I Walk the Line

Yesterday while the human was watching television I was rustling around in my toy box. As you'll see below, I decided it was necessary to line up some of my favorite bones in a perfectly spaced line across the living room floor. The reasons behind this behavior shall remain a mystery.

The View From Here: Live in Front of a Studio Audience Edition

So I've discovered me new favorite thing: performing in front of an audience of children. The human and I had a little extra time before work so I got to do my favorite stick chasing activity. Slowly this crowd of children gathered watching me. They got to learn a little (always ask before touching dogs!), they got to pet me, and best of all, they got to cheer for me as I ran back and forth.

By the time it was time to head to the office I was exhausted. I slept clear through the end of the day!

Performing live in front of a studio audience

Can you fly too?

Bet your ears don't do this!

Come play with me.

Unconditional Positive Regard: It's Not Just for the Dogs

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."
-- Carl Rogers

Recently Debbie Jacobs, founder of Fearful Dogs and a follower on Twitter, shared the following interchange with the human:

fearfuldogs debbie jacobs 

i don't expect my dogs 2 love me unconditionally. they know as well as any1 when I'm being a jerk

22 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

jaypsyd Jason Mihalko 

Now now there is room in unconditional love for jerks mt@fearfuldogs don't expect dogs 2 love me unconditionally. they know when I'm a jerk

10 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

fearfuldogs debbie jacobs 

@ 

@jaypsyd whew. good 2 know there's hope 4 me & other jerks

7 Jan Favorite Retweet Reply

This got me thinking about unconditional positive regard. This is part three of an occasional series of blog posts about my therapy dog view of different psychological theories. For parts one and two, check out An Ecological Approach to Life: Urie Bronfenbrenner and Erik Erickson: A Therapy Dog's View.

Let's  meet Dr. Rogers. The human never actually got to meet him. He did, however, spend some time studying with one of Carl Roger's doctoral students, Marshall Rosenberg. If you are interested, by the way, there is a long documentary of Carl Rogers doing group therapy. Click here to watch the documentary called "Journey Into Self."

What Happens When you Tickle a Gorilla?

They giggle, of course. Wouldn't you?

If you want to hear more about the story, check out this clip:




Thanks to Steven Motson for spotting this clip!

Maggie takes a Holiday Stroll

at Fort Hill Park in Lowell, Massachusetts

Yesterday was a super busy day for me. I spent about a half an hour outside of of Hannaford Grocery Store greeting customers and passing out a little therapy dog love. I went to a place near the grocery store called Fort Hill Park (click here to learn all about that adventure). Then early in the evening it was time to head out to Nashua New Hampshire for their annual Holiday Stroll. One of my humans had volunteered to help set up a local church for some of the festivities.

Large public crowds like this aren't for dogs who aren't accustomed to being around a lot of people. It really was a bit too much for me. Thousands of people milling about created all sorts of distractions. My favorite was the "street food". I found it delicious, my human however found himself exasperated prying chicken bones out of my hungry little mouth.

Eventually my human scooped me up as we strolled down Main Street. This was much better for me: my short legs and strangely long body is a very inconvenient body type.When I was up at eye level I was able to scan the crowd for those who were most in need of my therapy dog attention.

The best was a few moments I shared with a young gentleman in the crowd. He was in his early 20s and at the holiday stroll with his father. It appeared that he had some sort of developmental disability. He saw  me and told me what a gorgeous dog I am. His father prompted him to ask my human if he could pet me. Before the human answered I stretched out from my humans arms and pressed my nose against the young man's face. He pet me for a bit, he spoke with the humans for a bit, and we were on our way.


Isn't it easy to wish someone a happy holiday?

Mindful Dog Walking

Today I'd like to talk to you about something of the utmost importance: mindful dog walking. Those of you who live in more rural areas might have a different experience, but here in the city I've had repeated experiences that are just too disturbing to remain silent about. That's right.

It's time we get serious and talk about those of you who walk your dogs in urban areas paying no attention to your surroundings.

On three separate occasions yesterday I was accosted by leashed dogs. Their owners were wandering around in la-la land and allowed their dogs to run right up into my face. On rather frightening beast snarled and exposed his teeth at me. I'm being generous here because at least one of the humans (companion to the snarling beast) was aware of what was happening and didn't do anything to stop the behavior.

How do you feel when a stranger runs up to you and sticks there nose in your face?

You don't like it? Well we dogs don't like it either. There is a certain dance well socialized and well behaved dogs do when they meet each other. We use very loud and obvious non-verbal language to communicate with each other. I let people know I'm submissive, for example. I usually will crouch down and look to the side when I see another dog approaching. My tail will go down between my legs. I'll lick my lips. In doing this, I communicate I am not dangerous, I am a friend, and I will not hurt you. I wait for the other dog to signal their intentions: when they do we will circle each other and sniff. That's how we shake hands. Then and only then we will play.

Back to the nose in the face. Yesterday these three dogs payed no attention to my non-verbals and ran right up into my face. This signifies and attack of my personal space and a potential attack of my human. I will respond. You can expect barking, you can expect teeth to be exposed. I will fight if I must, even though I'm little and very scared. I will protect myself and my human as best I can.

You can also expect that my human will respond very rapidly by placing himself sideways between me and the other dog. It's usually enough to stop the other dog when he blocks, prevents the two dogs from having eye contact, refuses to make eye contact with the dog himself, and provides a stronger non-verbal to the approaching dog.

Knowing that I don't have to protect I will run behind my human and cower. I'm an easily frightened dog.

The human is also known to verbally bite. He's tolerance has run out for these sorts of interactions. Beware as he has not yet had his rabies vaccinations. I'm not sure if you can get rabies from him yelling at you. Be on the safe side thought, okay?

What's my point here?

Too many humans are watching dog trainers on television and think they have it all figured out. You don't have it all figured out. Just like children need to have adults supervise their play on the playground to learn important social skills, dogs need to have adult supervision on a playground so they can learn proper canine interpersonal skills.

The adult humans, by the way, need to have supervised play with their dogs too. This learning, which only can happen with the guidance of an excellent human coach, helps humans become aware of how to safely support their dogs when approaching new dogs.

Dogs and Disabilities

I've been so busy barking at the dog across the street I've forgotten to tell you about an experience I had the other day. There is a small park across the street from my office. On short breaks the human will run me across the street so I can sniff, meet the public, and do some other business in the bushes.

The other week I met a dog that was busy hiding between her human's legs. I barely noticed her poking her nose out from under the human's skirt! The human was a little wary. This small auburn colored curly haired dog looked a little scared and had it's back arched up. I wasn't hesitant at all so despite my human's complaints, I went right up to the dog.

I circled around a few times like any well mannered dog does. We sniffed as we got closer. The dog came out of hiding and we ended up spending a few minutes nose to nose sniffing.

It was at that point, as our noses were touching, that my human started talking to the other dog's human. It turns out my new friend was 16 years old, deaf, and blind.

The human thought it was pretty amazing that my new friend and I knew exactly how to approach either other. He found it particularly interesting that I somehow knew to reign in my usual exuberant greeting for this senior dog. I was slower and more gentle than usual, but I really didn't appear to care that there was something different about this dog.

If only the humans could figure this out so easily. Encounter difference perhaps a little slower, a little gentler, but approach nonetheless, and do so with an open mind, wagging tail, and gentle smile.

Ask Maggie: My Puppy is a Teenager Now

"[My puppy] has been a bit unruly since she turned two. We need good behavior, especially now that training has started for the therapy dog class. Help?"

Well that's a great question! Being almost two, I've been making my human work hard. I'm testing all sorts of limits.Never fear though, this is an easy problem to work through. When puppies get a little older they need two things in an abundant quantity: exercise and structure. This isn't a time to start harsh training techniques. Yelling at your dog isn't helpful either. Have you ever tried yelling at a teenager? Is that an effective way to modify their behavior?

Preparing for flight

Exercise. The easiest thing is to get in the habit of taking two or three daily walks. It's hard to do. I know you humans all have busy lives. However exercise is important for both dog and human. Make time for it: the benifits are myriad.  I'm marched around for 30  minutes in the morning, 30 minutes in the afternoon, and 30 minutes in the evening. The human always says a tired therapy dog is a good therapy dog. I also get lots of extra stimulation. I stop and sniff things. We visit with other people. We pass by other dogs. All of these are extra training and socialization opportunities. 


Take  yesterday for example. We took an extended afternoon walk. I discovered a discarded sandwich. I got to practice the "leave it" command. We passed by seven dogs. I got to practice sitting as they passed. For added excitement the human had me practice the "watch me" command. It was a challenge, but I spent most of the time watching my human and not watching the other dog. We do this a lot because I'm excited around other dogs. 


Having all this stimulation makes me more inclined to nap at another times during the day rather than find  creative ways to get into trouble. Keep in mind that when teens are getting in trouble they generally are asking for something to do. Give them a job and everyone is happy.

Demonstrating a down/stay

Structure. Now that I'm a teen my human is making more of an effort to structure my time. We like to have periods of intense play. For example, we might wrestle, tug, or chase squirrels. We'll do this for a minute or two. Then I'm asked to do a down/stay or a sit/stay. I do that for a minute or two. then more play. We do this three or four times several times a day. Why? Because it's fun. That's the biggest reason. We also do it because it gives me structure. There are times to play and there are times to play. I'm learning that even when I'm excited, it's okay for me to do a down/stay. Sooner or later I'll be able to get back up.


Want an extra challenge? The human has been doing this with me. We go into a fenced in area that is safe for dogs. We spend some time chasing after tennis balls and sticks. The human then has me do a down/stay in the middle of the tennis court. He walks all the way around the tennis court. Sometimes he skips, sometimes he sings, sometimes he waves around sticks, and sometimes he bounces the tennis ball. I watch. The human will reward me for staying on a random basis. Sometimes I get a treat. Sometimes I get pet. Sometimes he yells "go play" and I get to run around like a wild little puppy. 


That's not the challenge.

Puppies really can fly

The challenge is this. The human will throw the ball in one direction and then call me to him. The hope is that I will come to him rather than the exciting toy. This hasn't worked so well. I go get the toy and then I come to the human.


Never fear. This isn't a failure. It's a learning experience. The human pushed me too far. He now holds the toy and calls me. I start running and he yells "stop!" The desired behavior is that I stop in my tracks. When we first started this he had to run toward me as he yelled stop. I've gotten good at it now. So good that I add an extra flourish. When he yells stop I either go into a down position or a play bow. It's kind of cute. 


Hope this helps. Thanks for asking!

Last Day Before Spring Break

Class started off normally enough today. The human and I always get there a little bit early since we all gather in the fenced in back yard and get in some off-leash play. All of us know each other, and the humans make sure we are safe by regularly practicing recalls. When the energy gets too ramped up, for example, all of us dogs are called back to the humans and we spend a little time settling down and grounding ourselves. We do this over and over again. It's great practice.

After the outdoor playtime, we get back on leash and go inside the training building. Our teacher Maureen Ross always has a few words of wisdom for us. We check in with each other on how the previous week has gone. We talk about what we'd like to work on in the class.

Those first few moments are always a nice time to connect and bond with our humans. Here is a candid moment shared between Jake and his human Kathy. They are awfully happy together, don't you think?

Some of my classmates have a more laid back attitude. Gracie, who was helping me herd around a Newfoundland named Journey, decided to recline a bit and grab a quick nap. I've seen her lay like this for hours--unless of course she's invited herself into someone's lap. She also has developed this incredibly cute behavior. She'll roll over on her back and lay perfectly still--perfectly still until someone walks close to her. She'll then use her paws to gently beckon the unsuspecting human toward her.

Class often presents me with an opportunity to practice tolerating change. That happens sometimes, doesn't it? You think you know what's going to happen. You think you can depend on a routine. Then everything changes and you need to adapt. If you can't adapt--well--you bark a lot and then adapt anyway.

You see, today Maureen had an idea. This is Maureen's idea face. Look closely. Learn this face. When you see it, there are frequently costumes involved. This is also a high probability of laughter and general silliness.

Being an adolescent, I provide the teacher with a lot of attitude when she asks me to do something that I find ridiculous. Sit? Stay? Really? Who wants to listen at school. This is my response to her idea face.









Mind you, Maureen doesn't do it alone. Please memorize the following faces. If you see any of them coming into your dog class turn the lights off, lock the door, and pretend like you aren't there. It's for your own safety. You could also find them all at New England Pet Partners -- just in case you'd like to invite them to your facility to provide a little animal assisted therapy (and humor, too).

"Pam" -- Wanted for dog drooling incident

"Liz" -- Wanted for questioning related to a howling noise disturbance

"Kathy" -- Wanted in two states for excessive treat giving

"Diane" -- Wanted for contributing to the delinquency of a dog (Gracie last scene in the back of a police cruiser)

"Noreen" -- Wanted for questioning in a herding incident

Okay -- we have that out of the way. So what did we do today? I thought we were going to do a conga line. The humans did after all have costumes on. It looks a little like a line dance, doesn't it? Here is what we did: one at a time we practiced sit/stay (or down/stay) and then one human walked away. The human then asked us to do something at a distance (for example, down -- or come interrupted by a "wait!" or "stop!"). That way we each got to practice several new behaviors in new combinations (an interrupted recall, being told commands at a distance, etc.). We also each got to work on our patience because we had to wait until it was our turn. As you can see from this picture, my classmates were all doing a great job of paying attention--that is except for me and Gracie. I was bored out of my gourd and Gracie--well--who knows what she is thinking.

Last thoughts? Dog training is important, fun, and a life long process. It's important (and easy) to learn the basics like sit and down. It's more complicated to learn those skills in different contexts. Dog school is one fun way to learn how to behave in a variety of situations. It provides constant novel stimuli, companionship, and fun. Try it out. You and your human will be happy.

Skipping School

Seeing that my transportation was broken this morning, I had no choice but to stay home from school. Like any teenager, I like to live it up when I get an unexpected day off. Here are my results: 

Chinese Medicine to the Rescue

Many of you know me as a rambunctious, cuddly, and generally outgoing puppy. I've not always been that way--as I puppy I was a rather shy dog. With lots of good socialization I've transformed much of that shy behavior into something generally gregarious.

That's not always the case for me. My anxiety has been creeping back up again over the last few months. First I thought it was because of some bad experiences at the vet. You'd be anxious too if you had those sorts of exams. The human built back up a schedule of socialization and kept on giving me many positive interactions with things that I was scared of (visiting the vet office, going to unfamiliar places, meeting men with facial hair). This was going along well and then my anxiety went back up: driving to work one day we went over a patch of interstate that was being resurfaced. The rumbling got me me and I started shaking. Now I'm prone to trembling every time I get into the car. The 12 hour car ride to Cleveland didn't help.

Things keep on moving in the wrong direction so the human decided to bring in professional help. Yesterday afternoon we headed out for a consult with our friendly veterinarian and holistic health specialist, Dr. Cirnigliaro, also known as Dr. Dan.

I sure did put on a good show for him. I pranced right into the waiting room and put my paws up on the reception desk. Friendly as friendly can be, right? Well as soon as the assistant came out I hid behind my human and started licking my lips trying to calm myself. Two licks was all it took before I decided it was time to panic. I started trembling--softly at first and then my whole body vibrated. I tucked my tail tight between my legs for good measure.

Yes. It's true. I'm a fearful dog. Only in certain circumstances, and not even in those certain circumstances with any degree of regularity.

Still--this is no way to live!

Dr. Dan gave me an exam. I'm perfectly healthy. Despite my shaking and trembling he commented that I have nearly a perfect temperament. I let them examine me--I didn't fight or argue. With a little coaxing I came to them (they had food--like I was going to give that up!). Before I knew it both assistants were on the floor cooing over me. I approached slowly, on my own terms, from the side. They knew not to look straight at me--and I knew to look at them from the side of my eyes. We did this little dance and it let me feel safe. Before we knew it I was rolling over getting my belly pet and kissing the assistants.

That Dr. Dan is a different story--he has facial hair. I'm not so sure about that.

So Dr. Dan did a regular wellness exam. He also felt my various pulses and looked at my tongue. Can you believe that? I'm told this part of the examination is for the traditional Chinese Medicine. I was very cooperative with this part of the examination. I was nervous so I was yawning in an attempt to calm myself down. It just so happens that when I yawn I unfurl my tongue. Volia. Examination complete.

After lots of careful thought and conversation, we've decided I'm going to start on an herbal preparation called Shen Calmer.

Shen what? Depending on where you are, shen means different things. In ancient Egypt a shen ring was a circle with a line at a tangent through it. When objects appeared inside the shen ring, the object was considered to be eternally protected. In Chinese mythology shen (which means large clam monster) is a shape shifting dragon that is known to cause mirages. In this particular case, shen comes from traditional Chinese medicine--and it is associated with the element of fire. From this perspective I have too much shen (fire) and need to cool down a bit so I can be back in balance. The herbal mixture that I'm taking, called Shen Calmer, is designed to calm my shen and cool me down.

I'll report back to you all in three or four weeks. Dr. Dan tells me that it will take about that long to see if this preparation works for me. If it doesn't, or if I need more support, we might consider acupuncture.

The human of course will be upping his behavioral interventions. I'll be doing a lot more structured supervised socialization activities. I'm probably going to be going for a lot of short car rides and be given a steady stream of tasty chicken. Why, you ask? Multiple short exposures to things that frighten me (car rides) paired with pleasurable activities (eating chicken) is an excellent behavioral intervention for anxiety.

I also have the feeling that my daily exercise program is going to increase. The snow has gotten in the way of our hour long walks every morning. That's a wonderful opportunity to use up some of my extra energy and provides a calming tonic effect on my well-being.

If you have similar things going on I strongly invite you to consult with a well qualified veterinarian and dog coach. Some of these interventions seem simple (chicken in the car, for example) but really aren't. When exposure therapy is done wrong, you'll make your anxiety go up. That's not what you want to happen!

Helpful Tip: Food Bowl Time

It's been awhile since I've served up helpful tip. I recently joined in on a discussion about dogs who get over excited around feeding time. My first thought was --what's wrong with you humans. You don't get excited right before a good meal?

Apparently, many of you don't seem to like all of the hullabaloo some of us have around meal time. I don't see what the big deal is. Much of what we do is natural. Food is good, so I'm going to be excited. When the humans make a big deal out of me getting a meal, I'm going to be even more excited. Of course I'm going to do all sorts of cute things to try to get you to feed me: I'm going to nose you, I'm going to beg...I'm going to use every trick in the book I can think of that has ever been remotely effective in you giving me food.

Okay--I suppose that can get a little annoying.

Back to my helpful tip. When I was a young puppy I didn't really have a bowl for my food. I wasn't deprived. Rather, my human fed me most of my meals from his hand. He'd sit down on the floor with me. I'd crawl all over him tying to get the bits of food. I quickly learned I had to do something to get food. How exciting, right? If I sat down, I'd get food. If I touched him with my nose, I got food. If I touched him with my paw, I got food. If I rolled over, I got food. How great is that? Once I got into the swing of things he changed it all around. All too soon it just wasn't any activity I did resulted in food. I had to do something specific. Sitting got me food--crawling all over him did not. That was easy enough. Right?

Keeping me on my paws at all time, he switched things around again. Now he'd put food in a bowl but I wouldn't get to eat it. Isn't the mean? I'd sit. No food. He'd just say "leave it." Fair enough, maybe if I roll over? Nope. "Leave it!" How about I give him a little paw? That always did the trick. Nope, leave it. I was confused. I finally gave up and just stared back and forth between my now crazy human and the perfectly good food in a bowl. Finally! "Take it," the human would say.

He pushed this a little too far one day and left me waiting there for an extended period of time. Mean human.

My point here isn't any of this. All of these tasks were chained behaviors leading me up to a very important task. This is something that every dog should be able to tolerate. This is what I was chatting on Facebook about.

What is so important, you ask?

The human started putting down a bowl of my food, have me take it, and in the middle of my meal he would say "leave it." Not only was I (a) expected to stop eating -- I was also expected to (b) tolerate him taking my bowl away from me and (c) tolerate him eating (he was just pretending, of course) my food.

What's so important about this? Everything! It's the glue that holds everything else I learn together. I started to develop impulse control (I don't bit the human even though I'm ticked off at him); I learn patience (I get what I want if I wait quietly); I learn to tolerate the unexpected (people can pet my roughly, grab my tail, pull a toy away from me, and otherwise invade my personal space and I'm willing to be a good sport about it all).

I started to learn how to do all of this at my food bowl--one little yummy morsel at a time.

Be careful with this one at home folks: some older dogs have already learned resource guarding and might bite if their food is taken away. Some puppies have a lower tolerance threshold and may snap. Go slowly and if you have any doubts, get the help of a dog coach you trust.

Dogs With Disabilities

For the better part of the last year I've been noticing this dog in Cambridge. He's filled with energy and always seeming to be very happy to be out walking. I've wanted to play with him. The human wanted to know his story because the dog only has three legs. Last week we finally got to meet each other. I was playing on the snow covered tennis court when through the fence I saw the dog and his human walk up toward us. The woman asked "do you have time to play?" My human said "sure, we have another half hour." After the two humans had a brief conversation about whether their respective dogs were friendly, she came through the fence. We both had an opportunity to greet each other before we were unhooked from our leads. We romped through the snow while the humans talked. I know. Very boring. All the snow to play in and the humans just talked.

It turns out that the dog was rescued when he was about 3 years old. The human's didn't know he had some sort of tumor on his leg. By the time it was noticed, it was too big to be operated on. The only way to solve the problem was the removal of the leg. It took him a few months to figure it all out--but he sure did. He ran through the snow almost as fast as I can!

Being overprotective of me, the human wondered how I would respond to a dog with a disability. Would I be frightened if a dog was different than me? Would I take advantage of a perceived weakness and bully the dog?

None of that happened. I played with my new friend the same as I would play with any friendly dog. We both gave each other play bows (letting each other know that whatever comes next is done with play in mind) and romped and wrestled through the snow.

You see, dogs don't really pay much attention to disability. That's a human concept. My friend really didn't care much about the difference between three legs or four. He learned how to make his way in the world. I didn't really notice or care either. I was more concerned with whether or not he'd be a friendly play partner. Once I learned that, I didn't even notice there was something different about my friend--because from my perspective, there wasn't anything different.

What a great lesson, no? Humans often immediately encounter someone with a disability and notice what is different--and frequently fear that difference. Is the difference really all that important? Does it effect some quality that is important to human interaction? Probably not. When compared the qualities that are really important in relationships the difference really isn't all the important in the larger scheme of things, is it?

Loose Leash Walking (or how to not drive your human nuts)

One of my regular readers asked a question about walking on a leash. Her dog Claire, and aspiring therapy dog, is finding it difficult to become a registered therapy dog with the Delta Society because she tends to pull on her leash while walking. Claire's human partner was wondering if there were any tips she might use that could help out Claire with this portion of the exam. I'm so glad you asked!

First off, there seems to be an expectation that therapy dogs are perfect at all times under all circumstances. As the popular perception goes, we never jump up on someone, we never bark, we never pull our leash, etc. When is the last time you met a perfect human that was (for example) never crabby, never prone to overeating, and never snapped at another driver while waiting in traffic? That's what I thought! We all have off days, bad moments, or times when we behave in ways we wish we hadn't. We ought to have similar expectations for therapy dogs.

Take the experience my human and I had with the therapy dog exam. The human we very concerned about the neutral dog part of the test. I'm supposed to walk with the human up to another human with a dog. The humans talk for a few moments and then continue walking away from each other. I'm not supposed to be reactive toward the neutral dog.

The human was in a minor tizzy about this portion of the exam. I'm a super friendly pup and have this special way of whining and wiggling when I see another friendly dog. I'm not afraid of the dogs: I want to play with them. The human was convinced I would fail because I am seemingly incapable of walking past the neutral dog without displaying my extensive desire to play. What did I do at the test? I bet your first thought is that I was perfectly well behaved. You probably are thinking I was an exemplar of ideal behavior. Wrong! I did what I always do: I pulled on the lead a little, went up on my back feet trying to give a friendly hello to the human walking past my human, and generally was my normal happy playful self.

I didn't fail. Why? The human anticipated by response. He knew I was likely to do this so he was prepared to tighten my lead. He prevented me from going up on to the human (and thus also prevented me from having a close interaction with the neutral dog). When I went up on my toes to greet the woman he asked me to sit (which I did) and then we went on our way. Well it wasn't ideal, and I didn't pass that section with a perfect score, it was good enough. I'm a real world dog, my human is a real world human, and we know how to interact and be safe in real world situations.

On my therapy dog exam there was some space for there to be a tighter lead (rather than a loose lead). As you all know, I am part Basset Hound. Among other things, this means that my nose is the most important organ in my body. My body is lead through the world by my nose. I walk around (for the most part) with my nose to the ground. I'm not all that interested in listening to other people when I catch a scent of something I like. That is my nature. It isn't my nature to be prance next to my human. He's always going to have to be aware of me when walking in crowded environments: if I catch a smell I am going to follow it. He'll have to be ready to tighten up my lead a bit and give me a little extra guidance. No big deal, and no reason for me to fail a therapy dog examination (after all, during the part when I was supposed to be walking on a loose lead I had my nose stuck to the ground trying to follow the scent of something good).

So my first suggestion for loose lead walking is to be easy and alter your expectations. Be aware of your dog, know what she is doing, know what is in your environment, and be proactive. It isn't about being perfect: it's about being safe and in control.

My second suggestion is to balance your walking times with opportunities for your dog to explore on her own with time when your dog is expected to follow your lead. Teach your dog a word to differentiate between the two different experiences. When I am expected to walk close to my human and not explore he says "follow me." When I am allowed to direct my own walk he says "explore."

How do you teach the difference between "follow me" and "explore?" We started with "watch me." When I was a young puppy I started to learn watch me. Whenever I made eye contact with my human he said "watch me" and gave me some sort of reward (excited happy petting, a piece of kibble, a click on the clicker, etc.). When we were learning to walk on a lead we practiced that same skill. If I'm watching my human, I can't be sniffing. If I'm watching my human, I can't be barking at other dogs. As an added bonus, since I am also part herding dog I like watching things and keeping them together. Sometimes it is debatable if the human is leading me or if I'm herding him in any particular direction.

Anyway, over time "watch me" expanded into "follow me" and "stay close." When I strayed way and pulled on the leash I would hear "watch me." I knew this means if I looked at my human I'd get some sort of reward (most of the time, but not always). In order to receive my reward I'd have to (a) watch the human and (b) be close enough to the human so I could reach the reward. Without any effort at all I would start doing "follow me" which means walk very close to the humans leg, look up at him, and lick my lips in hope of getting a yummy reward. For the most part my reward now is that I touch my human's hand with my nose, wag my tail, and continue a happy walk.

Sounds easy? Right? It both is very easy and it isn't very easy. Training like this takes a lot of time, patience, and practice. Those who want their dog to instantly "heel" won't be satisfied with this technique because it isn't an instant technique (in my opinion, there are not instant techniques). I've gotten good at these skills but I'm still not "perfect." Sometimes I ignore my human. Sometimes I pull. When the human collected his patience, we start back to the beginning with a "watch me" and we continue. This is a life time practice.

I've seen dog trainers do all sorts of things. Some use a "choke" collar assuming that a dog will stop pulling to escape from the unpleasant sensation of their neck getting constricted. Usually this just seems to result in dogs that pull and wait for their humans to escape from the unpleasant sensation of being pulled. It's also dangerous (numerous dogs have suffered numerous injuries from these sorts of collars). Lastly, training like this doesn't start with the basis of giving your dog something to do (watch me, follow me, etc.). It starts with the basis of telling your dog what not to do. Humans (children and adults) as well as dogs do best when they are shown what they are supposed to be doing (given an antecedent) and then monitored to make sure they are performing that request. It's unrealistic to think that anyone will do what you want them to do if you give them a consequence for doing it prior to teaching/showing them what you want them to do.

I've also seen trainers do things like step in front of a pulling dog with one leg to block their path. My human is someone clumsy so this generally involved in him tripping and falling or stepping on me. In the end I don't think this is very effective because again, it's not starting with the expectation of what you want the dog to be doing. This isn't showing the dog how to follow, it's showing the dog that you want him to avoid getting stepped on.

I've seen trainers also walk in the opposite direction that the dog is pulling in. It makes for short frustrating walks. The idea here is that (a) the dog wants to walk in one direction and have a good time) and (b) the dog doesn't get to do that unless she complies with what you are asking. This can be effective as long as you first teach the dog what you want her to do (watch me, follow me, etc.). The dog does what is asked (watch me, follow me) and they get what they want (a reward, continued walking, praise, etc.). They don't do that and they don't get to continue walking (a good time to practice sit/say or a time to walk in the other direction).

There is one down side to teaching a dog "watch me." I find that I get into watching my human so much I will occasionally walk into things because I'm focused on him rather than where I am walking.

This help Lauren? Try it out and let us know what you think.