been for that dog to be given a massively enriching opportunity only to be yanked and restrained in an effort to meet an arbitrary and faulty ideal.
15+ years later, I would do things very, very different with that dog.
Where I’ve Landed
Now days, I understand that Heel takes a lot of intentional training. And that trying to force a dog to Heel before he’s ready is very frustrating and uncomfortable for both ends of the leash.
I also understand that even when it’s well trained, Heel interferes with a very natural and satisfying part of being a dog: exploring the environment.
Heel does have its place! But for most dogs, that place isn’t for the entirety of their neighborhood walk.
Instead, I give the dog freedom to move in two ways during our walk:
A leash that is as long as is safe and legal. Clipped to a body harness!
As many choices about where and when to move as possible.
Tap here to read more about my favorite way to walk the dog.
Note: ‘Freedom’ is not ‘Free-For-All’
Freedom doesn’t equal chaos. Freedom with rules can equal more satisfaction and fun.
I’m still the adult here, and the walk needs to be safe and mutually enjoyable.
Dogs who want to move into the street when a car is coming, don’t get that particular freedom. They also don’t get to explore cactus patches, lakes riddled with toxic algae, or creek banks where snakes might be hiding.
Dogs who want to move so much faster than me that they’re dragging me, don’t get that particular freedom.
They are welcome to move ahead of me — even 20 feet ahead of me. But they are not welcome to move 30 feet ahead of me when the leash is only 25 feet.
Shifting to embrace these two freedoms doesn’t always solve ALL the walk problems.
But when you realize that moving and sniffing are normal and satisfying for dogs, and you grant those two freedoms — safely — it can reduce a lot of unnecessary frustration in your walk.
