The dog trainer diaries
PULLING together!
The daily dog walk doesn’t need to be a battle, with your pet constantly pulling and you struggling along behind. Trainer Steve Mann advises on how to make it a pleasure again.
ABOUT STEVE
One of the most high-profile dog trainers in the UK, Steve Mann runs the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers, and presents courses on canine training and behaviour all over the world.
Walking a dog who pulls can become an exhausting battle.
Pauline was at her wits’ end.
She had contacted me about Oscar, her four-year-old Golden Retriever whom she loved dearly; however, she couldn’t stand the thought of taking him for walks any more because he “pulled like a train”.
This is not an unusual issue, but Pauline had been struggling with it for many years, and was inches away from giving up.
TOP TIP!
Reward checking in — your dog can’t pull on the lead and look at you at the same time.
“Maintain the deal of eye contact = treat, but increase the distraction…”
MAKING A CONNECTION
When I first went round to visit Pauline and Oscar it was clear we needed to work on a connection between the two of them.
Oscar was lovely, but VERY enthusiastic! I taught Pauline how to work on a few calming behaviours, including some slow massages, and then we began working on some eye contact in the home.
I explained that until Oscar was focusing on Pauline inside the house, we were clutching at straws trying to get any type of focus outside. As soon as Oscar was in the outside world full of smells and exciting things to explore, Pauline had no chance — a little like expecting a child on a rollercoaster to focus on us when they won’t even look at us in the queue!
Until we had taught the fundamentals of checking in for loose-lead walking, Pauline agreed to drive Oscar to the park for his daily exercise. We didn’t want him to continue practising the unwanted behaviour, and I didn’t want Pauline to be dragged head over heels in the process. First things first, I wanted Pauline and Oscar on the same frequency and to achieve that we focused on eye contact.
This is the basis of all connection, and we worked on the theory that if Oscar was regularly looking at Pauline, he couldn’t pull her at the same time.