My Walk, featuring Sully

Meet Sully!

He's a puppy Labradoodle who is growing fast and pulls hard on walks. If walking on a leash is a challenge now, it will be much harder when he's a full grown dog! Sully's owners often take him on walks with the baby in a stroller so if Sully thinks he controls the walk, it might be dangerous for the baby!

A game we call My Walk can mean the difference between a frustrating experience and a care free outing. To teach Sully how to walk on leash, we imagine that a tight leash means "red-light" and we stop the walk. A loose leash is a "green-light" and the walk continues. This teachs Sully that -- his pulling makes the walk stop!

The trick to this game is noticing every time Sully reaches the end of the leash. The instant he starts to pull, we say "UGH" and stop walking! 

Once Sully makes the decision to make the leash loose again (walk back a step), we say, "YES." Using clear sounds and words helps him understand what we want. Remember: if leash is loose -- continue to walk at a fun, brisk pace!

If Sully sits down, it's OK to slowly step back to encourage him to come back a step and make the leash loose. This is important because the behavior you want to reinforce is walking! It is essenital to continue walking and not stop and sit down every few minutes.

This simple overview is nice, however, to learn all the rules and tricks that make walking your dog easier, see My Walk, on Zen Dog Training Online.

Home Alone Training.

Meet Sully!

Sully the old English sheepdog has traveled the world with his owners. He lived for many years in Europe and now resides in the heart of Boston. Being a very dog-friendly city, Boston is filled with all kinds of people that are big admirers of canine companions. On any given walk there's a plethora of folks just itching to say hi to Sully.

The etiquette where Sully was living in Europe was quite different. Most of Sully's European neighbors were comfortable with dogs, but were more "hands off" than Bostonians. Imagine Sully's confusion when his walk suddenly included groups of strangers waiting to manhandle him! In addition, one of Sully's owners is frequently away on business, so most of the time it's just him and one other person at home.

Sully reacted to this new enviorment by barking at anyone "strange" and desperately trying to avoid being left alone. He became anxious about being home alone. This was a problem for many reasons, mainly because Sully's owner could hardly walk out the front door to collect the mail.

Having the right tools for the job at hand is a big factor. Having to deal with Sully's barking when a construction crew needs access to the home was a monumental task. We suggested using a tether for Sully when people came over to the house. A tether is simple a leash or cable tied to something secure to prevent a dog from getting to the door when a visitor arrives. This is a way to manage the behavior. It was also very helpful for Sully's owners to give him a delicious bully stick when they needed to step out for a brief moment to curb some of his anxiety. Together these tips helped Sully feel more comfortable in his new environment.

For more information about tethers and Home Alone Training, visit Zen Dog Training Online.