Out and About
Walking the formerly reactive dog means that we need to be aware of our surroundings, make space accordingly to oncoming human and dog traffic, hold our dog accountable for calm and polite leash manners and enjoy a beautiful day out in the sun!
In this video you’ll see some clips from my morning outing with Cloud and how I navigate busy areas passing dogs and people by ensuring that I’m always making space and advocating for Cloud and also always holding him accountable for calm and polite behaviour. It’s a bit of a long video but I’m so very proud of this doodle boy so I wanted to show just how many distractions he passed so calmly and politely! Well done, doodle bug!
I often walk the bike trails to test drive his polite leash manners next to zippy bikes whirling by! We want to guide the dog into making great choices like moving away from the bikes (stepping in behind me and moving away from them) rather than barking and lunging at them reactively like he’s done in the past. When working with dogs, it’s very important that we have realistic expectations for them and understand that certain things will bother our dogs but that we have the ability through training to help our dog make progress (notice I didn’t say perfection) and better choices rather than allowing him to react on his impulses. For example, it’s ok to be worried about the bikes and even startle and step away at times (I did this a few times myself when I didn’t hear them!), but it’s not ok to bark and lunge at them.
Some dogs are also nervous around new and concerning things like the automatic doors and gates at the hardware store. When a dog feels very nervous about something, we want to slow things down for him, give him strong leadership and help him build confidence through coexistence and through work until he no longer worries about the item or situation. I will work at the entry of the store for a few minutes to show him that the doors are nothing to be scared of and that he could rely on me to lead him and keep him safe rather than letting him scoot through in a panic and dragging me behind him. It takes a lot of consistency and work to help dogs build confidence in worrisome situations but it makes a major impact longterm in helping them feel safe and properly led by their human.