Walk the Line

Wednesday was our 2nd day of puppy class. We learned about loose leash walking, which was worth the whole class fee if it worked. We were taught to hold a little treat in front of their nose to keep them focused and to our side, and to stop if they started pulling. I thought there was no way this would work with Zelda. I've tried to take her on walks before, and it was pull pull pull sniff sniff sniff.

She did fairly well in class. But in class she's so excited and just wants to jump all voer the other dogs, its so hard to get her to pay attention to me, but she is getting better. Thursday night I tried the techniques and took her on a walk outside. I cut up little pieces of ham to bring along. I figured since her usual training treat are cheerios (which she loves, they're cheap and work great!) the ham should be a jackpot! I took her several times around the building. She did VERY well, except if she had to go potty, then she'd pull and be whacky. I thought it was a great start, and was very shocked she was doing so well.

I'm a big fan of the show The Dog Whisperer. Some of Cesar Millan's techniques I disagree with, bu a lot of the stuff he says makes sense. Handle your dog in a calm assertive manner. Wait until they're not excited to pay attention to them or do anything. When I talked to my class teacher about how overly excited Zelda gets on the leash, she told me "she needs a job, she's part husky. Get her a backpack, have her carry your water." Right away I started laughing, and asked her if she watched The Dog Whisperer. This is one of the techniques he uses for working dogs. That was indeed where she got the idea from. I was telling her how i thought it was unbelieveable how he can get any dog to walk with him within 5 minutes. She said its his confidence, and calm, dominating demeanor. This is exactly what the show teaches, but maybe I just needed to hear it from someone else to reinforce it in my head.

Last night I took her for another walk. I didn't have any pockets for treats, so I figured lets just give it a try, see what happens, using only my calm assertive manner. That walk was such a joy! Right away she was right by my side, and rarely wandered. I was using a combo of both techniques. I would say "let's go!" when we started walking, and would stop and say "easy if she started pulling in front, jsut like I learned in class. If she started to get excited when she saw another person or dog, I would give a little snap-tug on the leash and say "lets go" and she would start trotting along again. The whole time stood up straight and confident, showing her I'm the pack leader. She did extremely well, it wasn't perfect of course, but much better than I could expect for her 2nd walk since training. I am so proud of her!