Good Morning All!
Hope everyone is doing well on this fine Monday morning. Here in NY its dreary and cold, but that didn't stop Betty from waking Josh and I up at 6:30 AM. We both wanted to catch up on sleep today so after trying to ignore her hoping she would go back to sleep we decided to let her out thinking maybe she was hungry or thirsty. After she had a quick nosh and drink she came bounding back to the room wanting to play. After a while she settled down, but not after first thinking she could use my face as a seat (this is not my favorite way to be woken up). All was peaceful and quiet for the next hour and a half until little miss decided she was tired of sleeping and would like to once again play. Well, mommy got the hint (daddy is a much heavier sleeper/actor) so I bit the bullet and suited up to hit the 30 degree weather outside. That's right, if you decided to wake me up early, I'm gonna take your butt for a walk and hope that it wears you out!
Betty is still learning how to walk properly on a lease. I'll give her MAJOR kudos for being really good about not walking ahead of me and tugging. She's perfectly content to walk behind me or at my side, which I know from experience with my parent's dogs is a good thing. However, she's got serious puppy ADD when we go for walks. So far we've only ventured out enough to cover half a block of walking before we turn around and come home. Her little legs just give out and she gets really cold. But every time we go on a walk she gets SUPER distracted with any little noise or person that walks by. Forget it if another dog comes around, she wants to run away with them and play!
Today an older man was walking with his chihuahua mix in the opposite direction we were. I want her to be socialized so she's not afraid of strangers so I generally let her stop and meet people/dogs that want to check her out. But every time I do she has to stop and wants to follow them as soon as they leave, which throws off the flow of our walks. I couldn't even get her to finish going around the block today and ended up giving up because I was literally dragging her behind me.
I don't want to make walks a bad experience by dragging her, but I'm not sure how to positively motivate her to keep walking. She's VERY scent oriented like a true hound, but she also hasn't quite grasped the "leave it" command when she's become too obsessed with a scent. I know she's still really young and it's going to take a matter of time for her to learn, but I'm just wondering if there's maybe a way we can expedite the process or make it more stimulating for her. As always, please drop us a line if you have any tips or tricks. If I find something that works I'll definitely post it in case anyone else reading this is having similar issues.
Today is a cleaning day so this will probably be my only post, but no promises :)
Until Next Time
XOXO
Betty
Rachel & Josh
Ah yes, getting a puppy to properly walk is probably one of the biggest pains in the ass you're going to encounter with the entire process. What's good is that she walks beside or behind you, which is half of the battle if not more. She may resist a bit more after she gets older and stronger, so be sure to keep what you've got going in that regard.
ReplyDeleteThe distraction and refusing to listen factor is the other half of the battle. She's getting distracted because she is excited and not doing what she should be, which is being occupied by focusing on you and your direction. The key here is to get the dog to understand that *you* are going on the walk, and she's coming with. Meaning you leave the house first (ideally command her to submit and sit first), you lead the way, you decide when she stops to sniff and/or relieve herself, etc. It's frustrating at first but some punishing walks to establish dominance are going to be necessary.
You may not want to let her stop and see every dog you come by. This will make her think every time a dog is out she gets to see them, making it a guarantee the behavior you're getting will happen every time. Only let her visit other doggies if she approaches them in a calm, acceptable manner. If she's not, just keep walking and don't even pay attention to her.
The mindset has to be instilled at times other than just when she's getting distracted by other dogs and pulling. The problem isn't that she is getting distracted, the problem is that she's in the mindset to become distracted in the first place, if that makes any sense. So basic advice I'd give is to just really push that you are the leader on every step of the walk and eventually things will fall into place. Every dog's natural behavior is to follow the leader or be the leader, so once a leader is established the issues should take care of themselves.