Some dogs spend most of the day waiting around all day for their walk. It can be the most exciting part of the day for them and some times the most stressful for both them and you. Asking for focus and engagement from your dog throughout the dog walk can improve their behaviour and how they process walk excitement indefinitely. Here’s how to get started:
USE a long leash to allow your dog to move freely and express themselves without too many restrictions all the time. Not an extendable leash, though, as these jerk your dog around and can be unsafe. A long line or nylon leash about 1.5 to 2 metres is ideal.
I.E. LET you dog be a dog and do natural dog things like sniff out scents.
Reinforce recall and your dog walking alongside you throughout the walk so your dog learns focusing on you and staying close to you is always a rewarding and positive thing to do. A dog that only gets recalled to be put on the leash to go back home again at the end of the walk will lose motivation to come back at all, eventually.
Allow your dog to practice breed specific behaviours on walks where possible. This could mean an off leash sprint in enclosed areas for sighthound breeds or time spent sniffing and following scents for some working breeds. This massively improves your dog’s mental wellbeing and allows time for them to destress or unwind when needed.
Learn about your dog’s body language and stress signals and when they need distance and space from other dogs
This allows them to regulate their emotions and to prevent reactive behaviours towards other dogs and potential stressors from developing.
