When leaving the house with your dog many people feel that they should be the first one out the door. When i started training all those years ago, that was the idea, to always be first when walking through a door.
I feel we have learned more and progressed in training since then.
What we ask of our dog when leaving the house is to be calm. We will not walk out the door unless we are all calm. We want to start the walk in the proper state of mind.
We ask for the dog to sit, stay and make eye contact before we walk through the door. We do not allow pulling. Should this be the case then we wait and change the behaviour of ourselves and of our dog.
It doesn’t take long before your pup realizes that they must sit before walking calmly out the door.
John and I always hear clients and friends saying that their dog rushes the door and only heels properly after the first 20 minutes.
I remember those days very well, I used to get dragged out the door. My shoulder would hurt, sometimes I would hit the door frame on the way out, my leg, my arm, maybe even my head before turning around to lock the door. It bordered on impossible. I hated walking my dog.
One I learned to remain calm and relaxed everything changed. My dogs would mimic my behaviour.
That day remains clear in my head. It was an existential moment in my life that opened my mind to new possibilities.
Questioning everything I was taught, I started to do what felt right to me, not what people told me was right.
Learning from my experiences, I created The Perfect Walk. I now teach this at Bark Avenue. I have my personal preferences in what I use to walk my personal dogs. I like my Jwalkerdog harness and my Smoochypoochy leash.
I walk my dogs hands-free thanks to the Smoochy Poochy leash. I have had the same leash since Gracie was a pup, she’s now 14-1/2 years young.
Since opening Bark Avenue one of my favourite things to teach is The Perfect Walk. Empowering people and their dogs.
