#17 The Structured Walk
Highfives Insights: Master the Walk.
The walk is one of the most important activities you will share with your dog. It's a great bonding activity, expressing physical energy and enjoying nature together.
Unfortunately for some people, the Walk isn't always enjoyable… When a dog is pulling on the lead, reacting to stimuli, criss-crossing, and completely disregarding the person at the end of the leash, the Walk becomes an activity of frustration, discouragement, and even fear.
At the very worst, the Walk can be a complete nightmare that reinforces a cycle of negative energy and lack of proper leadership in the relationship. Talk about a spiral effect!
The Nightmare walk begins way before the door is even opened. Originally everything started with an innocent question: Do you want to go for walkies? Now, those same words trigger an uncontrollable emotional response. At the sight of the leash or the verbal word W-A-L-K, the dog’s energy level spikes to an unhealthy combination of anxiety and/or excitement. Once the door is open, the indoor video game becomes the real deal.
On the worst type of walks, the dog will start out in front of the owner, already in a level 3 or 4 of arousal. The interaction with his handler is low while interaction with the environment is high. He scouts for other dogs, his nose is on the ground constantly, he yanks to every post to mark even when he’s out of urine, and lunges at anything triggering that goes by. Anyone who deals with a dog like this knows that escalation seems extremely fast with barely any warning, almost losing an arm when a squirrel darts across the walkway or barely being able to restrain the beast when he spots a target even yards away. He becomes the neighbourhood menace, whether he shows level 10 aggression, over-exuberance, or both.
This dog is not only practicing bad leash skills, but bad public manners in general. It is typical that a leash-reactive dog will also show disrespect, frustration, and lack of self control in other areas of his life which will significantly limit the amount of enjoyment between him and his owner.
Now envision the peaceful, structured version of the Walk!
This version has the dog walking with his owner, instead of walking his owner. The energy practiced behind the door is calm and patient. The default level practiced is closer to zero vs level 5. When exiting the house, the dog is positioned beside or behind the human as he walks at the same pace with a loose leash. In this zone, the dog is going to show consistent signs of a calm, focused state: his ears will rest on the back of his head, his pace will be even and purposeful, and his tail will be low and flowing... The perfect picture of a 'ground zero' mindset.
This balanced state is the same mentality that can go anywhere while remaining controlled and well-behaved. Why? Because this dog is relaxed and focused on his handler which means he will not be as affected by all the other stimuli around him. Not only is he physically in a follower position where he can see his handler’s guidance, but he will also be more mentally receptive to that guidance.
Do you and your dog walk in a structured manner? Practicing a structured walk not only creates a better state but makes it incredibly easier to interrupt any building levels of arousal before escalation. The Pack’s motion and movements become more fluent as your dog is watching and moving with you. You'll be able to walk a lot further and get into a good groove sooner rather then struggling to tire out your dog first.
Plus you and your dog will enjoy an overall calmer exercise that relaxes the brain instead of returning home feeling drained and wired.
Ensure that the tools and tehcniques you are using are helping and not hurting your progress! In my experience, the walk experience can be changed in a blink of an eye depending on whether the dog respects and trusts his handler or not.
No train no gain!
Jenna