Everything about walking your dog
Selina McIntyre of Dogs Best Friend, a qualified Dog Behaviourist & Dog Trainer in the Hamilton, Waikato, Tauranga and Rotorua areas of NZ since 2004.
20.04.25
Dog Behaviour. Dog Parks and Dog Off Lead Area’s Importantly, the dog park is not the place to socialize puppies (from the perspective of intensity and a potential disease risk for your pup). Senior dogs too, may find dog parks overwhelming. Pay attention to your dog’s cues about this experience.It has been found that new dogs coming into a dog park provide information about themselves when they first enter, by urinating a short distance from the entrance. This is an important process as part of successful social communication and managing group dynamics, so should not be discouraged.The treats you take to the dog park should not be the bees knees/absolutely fabulous variety. You don’t want to gather a crowd with this tasty food, instigating a fight. Dry biscuits should be fine and never feed other people’s dogs.Once you have entered, avoid standing in a crowd which can cause dogs to hang around and play in a smaller area, this can lead to heightened exchanges. Try to stop your dog tailgating other dogs. Having a dog glued to your butt, sniffing profusely, is not comfortable at all and the other dog is likely to retaliate with a snap.If your dog is being told to move away by another dog and your dog is not listening, either undertake the recall or go over and move your dog away. The reverse should happen too, help your dog get away from a harasser. Don’t discipline somebody else’s dog, just move along to another area of the park.Be aware of the potential for a play fight to accidentally escalate into a real fight. If one dog is just a wee bit too rough with an action this can cause upset.Even if the dogs are racing around full ball, they should have many normal pauses in their play. The dogs should be relaxed at these points, if not, this is a good indicator things could be getting out of hand. At the least, this ends up being good practice for the dog to be overly stimulated and uncontrolled in other situations. With this, be on the lookout for unsupervised children, pushchairs, bikes and skateboards in the dog park. These can be triggers for dog aggression or chasing.It may be obvious but do not take dogs who are in season to the dog park and you should have great control of an entire male if you venture here.Keep walking around the park and working on your recall. This ensures the dog’s frolicking doesn’t get too heated.If a problem starts to manifest, move off or walk faster to maintain you dogs focus.Trust your instincts. If you see any dog or person that makes you uncomfortable just head on home, Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant & Dog Trainer, Dogs Best Friend. For more dog behavioural & training tips, advice and suggestions, why not check out my book in association with HarperCollins 'Big Dog, Small Dog - Make your dog happier by being understood,' thank you.
20.04.25
Dog Behaviour. Dog Training. The effect of lead or leash length on a dogs behaviour.
The effects of a dogs lead/leash length on a dogs behaviour -On reactivity to stimuli -If you see another dog for example and you immediately bring your dogs lead into a shorter length, you are then cuing your dog, each and every time this occurs, that there is 'something up with that dog.'Instead, you could have your dog on a long lead and shorten it INCREMENTALLY going towards the other dog if needed, or have them permanently on a mid-length lead that you feel you have sufficient control with but that is not too restrictive (dogs fight against this pressure and an antisocial dog that cannot flee is more likely to then go into fight mode).Also, if you need to put your dog back on their lead in situations with other dogs for example, keep as much slack/length in it as you can safely do so upon their return (to try to prevent an abrupt lack of freedom being associated with the other dog).Lead length and pulling on the lead -The more you restrict a dog, the more they will pull (as mentioned above - dogs fight against this pressure), especially the larger breed dogs that have a longer gait. I walk our two Border Terriers together on the street, on leads approx. 2 meters in length. Keep these points in mind when you're out and about with your canine companions, Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant & Trainer, Dogs Best Friend. For more dog behavioural & training tips, advice and suggestions, why not check out my book in association with HarperCollins 'Big Dog, Small Dog - Make your dog happier by being understood,' thank you.
20.04.25
Dog Behaviour. Your dog does not need to be friends with every dog they meet.
Your dog does not need to be a ‘Social Butterfly.’We/Society seem to expect our dogs to be ’sociable’ with all other dogs but you can simply smile at the other owner and walk on by 🙂Do you yourself stop and shake hands with everyone you meet on the street?Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant, Dogs Best Friend.
20.04.25
Dog Training. Dog Behaviour. Stopping a dog from pulling on it's lead.
Dogs pulling on their leads -Firstly, it's ok for your dogs to be walking in front of you when out walking on the lead. Think about a musher and sled-dog team and the control that he/she has at the end of the sled.Your dogs should simply not be pulling on their leads (trying to get you to go the direction they want to) with the leads being fairly loose - I keep the lead at medium length/1.5 - 2 m. This is not too long that I have to bring it in frequently to avoid obstacles but also, not a lead length that is a restriction and ‘pressure to fight against’ for our dogs. The more restriction you place on them, the more dogs seem to pull.With the walk, start as you want it to continue. Your dog should be relatively calm. * Wait again if they get overly excited.*Any dog is going to have a raised level of energy and excitement at the start of a walk and your dog may also really need to expend excess energy as well as possibly actually learn what’s required of them on the walk.To help take the edge off your dogs energy, you may want to start the walk by scattering some food about the place for them to find. As for pulling on the lead -You can become unpredictable on your walks. Your dog will have to listen to you so that they know where you’re off to. They'll never know when you’re going to turn or where you’re going next. As well, you can reward any eye contact or interaction on the lead. Your dog will be encouraged to watch you.Anticipate distractions and praise your dog when they successfully walk by these, Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant & Dog Trainer, Dogs Best Friend. For more dog behavioural & training tips, advice and suggestions, why not check out my book in association with HarperCollins 'Big Dog, Small Dog - Make your dog happier by being understood,' thank you.
20.04.25
Dog training. Dog Behaviour. The subtleties in a dog behavioural picture.
Dog training and behaviour can be about the subtleties in a situation …An example that can happen and be accumulative in nature, is from when you undertake the recall (the ‘Come’) after your dog has been off leash and you regularly put your dog straight back onto a short leash. This restriction can be too much of a negative for some, discouraging the recall. I would aim to have the lead fairly loose (knowing that not too far away you can bring your dog in if you like) or vary the length here.Also, when meeting other dogs out and about, do you tighten your grip on your dogs lead or tense up? Both possibly even before you are in the physical realm of the other dog? These actions are cautionary signals to your dog (as well as to the other dog) that their is indeed a problem with the situation, beware of this, Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant & Dog Trainer, Dogs Best Friend. For more dog behavioural & training tips, advice and suggestions, why not check out my book in association with HarperCollins 'Big Dog, Small Dog - Make your dog happier by being understood,' thank you.
26.10.24Dog Behaviour. Dog Training. Dogs biting onto their leads.Dog’s biting their leads when walking -Firstly, make sure your dog is getting enough exercise and mental stimulation throughout the day. Biting at the lead can be a way for dog to release excess energy or stress. Your dog then has a tug toy going with them out into the world! As well, avoid tugging the lead out of their mouth as this will only create a fun resistance game. High energy, playful dogs who have a hard time when they’re overwhelmed, are most likely to undertake this behaviour. The more intense the situation and the more worked up they are, the more likely lead biting will occur. Some dogs have learnt to bite the lead to gain attention so be aware of your behaviour around this. You can undertake the ‘Watch’ command to focus your dog’s attention back on you (the ‘Watch’ is to watch your eyes) and reward for this behaviour. Or extend on this, stopping and asking for multiple commands to be performed. Or you could try, immediately halting your walk as soon as your dog connects with the lead. Turn away, giving them no attention, loosening the lead (whilst at the same time taking away the walk) until mouthing stops. Take a step forward again, but repeat the process if your dog connects with the lead, Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant & Dog Trainer, Dogs Best Friend. For more dog behavioural & training tips, advice and suggestions, why not check out my book in association with HarperCollins 'Big Dog, Small Dog - Make your dog happier by being understood,' thank you.
06.07.23
Dog Behaviour. Dog Training. Treat every experience for your dog as unique
Treat every experience as unique.For example, if your dog has in any realm of the past (very recently or quite a while ago ‘had quite a nasty encounter with…’ then owners can form the impression from that encounter (sometimes with the very next dog and owner combo they meet) that interacting with dogs (or dogs that look similar to that ‘nasty one’) too close has got to be ‘negative’ and avoided.The owner is in a heightened state, tense and on the defensive. This energy and judgement is unwittingly communicated through your behavioural cues to your dog (tightened grip on the lead or maybe even crossing over from that dog).We had an encounter recently with our two Border Terriers where they were quite dramatically lunged for on the lead but I decided at that encounter, to be as calm as possible for the next dog we saw. Well guess what, the next woman was very stressed out, she was actually yelling “Oh no our dog will go for yours!” Staying calm (and our dogs sitting while she walked by), instead we had a wonderful interaction and play with the third dog we met.Act calm and don’t give up, for the potential marvelous encounters that could be in your dogs future, Selina McIntyre, Dog Behavioural Consultant & Dog Trainer, Dogs Best Friend. For more dog behavioural and training advice, tips and suggestions, why not check out my book in association with HarperCollins, 'Big Dog, Small Dog - Make your dog happier by being understood,' thank you :-)
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Selina McIntyre of Dogs Best Friend, a qualified Dog Behaviourist & Dog Trainer in the Hamilton, Waikato, Tauranga and Rotorua areas of NZ since 2004.