Why I Stopped Taking My Dogs for a Walk
I remember the days that I would take my young dogs for a MISERABLE walk, them pulling, barking or reacting to other dogs, peeing in the road, acting nervous when a person walked past, doing all the things you don't want your dog to do. And I would push through and keep trying, because that is what you are supposed to do, walk them UNTIL they behave. I read books and article saying that if I wanted a well behaved dog that this is what I had to do. With my past dogs, I eventually got to where the walk was okay, but usually I would have to spend the first 15-30 minutes of my walk reminding my dogs what manners I wanted them to have on the walk. And I hated the methods: prong collars, harnesses, the Cesar Millan touch and "psst." It made walking my dogs so unbearable and not fun for me or them. It felt like a no win situation, like I was a bad dog mom if I didn't take them for several walks a week (or a day by some people's standards), but walking my dogs was rough and they never seemed to get better at it. I also have young kids, and I had to take them with me because my husband worked, which meant that my attention was divided, and I had more variables to try to control. Have you been there?
I have, through the years, felt guilt that I didn't take my dogs for regular walks. I wanted to, but it just seemed like a crazy task that had no reward. My dogs seemed better behaved just doing some trick training and playing with me seemed to be enough to burn their energy. I would still venture out on occasion, geared up and ready to train them to walk on the leash with the intention that today would be the day that we finally did it! I just knew that the whole walk would go well. Before leashing up, I would have read or watched some dog trainer's "how to" and I was ready to take on this walk...only to fail...again
I couldn't figure out why my first dog, and the dogs my family had while growing up, I was able to train them to walk on a loose leash. I couldn't figure why when I just went on my own instincts on dog training I had greater success than when I followed training advice from the leading dog trainer and behaviorists. I couldn't rationalize how I could be good with dogs, but bad with dogs at the same time. I felt disheartened and confused. There had to be a better way....turns out that there is.
Turns out that the methods I was using, "the walk your dog until they respect you and correct them until they do", are not the best way. In fact, it can be the WORST WAY to teach a dog to walk on a leash. I also had the misconception of what leash respect looked like. I had been taught that if the dog was not walking at my side slightly behind me, that meant my dog did not respect me and that I was teaching my dog to disrespect me. Trying to get my dogs to walk in that exact position was challenging, especially using the methods that I had watched and read about.
Now, I am not against professional dog trainers or behaviorists, I am actually for them. However, I do think, in general, that our understanding of dogs has changed in the last few years, and that the understanding that I was using was misguided, outdated, and not the best. I also believe that our understanding of dogs is only going to strengthen over time, so hopefully our fur-babies can have even better lives with us.
Before I gave up walking my dogs, a few years ago I came across McCann Dogs, who are professional dog trainers with a YouTube channel, and they completely blew my mind on how they handled dog training. One of the things that I learned from them is: not to walk a dog before they are ready. The biggest mistake I had been making (maybe other dog parents have been as well) was expecting that my dogs would learn how to walk nicely on a leash on the walk itself. It had never occurred to me that I need to teach them how to respect the leash and how to walk on the leash before I headed out the front door.
Now, I am sure that there are other dog professionals with this belief, but it was my first time coming across it. Now, McCann Dogs have many videos on how to get your dog ready for walking and what steps need to be taken to teach your dog how to walk on a leash, so I highly recommend going to their channel and their website. https://www.youtube.com/@McCannDogs and https://www.mccanndogs.com/
At the time I learned all of this, Joy and Hannah were puppies/young dogs, so I started teaching them how to walk on a loose leash in our living room. Things were looking good! And then...I found out I was pregnant with my fourth child. Yup, dog training came to a screeching halt. I had a very bad case of morning sickness, a toddler, and so much going on. We had also decided that we were going to move, so I had to get the house ready to sell. There were so many things that were going on, that dog training took to the back burner. There have been a few times where I just stuck those leashes on my girls and took them for a walk before they were ready, forgetting the lessons that I had learned, and we would end up with a miserable walk.
So fast forward to today, I am back to training my girls leash respect. We are working toward the goal of taking them on walks. I have made it out the front door with success, but not to the road yet. I am taking my time, I am making sure my girls are ready before we go for a walk beyond our property. I know that when we do go for that first official walk, it's going to be another training session. But maybe in a few months or so after that, we will have mastered the walk.
