Please Don't Walk Your Dog Like This

A couple of weeks ago I was out with Molly walking along a quiet lane that very rarely gets vehicular traffic.

Coming towards me was a tall young man with 2 border collies running free. I'm 6 foot tall and he was slightly taller than me. When he saw me the man reached down, grabbed hold of one of the dogs by the collar then stood up straight again, still holding the dogs' collar.

Becasue of his height in relation to the size of the dog it meant the dogs' front feet were about 12-18 inches clear of the gound. He walked along for at least 20 yards like this as we approached one another, all the while the dog having its full body weight yanked along by the neck as it frantically tried to 'catch up' walking on its hind legs alone.

What on earth was that ignorant man thinking? He obviously didn't trust his dog to be safe with Molly, that much was clear. (He can't have been worried that Molly would attack because he only behaved that way with one of his dogs. The other one was left to run free, and just trotted alongside him as quiet as a church mouse.)

Apart from the obvious (at least you would have thought so) pain and possible physical damage he could have done to the dog, treating it that way is only going to exaggerate any underlying problem. Here's what his actions will have done -

His dog will now associate seeing another dog with pain and rough treatment. To protect itself from this pain it is quite likely it will want to strike first and attack the other dog as soon as it sees it. Ignorant owner will think to counteract this problem he has to be even rougher to 'teach it a lesson'. Dog now associates other dogs with ghastly treatment and will fly into a rage at the sight of another dog. It's just a vicious circle.

The way that sort of situation needs to be defused is for the dog to associate the sight of other dogs with *good* things, not bad.

So the owner should take the dog out on the lead with a pocketful of treats. When he sees someone coming with another dog he should quietly distract it with a treat.

Gradually he can work up to the situation where he walks straight towards someone with another dog. All the while the dog stays calm and well behaved he should quietly praise and fuss it, giving it odd little titbits. But the second the dog shows any sign of aggression he should just do a smart about turn and walk away.

Keep practising that and with a bright dog like a border collie he'd have the problem sorted once and for all in a matter of days at the very most.

You can apply this same principle to overcoming all sorts of 'problem' behaviour. All you have to do is re-condition the dog so the stimulus that currently causes a problem becomes associated with pleasure. Then the dog, instead of fearing or dreading something will actually come to look forward to, and enjoy it instead.

Now surely that's a better end result for both dog *and* owner?

Recommended reading - "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".

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