Does Your Dog Do This When You Go For Walks?

I recently had an interesting email from a subscriber named Kathryn. Here is what she said -

"Hello Andrew- I'm enjoying reading your email- some very useful ideas.

We have an 8 month old Dobermann bitch (Ailsa). She tends to get over excited at the start of her walks even though we've never made a big deal of "walkies".

She dances on her back legs and constantly chews at the lead, in an attempt to escape and we've gone through a range of halties, Canac gentle leaders, harnesses and the rest to try to control her. When she's on the flexi lead, she'll run almost to the extent of it and then tear back again, shoulder charging me or my partner (whoever is holding the lead). She's 5 stone already, so is a big dog to have to do battle with at the start of every walk (by the end, she's calmed down).

When she acts up, we stop walking until she's calmed down but she's latched onto that one now and just starts showing off again as soon as we continue the walk. She needs exercise so we can't deny her the walk.

Most of the places we can walk her are either busy with people and/ or animals (the local parks and woodlands - full of jogging adults, other dogs and kids on bicycles) or the Peak District, Derbyshire - sheep everywhere, so it's not always safe to let her off the lead. When it is safe, usually deep in the woods, we let her run and she always comes back when called and goes back on the lead.

She's a lovely dog usually, but it's hard work trying to walk her at times because of this behaviour. Other Dobie owners have told us she'll calm down when she's about two (so does that mean we have another 16 months of this?)

Any suggestions?"

It's quite likely that if you got your dog as a puppy you'll understand to a degree what Kathryn's going through. Many puppies find the whole idea of going for a walk so exciting that they have trouble controlling that excitement. And the symptoms that Kathryn describes are by no means unusual.

Here's my reply to her -

"Hi Kathryn,

Thanks for your mail. I can sympathise with your problem as over the years I've had two dogs that got incredibly excited at the start of a walk. That excitement manifested itself in different ways from the behaviour you describe with your dobie, but nevertheless it still caused a number of problems I had to address.

I expect the advice from other dobie owners about her calming down in time is probably true. The vast majority of dogs display some form of puppy like excitable behaviour that can drive you to distraction, but that will in time subside as they mature.

However, that most certainly doesn't mean you've got to just accept it in the meantime.

Without knowing the dog, or seeing you handle her, it's difficult for me to give you an answer that's guaranteed to work but I do have some suggestions for you. One is an attempt at a quick fix which _might_ work, the other two are much longer term solutions which, if implemented properly, almost certainly _will_ work.

Suggestion #1 - Quick Fix

What motivates her (other than the prospect of a walk!)?

Is there any particular edible treat which gets her taste buds raging? Does she have a favourite toy she loves to play with? Or maybe an old shoe or slipper she loves to chew while she's on her bed?

If there is something that fits into this category you could try taking it with you on walks. The ideal thing would be if there was a tasty snack like cheese that she loved. You could fill your pocket with tiny little chunks of it before you set out. Put her on the lead inside and immediately give her a piece of cheese before she starts leaping about. While she's still distracted by the surprise of something so yummy, open the door and step out, almost immediately distracting her with another piece of cheese.

The idea is for her to never get the chance to begin her usual antics because you're keeping her otherwise engaged. Some of the time she'll be eating, but hopefully a lot of the time she'll be eagerly anticipating what's coming.... ....as she sees your hand disappear into the cheese pocket.....watches it rummage around in there.......will it come out with a piece of cheese or won't it.......?

If food doesn't motivate her hold her favourite toy at her head height and waft it around enticingly. Be careful how you do it though - too energetically and you'll probably wind her up even more than she would have been ordinarily. You want to just gently and calmly tempt her. Let her mouth at it and maybe pull at it but don't actually let go - if you do she'll probably still tear about but this time with her toy in her mouth as well!

I have to tell you that my advice is _not_ to go with this suggestion. I suspect that if you do she'll very quickly wise up to what's going on and ignore your bribes. Also, I've never really been a great fan of the school of thought that advocates distraction as a way of overcoming undesirable behaviour. To my mind it never actually addresses the problem.

I believe in cases like this that the only sure way of success is to face squarely up to the problem and teach an alternative method of behaviour. Not only that, but do it to such a high standard that if the dog ever repeats the undesirable action you can give it the command for the alternative behaviour you've taught, and know full well that it will immediately stop what it's doing and do your bidding instead.

A tall order? Not if you go about it properly. Quick and easy? Definitely not - you'll really have to work at it. But I promise you this much - if you do what I'm about to suggest then at the end of it not only will you have solved your problem, but you'll also have taught the dog an incredibly useful command which will put you streets ahead of most people in this country in terms of how well behaved their dog is.

Suggestion #2 Teach Her To Walk To Heel Off The Lead

I told you that over the years I've had two thoroughly over-excited start-of-the-walk dogs. One of them is still with me now. She's just turned three years old and is showing absolutely _no_ sign at all of calming down in this respect. In fact, if anything, I'd say it's clear that this behaviour is now so deeply ingrained that it will probably never change.

I have two dogs at the moment. I also have two young children. When going for a walk we go out of the back door and have a ten yard walk down the driveway to the gate, then we're out onto the pavement.

When it's just me taking the dogs out I let them out the door and we head for the gate. The whole way there the youngster is behaving like a lunatic. She screams about, she leaps at the other dog's head, snapping at her ears and muzzle, she whirls round and round on the spot snatching at her tail, then she bounces down the driveway at the same time as whirling round and round after her tail, then she leaps up and down, frequently crashing into my legs or the other dog or both.

We reach the gate.

As I go through it I call them both to heel. Neither of them are on the lead, but they both immediately 'fall in' to position. Neither of them will now budge from that position until I give them the word. From where I live it's three or four minutes walk till I reach open fields where they can run free. But it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference if it was twenty or thirty minutes walk till they could run free. I always teach all of my dogs that when I tell them to 'heel' they have to immediately get into position AND NOT FLINCH FROM THAT POSITION UNTIL I GIVE THEM THE WORD, however long that word might be in coming.

When I'm taking the children with me on a dog walk (which is probably no more frequently than once every 10-14 days) I tell the youngster to 'heel' the moment I'm out the door. If I didn't there's a very good chance she'd knock one of the kids over on the driveway. So even though I normally allow her to have a few brief seconds of craziness as we go down the driveway, and even though she's itching to do it when I have the children with me, she's been taught that if I tell her to do something different from what she'd really like to be doing, she'll obey me every time.

I live in a rural area where there's very little traffic, so it's not much of a problem for me to walk my dogs in this way. But don't think it won't work in more built up areas as well. Back in the mists of time when I had my first dog I spent a year living in central London. I used to exercise him in Hyde Park on a bike. I'd cycle like mad along the paths that criss cross the park while he'd gallop across the grass nearby.

But to get to the park I'd have to cycle along Knightsbridge with him trotting alongside me. And on more than one occasion we went round Hyde Park Corner and along Piccadilly with traffic zooming about left right and centre. He was never on a lead.

I don't say this to brag, merely to back up what I'm trying to say - if you train a dog to heel properly it doesn't matter where you are or what distractions are about. The dog knows it has to stick beside you come what may.

(I should perhaps add that I certainly wouldn't dream of cycling a dog round Hyde Park Corner off the lead now, however well trained it was. But in those days I was young and impetuous. I like to think I've got more commonsense now!!)

Training the dog to walk to heel is not at all difficult, but it does take time. There are all sorts of different ways you can go about it, and which method you choose is dependent on your dog. It's a subject I go into a lot of detail about in my home study course "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".

When it comes to training the 'heel', whether you end up using one of the methods I advocate or you try a different method, I would certainly recommend that you don't try to teach the command at the start of your walks. Wait until she's burnt off that initial excitement and calmed down. And if you're deep in the woods before you start your training sessions there will hopefully be very few things to distract her. Only when she's mastered the heel command should you try getting her to do it at the start of your walks. You'll just have to accept the fact that until you've taught the command walks are going to continue in the same vein as at present.

Suggestion #3

Get her used to having the lead put on at all sorts of weird moments when you're not actually going out for a walk. Carry the lead about the house with you. As you pass her sleeping on her bed clip it on for a brief second, praise her then immediately take it off and completely ignore her.

As you prepare your evening meal completely surprise her by clipping it on, doing a quick lap of the kitchen then immediately taking the lead off again. As she comes to lie beside you as you watch TV quietly reach down and clip the lead on for a while before surruptitiously taking it off again.

You never want her to think that any of these episodes are going to mean it's walk time. If she shows the slightest inclination to go loopy you must immediately take the lead off again and just ignore her.

The first thing you're aiming for is being able to put her on the lead without her getting excited.

When you can do that you then want to work up to taking her for a 'walk' on the lead inside the house without her getting excited. In order for this to work it's vital that you never do it when you're just about to go for a real walk. What you're trying to achieve is for her to think that having the lead put on is no big deal and doesn't necessarily mean that it'll end in a walk. Indeed, if you can aim to take her for ten or maybe even more of these little stolls round the house each day, she'll soon learn that far more often than not having the lead put on does _not_ in fact end with a 'proper' walk.

Only when you've got to the stage that she's completely nonchalent about having the lead put on, and you can then take her for a completely calm 'walk' inside the house do you progress to the next stage -

While you're having one of your little walks round the house get your partner to very quietly open the front/back door (whichever door it is you usually take her through when you're going out for a walk). If she cottons on and shows the slightest bit of excitement get your partner to immediately shut the door while you take her off the lead and completely ignore her.

Once you get to the stage that the door's open and she's not bothered by it you just carry on walking round the house until at some point you take her out through the door. Immediately you get outside turn straight round and come back in again, praising her as you do so (assuming she's reamined calm). Once you're back inside, close the door, have a bit more of an internal walk then let her off the lead.

Keep doing this, but gradually go further and further once you get outside. Don't rush this stage though. At first only make your increases an extra pace. Then gradually you can go an extra two paces then three. Then you can go an extra ten yards then fifteen. Keep gradually stepping it up like this and you'll find, especially if you're doing it 10-15 times a day, that over the course of 3 or 4 weeks you should see a real improvement, and before too much longer you'll probably be able to have a 'proper' walk starting from scratch this way.

The important thing here is that while you're gradually increasing the distance you go outside before turning back, you must only keep going if the dog is calm. At the very first sign of manic behaviour you must immediately turn and get back inside. She has to learn that you will only keep going if she earns it.

And of course it goes without saying that all the while she's walking calmly you must gently praise her and tell her what a good girl she's being.

Ditch the extending lead, until you've overcome this problem at least. It sounds to me as if your early walk woes are far worse if she's on it. Biting at a fixed lead while dancing around by your side is infinitely easier to control than the momentum of 5 stone of muscle charging at you from 6 or 7 yards out and leaping through the air at your shoulder!!

And a couple of suggestions to stop the lead biting. Smother it in something foul tasting. You can get hold of something with a name a bit like "Stop'n'gro" from most chemists. It's for painting on kids fingernails to stop them biting at them. Or you might be able to get some quinnine from an old fashioned chemist. It's the really bitter stuff that goes into tonic water I think.

Alternatively there's a spray called Anti-Chew Repellent made by Johnson's Veterinary Products of Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B75 7DF. You can buy it in some vets and some pet shops. If you can't find it locally contact the manufacturer and see who their nearest stockist is to you.

Failing all that try the hottest curry powder or paste you can find. You want a real blow your head off type not some namby pamby korma type!

There's another technique I've used in the past which can be effective with some dogs though you might not like it as it's more of a 'physical' deterrent. As the dog grabs the lead into its mouth you pull the lead in such a way as to force the lead even further back into its mouth, rather like a bit being pulled back into a horses mouth. This has the effect of making them 'gag' on the lead. Most dogs will quickly decide they don't like the experience at all, and after it's happened to them a few times they'll soon learn to leave the lead well alone.

Any one of these suggestions will probably make rather a mess of your dog lead but once the problem's solved you can buy a new one!

I've just read through what I've written and it ocurs to me that I do have a fourth suggestion, but, much like the lead-gagging above, it's a 'physical' method which you may not approve of. I must stress, though, that you must only go down this road if you completely understand my instructions and can carry them out to the letter. Get it wrong and you'll do more harm than good.

Suggestion #4 Walk The Dog On A (so called 'choke') Chain

Most people have no idea how to use a check chain properly. Used correctly they won't harm your dog at all, and they can be very effective. Used incorrectly and they really can 'choke' the dog.

Walk the dog on one side of you only. Put the chain on so that when it's tightened the bit attached to the lead is the bit that goes across the back of the neck _not_ under the chin.

If you have the dog on your left the lead runs down to the ring on the chain and over the back of the dogs neck then round under the chin and back towards you. If you pull on the lead to tighten the chain then immediately slacken the lead, the chain will drop open on its own. If you have the chain on the other way round, however, this will not happen.

In this case the lead would be attached to the chain so that it then went under the dogs chin, round the far side of the neck and up across the back of the neck as it came back towards you. This time if you pull on the lead to tighten the chain and then slacken the lead, the chain stays tight and will 'choke' the dog.

Practise on your leg a few times and you'll see what I mean.

The way you use it is simplicity itself but it's vital that as well as putting the chain on the right way round you also get your timing absolutely right. Set off with the dog on whichever side you have chosen. The dog must stay on that side of you. If it moves across to the other side the chain has immediately become 'upside down' and will be unable to open after tightening.

Set off with the lead slack. Aim to walk with the dogs head level with your knee. As soon as the dog steps forward from that position, even by an inch or two, give a quick tug on the lead so you pull the dog back into position. The very second the dog is back in position you must praise it and let the lead fall slack again.

The very second it steps forward again you immediately give another sharp tug-and-release followed by praise. The dog quickly learns that when it's walking beside you there is absolutely no pressure on its neck at all - the lead hangs down in a U shape between your hand and its neck. But the very second it steps out of position it gets an unpleasant - albeit momentary - constriction around the neck.

But some caveats-

This will only work if the problem is caused by the dog surging forward. If she's dancing up on her hind legs or bouncing out to the side in her excitement it's vey difficult to make this technique work unless you're _very_ experienced at what you're doing. And never even _think_ of using a chain on a dog that's behind you as a way of hurrying it along. You really will throttle it.

It's terribly easy to be too heavy handed with chains so you need to be absolutely certain you know what you're doing. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen people using them incorrectly. At best this simply turns the dog into a confirmed puller, at worst it will leave it cowed and terrified of going on the lead.

If you know what you're doing using a chain will be quick and effective (assuming of course that your bitch is trying to surge ahead. If she's up on her hind legs or bouncing to the side a lot _don't_ use one on her.) If you're not too sure what you're up to then proceed with great caution.

This has turned into rather a rambling message! I hope it all makes sense and that it has given you some ideas you think you can work with.

One of the most important things you need to understand about training dogs is that, just like people, they're all different. What that means is that what works for one won't necessarily work for another. So you have to find the technique that's right for your bitch.

One of the things I do in my home study course at "Dog Training Blueprint To Success" is explain how different dogs can react to different training techniques. This gives you an insight on what to do if one technique doesn't work quite the way you'd hoped it would. This in turn allows you to figure out the most effective technique for your individual animal.

I shall be interested to hear how you get on - please give me a progress update in due course.

Regards,

Andrew

**********

Kathryn subsequently mailed me back to say she's going to make an immediate start on my first quick fix idea as her bitch is a sucker for cheese.

I'll let you know how things work out for her....

Recommended reading "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".

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