Week Five-Connected Walking!

Connected walking is foundtional and core to so many things! It involves interacting with your dog in ways that promote two way communication while at the same time facilitating great leash manners.

Think about people watching – what do people do? How do they make eye contact? Now think about how this applies to your relationship with your dog!

Do you talk to yourdog at home? What do you tell them? Dogs have ability to understand language up to level of 3yo child (some breeds higher). The more often you use the same words in context, the more likely it is that your dog will pick up on what you are trying to indicate to him.

Step One Connected Walking – on tether. You are going to go to the toy box and get things for you to explore with your dog. Start out by telling your dog they need to wait. Go to get toy from toy box. Show it to your dog, tell them you are going to play with them. Play. Tell your dog that you are going to leave, put toy down out of reach but in sight, and go get another toy from box. Talk to your dog. Play. Put toy down. Go get another toy. Trade toy with neighbour. You are engaging (connected stand still). Go get a non-toy. Explore with dog. Talk to your dog. Then let your dog choose a toy instead. Show your dog that although you will offer him things he doesn’t want, you will listen to him when he tells you through his actions that something else is of interest to him.

Step Two Connected Walking: Strew objects around room – toys and non-toys. Take dog around room to explore objects. If not interested in the object you are inspecting, let dog find something better. Talk to dog. Tell dog you are going to change objects and go to next object. Listen to dog and explore with dog. Move on to next object. Tell dog “let’s go find something else ”. Listen to your dog and work together to explore the objects. Avoid having a tight leash if you can.

Use language – dogs understand some basic information. With practice, your dog starts to listen more – he is tuning in.  If your dog disengages, stop moving. Wait for dog to re-engage, tell your dog where you are going. Don’t steer – give a lot of leash. At this stage simply STOP and wait for re-engagement.

Exercise of two people holding leash – one is dog one is handler. Handler needs to hold leash properly over thumb and between ring and pinky, fist against belly button, feet apart, knees bent. Milk the leash to get dog’s attention. I describe this as pulsing the leash like they are squeezing a baby chick. Not hard! When the dog engages, you can tell him where you are going. Don’t be afraid to change your mind away from the thing that you had originally set out to see.

A blog that I wrote that may help you to better Hear Your Dog: https://mrsbehaviour.com/2015/06/01/hearing-your-dog/

A blog that I wrote that may help you to better Talk to Your Dog: https://mrsbehaviour.com/2015/05/26/talking-to-your-dog/