What to do to prevent the dog from dragging on a walk? [CZ.1]

When living with your dog in the city, it is essential to take your dog for walks. However, if we take most of our walks with the dog on a leash and the dog pulls us unbearably, the walk turns into a survival school for both ends of the leash. What to do to make walking together a real pleasure?We asked this question the behaviorist Olga Maciejewska, which is known on the Internet as the Mama Behaviorist.

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The sun, forest, park or other green place where you and your dog are on a walk. It looks nice, doesn't it? Only to make such a walk a pleasure, it is important to learn to walk on a loose leash. This skill is one of the most important skills your dog should possess.

I would like to make a difference at the beginning. I often meet with confusing walking on a loose leash with walking with the leg.

What is walking on a loose leash?

Well, when a dog walks on a loose leash, maybe freely sniff, explore the place of the walk.

Important rule: The carabiner from the leash must be loosely suspended so as not to tighten it, and the leash should form the letter U.

What is not walking on a loose leash?

Walking with the foot is not walking on a loose leash. Walking by the leg means that the dog walks in a certain position next to our leg, it requires a lot of concentration from him. If we want, we can develop such a skill and use it when passing another dog or on a pedestrian crossing, but do not confuse it with walking freely on a loose leash.

[edgtf_highlight background_color = "yellow" color = ""] It is important that we provide the dog with an opportunity to walk, which will allow him to freely explore, smell the area - these are relaxing activities that should be done on a loose leash. [/ edgtf_highlight]

What do you need to know before we start learning?

• Mostly we focus on what our dog is not supposed to do (in this case, not pull). However, we need to understand that, rather than focusing on eliminating a given problem, we should focus on shaping acceptable behavior.
• Pulling on a leash is often associated with the dog's inability to control his emotions and over-stimulation during a walk. Therefore, we must simultaneously work on the science of self-control.
• Dogs are pulling on a leash because we let them. The dog knows that he has to pull with all his might to reach the chosen place. The world that surrounds a dog is a land of wonderful scents, and as you know, scents for a dog are extremely important. While working on a loose leash, we will work on developing the association: I'm walking calmly - I will get to an interesting smell.
• It is often forgotten that dogs communicate using body language, so the ability to walk on a loose leash is an important element in the prevention of aggressive and fearful dogs. A dog that is pulled on a leash has a tight body - it may be poorly perceived by its kin.
• Ours is the most important thing consequence and preventing our dog from being pulled.
• To teach your dog to walk on a loose leash is definitely the best option long leash. Automatic leash called "flexi" unsuitablebecause she teaches the dog to pull. She is still tense, and our pooch has to push hard to move forward.

[edgtf_highlight background_color = "yellow" color = ""] Often, at the beginning of learning, the dog pulls very hard and we are not able to hold it, so it is good to support yourself with properly selected training equipment, such as a harness fastened at the front called "Easy walk" . [/ edgtf_highlight]

You will learn how to use them in the next part of the article! Click here:

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Ola Maciejewska - behaviorist, mother of two boys and Vito the Labrador. Runs a fanpage Mamabehaviorist. A graduate of the Faculty of Animal Sciences at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences and postgraduate studies in Animal Psychology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Associated with the "Pomocna Łapa" foundation, for which she conducted dog therapy classes with the help of her personal canine assistant, Vito. She is employed as an assistant veterinarian and behaviorist at the "Białobrzeska" veterinary clinic. Proud member of the Polish Ethological Society (PTE), which brings together people associated with behavioral sciences and actively working in the field of ethology.