Farewell to Chosen. Oulton Park Trackday 2021

a cathart about trying to live with a dog

 The pages that follow are in effect a draft of a possible book I may sculpt to amazon for sale.. 

I guess what the next 16 entries are really is a way of me coming to terms with my abject failure as a dog trainer.   

As I will refuse to accept the dog is winning I am therefore writing to convince myself I do know stuff that does work.

If there is one thing I do know, it's that I need a lot more energy to train a Police bred working lineage German Shepherd.

Anyway. I will hone and craft the original text but wanted to save these first draft pages as a record of what it started out as.

Enjoy the ideas and forgive the clunkiness of the scribbled prose if you choose to read it all.....   

Bindi Teaching Author notes

 

AUTHOR  INTRODUCTION.

G. J. Webster.

There has been nothing weirder for me than re-learning how to live with a dog in today’s confined urban environments.  A lot of my dog owning had been in countryside and un-crowded suburbia where dogs were used for work and occupational company.  To understand why my past experiences with outdoor country dogs didn’t apply to indoor urban dogs I have had what I would call an interesting learning experience. 

I have read a lot of big books with a little bit of useable stuff hidden over lots of pages. I wasted months on-line seeking good content. I have heard repeated advice of old-school pack leader teachings.  I had totally failed to urbanise my dog.  I am not a fan of ongoing training that doesn’t work.

What I want to do as quickly and concisely as possible is to give you some really useful habits that will help settle a reactive or unsettled pup into this urban fray we call home.

I believe that every dog is unique, as is every owner.  No theory will fit all, probably not fit many, most likely a fixed theory of training will suit very few.   I do know there are some things fundamental to all people and all dogs and if understood will resolve problems the urban pooch encounters.

Play is important and although I will not continue to mention it, all training should be backed up by play around the learning to enforce the lesson as a good thing.

 What I will do is give you some insight and a few proven tools to make urban living with pooches a more relaxed and enjoyable thing. 

I am always willing to accept good new advice and will continue to learn what else works from my current expert, a lovely girl dog, my four year old Alsatian called Bindi. 

 I guess I should tell you a little about me now.

 I am a male baby-boomer, don’t hate me for that.  I have worked on Australian livestock farms with sheep dogs, collies, cattle dogs and a three legged kelpie called Rhama.  As suburban pets I’ve owned a Corgi called Mandy, a Scottish Terrier named Pippa, a foundling German Shepherd rejoicing in the name Swagger, one tall 75kg adopted fawn Great Dane renamed Symbol (he was formally called Prince), another tall, fawn Great Dane, Bosco (gotta love Danes) and now in the UK,  a German Shepherd bitch from a long line of pedigree and police dog genetics called Bindi.  Bindi is an Australian native word purportedly meaning ‘little girl’, which as she is 36 kgs and living in the UK is dually inappropriate.  If Bindi is anything, she is mostly inappropriate. 

Each and every one of my dogs has shared its own personality with me and shown unique strengths and behaviours clearly to the outside world.  Bindi is the definition of unique amongst the unique. 

My non-dog related experiences include all the usual life things along with the unusual successes and failures that come with trying to earn a living.  There have also been far too many deaths of loved ones in my life, starting for me with the death of my father when I was a very young lad.  My aunt gave me Mandy the Corgi to help me cope with that, probably to give me something to divert my emotions to, and dogs have been and will be forever in my life since then. 

In terms of career, I have enjoyed farming, selling, being an international corporate executive, a business owner, and a habitual property developer.   I’m equally fortunate to have been happily married for more years than is polite to boast about.  Most of these things have caused me joys and pains in equal measure but always, at every stage, in every country, there have been dogs involved.  Every dog has taught me something about myself. 

In the rest of this book I will work towards letting you know about tools and tricks that will help learn how to correct our behaviour and the demands we place on our pups.  I lay no claim that these ideas or tools are in anyway solely my invention.  Most have been adapted learning from others, filtered through my dogs responses and some are tested on Bindi as she is the best student I have ever had the mixed pleasure to be driven crazy by.  

I have had to change, to be more relaxed, to observe my pooch, to be kinder, to try to understand what my dog responds to and is uncomfortable around.  I hold no value in my old belief that to own a dog meant I had to be the strong dominant pack member. 

I still think it is important that my dogs know they can rely on me, but now, rather than dominance I like to think I can be a safe, reliable and friendly base in a world which is getting more confusing the more digitally distracted and the more populated our environments become.   

That’s enough about me, now let’s talk about

 URBAN DOGS. 

 

Bindi Teaching Foundations

 

 

 

URBAN TRAINING, THE FOUNDATIONS

WHY (reactive)?

The parentheses are because reactive is a buzz term at the moment and I wanted to be found by people wanting to train their modern pups.  Also I currently have a reactive pooch and I know there are many urban reasons for our domestic pooches to become reactive in the very urbanised world we place them in.  

We get our pooches from neighbours, friends, from rescue shelters and from registered breeders, or sometimes we find a homeless dog on our travels.  My point is, in our modern urban environment the pool of available pooches is vast and there is always going to be a mix of reactive and non reactive dogs getting brought home. 

Reactivity or non reactivity is not a breed specific thing but a breeder can breed for it or can selectively breed reactivity out of a line.  In a working dog reactivity and immediate positive response to stimuli can be desirable and selectively bred in, for a domestic pet you may seek a breeder of docile less engaged pooches,  you can work to select the best type of dog for your lifestyle, no guarantee though.  If you get a pup from a friend, neighbour or if you find one, you get what you get. 

Reactivity in dogs can be as much from the genetics as it can be from past experience, even in a young pup. Reactivity is not gender dominant, male and female dogs are equally likely to be docile or reactive. 

There are great benefits to owning a lively and engaged reactive pup and there are great benefits to owning a docile obedient placid pup.  Neither is a better pet than the other and neither are harder to train and neither are more or less loving, rewarding companions.    

The simplest way to think of it is that a reactive pup may initially be alert and involved in its environment before it is alert to you. A non reactive dog may be attentive to you for guidance in its environment and may be more dependent. 

Either way the training here will be your solution for a pup living in the urban world.  I will not distinguish between reactive and docile pups from here on in as the training is going to be equally appropriate. Together we will help the pup understand its role in your family life and that this is a calm safe happy place to be.

There is no such thing as a perfect urban pooch, but we can adapt ourselves and pooch so that imperfections are less jarring.  I had a discussion with my wife the other day, when our Bindi was being very Bindi, about why she was such a trial sometimes. We have a lot of neighbour dog owners to compare our experiences to. There is a cocker with over excitement issues, a Labrador with overly protective issues, a very barky spaniel, a couple of reactive terriers, another totally loopy german shepherd and a number of aggressive/defensive shitzu cross breeds.  All of which are well adapted happy family dogs at home and loved to bits, but none are perfect.  Dog ownership is loving the lovely bits and dealing with the other bits.

URBAN LIFE

Most of us dog owners now live in cities, towns, housing estates or busy villages where open spaces, quiet streets, local parks and country fields are not as accessible to us. 

Any spare time that we plan to have for pup training, our urban life fills with additional work, interests, sourcing food and the necessities to keep alive and well.  Then there are time-stealing commitments to family, friends and colleagues.  We can get so busy that rest, calm space and the ability to truly relax vanishes from our days.

Into this cacophony of concentration and contractual obligation, for whatever reason, we introduce a dog. The pooch is our act of charity, our wanted to be friend, a comfort, fresh air buddy, confessor or companion. 

We are probably happy enough to be urban dwellers and we ask our dogs to live in these busy crowded environments where skills from our past dog owner methods become less and less appropriate.  We need to ensure, now things have become more and more compressed in our lives that we provide opportunities for a grace and some calm space in which our pooches can thrive.  

There is one thing that remains a constant over time in dog training.  We and they need to arrange clearly defined times to share.  As owners we need to provide the amount of time our pooch needs to not only learn an action but to understand, apply and adopt the action as a habit. 

From research and popular experience it takes a human around 28 days of repetition to form or change a habit. For a dog, sometimes more, sometimes less. It depends on the dog, the breed, the temperament, the inherent calm or lack thereof in the pup’s emotional mindset.  But 28 days for us, per habit.

So, that is a lot of time to find in our hectic urban schedules.  You will need even more time to dedicate to your pup if it has a habit that in any way jars with your chaotic urban life.   Oh, and on top of that we also need lots of play time, probably why we got the pup, the best part of having a dog is how wonderful, rewarding and fun it is to play with. Really, so much wonderful.  

So little time.

There it is, the conundrum.  You want a pup to share quality time with and a pup is a time-stealing lump of work for you. It is an oversight that prospective new owners are not counselled about the amount of time and calm needed to train an urban pooch.  

And it’s not only time you’ll need but a level of patience and persistence that you will be surprised you can muster.  Good news, that calm resolve and the time is there in your day. You will find it not because you have to, but because the happiness your pup will inject into your life will be like a scrumptious addictive drug you will both want more of and will be happy to work together to ensure.   

If you choose to skip a good play-time routine, and if you steal time to rush through some training that’ll be fine.  Pup will adapt. Just maybe not how you want.

What you absolutely need with pup is lovely clear, calm time.  Lovingly provided and without any begrudging of what is required for pup to be happily learning.  You will get back the most wonderful rewarding and totally trusting relationship you may ever have in your life.  Every minor sacrifice and unexpected joy along the way is worth each second spent.

 One of the most important things to do with in this time, the time you didn’t know you had, is to play with your urban pup. Include play in every day. Do things like tug of war, let it win, tickle it and teach it not to nip, get pup to chase you for a pat or cuddle - do not chase pup, play rough house and teach how to stop rough house. Make it talk and teach it to be quiet.  All those things are some of the best bits of having an urban in-the-house pup.  I give tips along the way for these things in the pages that follow.

Training an urban dog to behave for the times we are out and about with them can become far too much of our focus.  We spend a little bit of time out in the urban streets and much more time with our pooch at home. Use home time for play, and for value based training in house and urban behaviour.

There are some urban issues that apply equally for all dog breeds and owners when we have to introduce a pooch to the busy modern environment. 

In this book I address the ones I hear about most often.  I want this to be your guide for how to raise a dog in the cities towns and increasingly crowded streets of our modern urban life. 

There is a good chance you will read other books or look at webinars and on-line things so in this book I will not concentrate on basic home training and we will stick to what we can call the urban woofare.

Urban style training is 100% positive and works for dogs kindly, lovingly and with no one being a bossy bully. 

One thing that remains constant in all training, and in life, is that success requires persistence.  

No victory or achievement is ever won by sitting on your behind reading everything and doing nowt ‘bout it.  The tips you read here will require persistent application and, if a change in how your dog reacts is sought, a change in your manner may be required.  

It won’t surprise you when I say that dogs can adapt just fine to whatever environment they find themselves in, they are one of nature’s great survivors, blessed as they are with canine intelligence.  But dog smarts are not human smarts and the people/pup divide is real. 

We may not like the way dogs adapt to live in our urban life but they find a way which works for them and are fine with it.  If it wasn’t for us humans getting all academic around things that really don’t require that much thinking, we would get on much better with our dogs when out and about in our streets, shops, parks and fields . 

Making some basic changes in how we notice, react to and stimulate our street-dumb pups will result in happier pooches and happier and calm pup parents.  If you persist. 

Persistence provides normality.  Dogs do like to know that things you provide in their life can be relied upon.  Your consistent positive attitude and firm resolve will stand you in good stead as you do want your pup to learn the difference between what pleases you and what is unacceptable behaviour. 

Teaching an urban dog relies on a few other key things too.  We need to provide pup a safe place, to be consistent, to calmly repeat and to give immediate valuable reward for achievement. Frequently and always.

What we are trying to do as we urbanise pooch is adapt or overwrite some fundamental, genetic, learned or instinctual dog behaviour that is not desirable in urban life.  Teaching a dog to ignore the stimuli it gets from living our frantic lifestyle is not dissimilar to trying to teach yourself not to look at your phone on its vibration, light or sound.  Instinct, the nature of the dog and past learned behaviour will push your pup’s reaction buttons to urban noises. Instinct, learned behaviour and the pooch’s nature all need time, caring and calm reflection to modify into suitable responses to modern life hubbub. 

WHY ARE YOU HERE?

I’m guessing you are reading this because you fall into one of three camps. 

You may want to figure out how to fix some unwanted behaviours in your urban dog. 

Perhaps you want current training ideas before you adopt a previously owned dog that has urban ‘issues’.

Maybe you are a caring pup-parent-to-be and are awaiting a furry soul to join your urban household. 

You are to be commended if you are in the second or third camp.  It is always good to be prepared, but in my experience, there is nothing like living with the dog to teach you how to live with the dog.  

So much of what you read before you have a dog in your life will seem irrelevant, weird, impossible, or will amuse and be forgotten.  Until your perfect pup turns out to be not that perfect and you scrabble to find that thing you read or heard somewhere.

If you are in the first camp and want to fix some behaviour in your dog, whatever that behaviour is, then the things I am going to cover are only good if used kindly, calmly and consistently.  A sharp knife cuts well but if misused will blunt quickly.  So please relax into these tips, handle gently, carefully implement, persist and don’t over complicate, it’s all simple stuff.  

Unacceptable pup behaviour is not the dog doing something wrong, it is the dog doing a thing that has worked for it in the past or that is or was at some time, fun to do. 

Dogs can learn in a surprisingly short time, in fact a life lesson may have been just one 5 second event that gave them a coping tool they continue to rely on. 

Flight or fight is the primary response.  Maybe submission also worked for them, maybe play moves worked, maybe barking, charging, jumping up, maybe mouth activity solved the problem or got the attention they wanted.  If it worked once then in the dogs mind it will work until it never gets a result again. 

Even a bad result in our mind is a result in the dogs feelings and therefore rewarding for pup.  Hopefully by the end of this book we will have been down a path with your pup that results in future miles of happy walks and many days of companionship and play.      BUT,

... A BIG BUT...

BEFORE YOU START URBAN-TRAINING YOUR PUP

GET A HEALTH CHECK.

Please, please, please have your pooch checked over by a very good vet.   It is THE most important urban preparation you can do. 

A standard vet blood test should report on haemoglobin and T cell count, pancreas, liver and kidney function. A physical check will detect localised infection, joint function, dental stability and general body condition. 

There are many stories of people vainly trying to train behaviour change in dogs who are reclusive, angry or aggressive because they are not physically well. 

A pooch who feels ill, sore, uncomfortable or is in pain from movement will probably have a rather poor learning attitude.

Bindi Teaching ch1

 

CHAPTER 1

I HAVE STOPPED CHASING DOGS,

URBAN OBEDIENCE

Chasing games are fun for all, and very common at the start of many a family’s interaction with their new urban dog.  Sadly, chasing games are often the root of many subsequent behavioural problems like poor recall, obedience, heeling, and socialisation. 

I am guessing like me, you find one of the greatest joys in life is to have a loving, warm, furry animal to play with, teach and relate to. 

When we bring home a pooch it is adorable, needy, soft and warm and everything we want to hold on to.  So we reach out and hold it. It squirms away and we reach out and tempt it back with a treat.  It gets excited and runs around and we go wahh! haaa! and pat the ground so it comes back. We grab it and it squirms and darts away and we pretend to chase it while it dodges and play bows at us.  I don’t need to play out all the various things that happen over time until you or the kids end up outside running around to see if the dog can be caught.  The dog is really, really enjoying this running and everything is going just swimmingly with great big gobs of fun and pooch attention.  Sometimes the pup charges back and we run away until pooch nips or tugs at our clothes and it’s around then that we give it a cuddle, say a gentle or not so gentle no and probably finish the game before anything really bad happens.

And then, more time passes. The dog is a bigger part of home life. It won’t release its toys, protects its food, won’t come when called, lunges at things, chases cats, barks incessantly and/or refuses to do as it’s told. You begin to hate having the dog.

Luckily for dogs, they live in the moment, don’t understand hate, and get on with their lives as best they can in the ever unsteady emotional environment we put them in.  We take them for walks and pull them away from informative smells and drag them from greeting other dogs, tell them not to wander, chastise their pulling and chasing and generally constrain them from experiencing the results of their actions. 

In the wild, or if left to their own urban desires, dogs are pretty freely organised, mainly interested in the good things of life.  Lying around, enjoying smells and sounds that may lead them to food, chasing or finding food and otherwise enjoying a pretty calm and natural life with very little aggression. In a pack, peer structure is elastic and endemic and any poor behaviour or challenge is dealt with swift and clear by any of the older pack members.

Back to us chasing our pooch.  With all the happiness and the fun, the adrenalin and exertion endorphins.  How good must chasing and happy running around feel to the pooch?    

My guess is that us yelling stop, no, demands and whatever else we do to the pooch after the chasing, well, that is not near as much fun as the chasing game is.  Pooch knows that running away and dodging is such good fun for everyone that it obviously is the way forward.  Every time you want it to do something for you from then on, pooch’s first deep brain memory of you is the recollection of how much fun running way is.

So that is why I stopped chasing dogs.

I stopped chasing dogs very late in life. In fact I stopped chasing dogs when my Bindi was 3 years old.  That my other dogs were sort of well balanced and urban integrated is more about how well they adapted to my idiocy and their local environment than anything I did to help them by my chasing.

Having pooch chase you in play is fine as long as you ensure it is controlled and with the pup-lesson being :-  follow me quickly but behave. 

Perhaps it wasn’t Bindi so much teaching me not to chase dogs as me going off to find out why a work-bred German Shepherd was so hard to walk in the streets of the place I chose to live. 

I mean, my shoulders have been pulled out by her lunging on lead, ears deafened by unnecessary barking, she charged every dog that approached and any cat within half a mile had to be chased.  We had to reorganise our lives around visitors, mailmen and trades being jumped on by a mouth full of tooth hugs, and the level of this dog’s independent stubbornness was off the planet. 

This was a dog we had from 12 weeks old so we were responsible for everything about her upbringing.  Except who she was. On the other side of things she is the most beautiful, sweet soul every minute she is at home with us, the perfect companion and the doting pooch we love to bits.  But sometimes.... Could have strangled her.

I no longer chase her. In any way or form.  Especially when she cute-play bows and asks to be chased or when she steals things to get me to chase her. No matter what. I do not chase.

It will take a longer and concerted effort, although she is swiftly changing for the better, to move her away from her memory that running away is such fun.   It is critical Bindi and I achieve this though as the running away lesson is the oldest, deepest lesson imprinted on the youngest part of her fun times memory and so results the avoidance/independence. Running away fun is the base from which her daily decisions to command are made.  Problem is, she does not have the skills to be independent in the urban world where I have placed her.

Oh, and of course she comes from a long breed line of guard/enforcement dogs, so there is her nature I have to nurture her away from.  Breeds do have a underlying nature.

The way I will help is by moving her into a better mind space and that will mean laying down lots of new good memories.  I also keep in mind that urgent impulses, like lunging at other dogs, spotting cats, hearing new noises and her primal fear responses will trigger a solution that her genetic memory tells her will work.

Consider from what you know about your pooch’s breed that there will be instinct behaviours and use that to help train your pup.  Sheep dogs will herd, cattle dogs will charge, terriers will chase grab and hold, that sort of thing.

So as you progress from here on in, even if the chasing game has been your main play interaction, please don’t chase pup.  Figure out a pup-chase-me game or a more rewarding interaction from what follows here or from other sources.

 

 

CHAPTER 2.

YOU LOOKIN’ AT ME, PUNK?

URBAN BONDING

At this early stage in the book I want to quickly give you a little tool that will help if you have had your dog for ages or if you have a brand new furry buddy.  It’s something which everything about dog training can hang off. 

The pup has to be looking at you if you want to show and train new behaviours. 

Pup must want to look at you and know it’s safe to do so, and that it’s rewarding for pup to look at you.  We want our pooches to look at us before they react, look at us to seek approval before they act, and look at us to ask permission before they leave.  Yeah, I know, you won’t always notice pup looking at you but we do want pup to always check in with us before it acts.  If we miss a pup glance and pup takes action without our consent, it might be something as simple as leaving a room and not an issue or it could be pup goes to be a problem, deal with it at the time or ignore.  But let’s first train pup to want to look to us for guidance.

For this I want you to prepare some treats, very small portions, two variants of treat.  About twenty of each.  A treat that pup really likes and you have ample supply of, say dinner kibble, and another treat pup really really really really likes, like overcooked sausage, chicken, dry liver, sardine. Whatever. You will know. These are called high value treats.

We use treats to entice desired responses and we use high value treats to reward very good performance.

Find a nice quiet place, preferably inside, with few or no distracting things, like no other animals, no blowing curtains, no TV, no people or things the pup desires.

We are going to enter the space together and stand calmly and still, secret treats to hand, pup snuffling around nearby, and we will do nothing.

At some point the pup will look up at you, could take a while, be ready, it may be a super quick look.  If you catch the look, immediately, and I mean at that very moment your eyes meet, make a sound and give a treat.  The sound can be like a cheek tick, a noise with your voice, your tongue, a ‘tsk’ noise or use anything that you can make the same clear sound with quickly and repeatedly and that you will always have with you. 

If your oral dexterity is limited, maybe say a very quick ‘gidgirl/gudboy/goodgenderfluidfurryfamilymember’, or maybe a finger click.  Your choice.  But always use the same.

 I do not use clickers ... I prefer owner sounds rather than mechanical noise. I want my pup associating with me, not to some inanimate tool.  You will always have you, you will not always have a tool to hand. That is just one of my personal aversions though, use what you like. There are plenty of clicker training tools around if you want your pup to respond to generic clicker that’s fine.... really, it’s fine.

Now. Every time pup looks at your eyes, give the sound and a treat but only for that eye to eye look. Not if pup looks at the food or at your hand or somewhere nearby to test if you mean it.  Sound, then reward eye to eye, simple. Repeat.

If pup then does not stop staring at your eyes, yes, that does happen, toss a treat to the floor or otherwise distract pup’s stare by touching something with your foot, and reward the next good eye contact. 

Do it 20 times with a sound and treat and only give a high value treat if you think the desired response is quick, excellent and continuous.  Do it every day once or twice.

Once you think pup has locked in to the fact looking at you is great, you can use that, with sound and reward, before you embark on all other trainings.  Always refresh this ‘look’ behaviour over the months as it is a fantastic bonding, trust and training tool. If you have happy pup attention and pooch commitment to look at you, you can proceed to use that same method to teach sit, come to name, come to whistle, and much more.

Once you think you have nailed this look response in a low distraction area, after a good number of days, take it outside. Into an area where wind blows leaves or the dog next door can be heard.  Do choose somewhere though without too many distractions. This is about growing gradually.

Stand still and calm, repeat the ‘look’ training .  When you’ve both nailed looking/reward in that outside environment, over many days, repeat in a higher distraction environment.... you can see where this is going.  Keep doing it everywhere you go.  After some or many days you will not need the treats, just the sound, and perhaps a touch as the reward.  How nice is that?

As a final word on this sort of bonding, consider that, in a normal day, the process of spotting a desired reaction and giving sound and reward can be adapted to any behaviour you desire.  During the day you may find pup comes and lies by you.  If you immediately sound and reward this behaviour, and use a word like ‘settle’ as the following command , I am sure, again, you can see where this is going... How good would it be to have a command like ‘settle’ to use when out and perhaps wanting to share a coffee or sit down chat with a friend and have pooch at your feet, settled and calm. 

You have the tool, pup has learned the relationship between doing an action and getting sound, reward.  If you stay observant of desired pup acts when they happen, give a sound, reward, command and repeat, you can use accidental good behaviour as positive training. 

URBAN WAITING

Now is as good a time as any to talk about sitting around and waiting.  We can use the above observation skill, where you observe the pooch and where pooch is looking at you for direction, to get a very useful tool developed. 

Wait for a time and observe if pooch chooses to sit down while you are waiting or standing doing nothing.  If this perchance happens when you are watching, immediately make the praise sound and reward the sit giving command ‘sit’.  Give the sound ,reward, command through the day every time you observe pooch choosing to sit without instruction.  You can in time enhance this sit if it continues over a short period by another reward and a command like ‘wait’. Then praise and reward while waiting. This is not training so much as rewarding a natural movement and bringing an automatic act into a conscious and named behaviour (wait) for which pup gets your positive recognition.  A point for you to recognise here is once you start this observation and reward for the action you need to be aware and reward the act as often as you notice and immediately when it happens.  When pup understands that sit means bum on floor and wait means stay there you can repeat the wait command while moving away slightly and rewarding if pup stays waiting.  You get the drift of this... observation, repetition, reward.  Simple.

As well as the above ‘wait’ praise, the ‘sit’ command is a great bit of training to easily include in play time.

To get a reliable commanded sit performed by pup is a primary bit of bonding training.  Start when pup is standing in front of you and paying attention to either a toy, treat or is looking at you. 

You will need both hands free.  In one hand hold a treat and bring to scent range at the nose.  Smoothly and at the same time, move the treat over pup’s head and gently put a little weight on pup’s rear at the base of the tail with slight pressure down and forward to encourage the sit position.  Pup will lift head and follow treat, trying to move backwards.  Your gentle pressure on the hind quarters will encourage a rear end downwards motion.   Time a command ‘sit’ with the bum going downwards motion. As soon as bum hits floor, release, reward and your praise sound all together.

You can do this little bit of training in every play time to mark a rest stage in the play, like sit before ball throw, sit before rope pull, sit before chest rub etc.   For the ‘sit’ training once again use an area of low distraction, then medium distraction, then urban exposure. Repeat with the same actions in each environment so pup recognises what is expected and that your reward comes reliably if pup behaves reliably.

Pup will begin to sit when it comes to you, out of habit, recognise this action and reward it every time you notice the behaviour.

With repetition you will both come to trust the wait and the sit command as being a normal part of the day in play, on walks and when together.

The sit command is one to use when you want pup calm, looking and near you.  The wait command can be used for teaching to pause at kerbs on walk, before going through gates and doors or to remain with bum on floor while you are engaged in an activity.  Both sit and wait commands are to be repeated every day and rewarded for appropriate performance. 

It will take a short time but reliability will increase and you will both be able to trust each other to stay for longer periods of time with better rewards the better the performance.

Bindi now waits at kerbs before I command her to wait and will wait on command (mostly) if there is a trigger I have spotted ahead I know will cause her to react.  I recommend therefore that you do lock this ‘sit’ and ‘wait’ training skill in very early on as the benefit to both of you is great.

Sit and wait are the anchors for much of your daily interactions, to calm pup before attaching walking harness, before allowing pup access to meals, when answering the door to visitors.  In fact in so much of the day to day interaction between you both, it is worth concentrating and enjoying the learning early on in your relationship. 

 

 

Bindi Teaching ch2

 

 

CHAPTER 2.

YOU LOOKIN’ AT ME, PUNK?

URBAN BONDING

At this early stage in the book I want to quickly give you a little tool that will help if you have had your dog for ages or if you have a brand new furry buddy.  It’s something which everything about dog training can hang off. 

The pup has to be looking at you if you want to show and train new behaviours. 

Pup must want to look at you and know it’s safe to do so, and that it’s rewarding for pup to look at you.  We want our pooches to look at us before they react, look at us to seek approval before they act, and look at us to ask permission before they leave.  Yeah, I know, you won’t always notice pup looking at you but we do want pup to always check in with us before it acts.  If we miss a pup glance and pup takes action without our consent, it might be something as simple as leaving a room and not an issue or it could be pup goes to be a problem, deal with it at the time or ignore.  But let’s first train pup to want to look to us for guidance.

For this I want you to prepare some treats, very small portions, two variants of treat.  About twenty of each.  A treat that pup really likes and you have ample supply of, say dinner kibble, and another treat pup really really really really likes, like overcooked sausage, chicken, dry liver, sardine. Whatever. You will know. These are called high value treats.

We use treats to entice desired responses and we use high value treats to reward very good performance.

Find a nice quiet place, preferably inside, with few or no distracting things, like no other animals, no blowing curtains, no TV, no people or things the pup desires.

We are going to enter the space together and stand calmly and still, secret treats to hand, pup snuffling around nearby, and we will do nothing.

At some point the pup will look up at you, could take a while, be ready, it may be a super quick look.  If you catch the look, immediately, and I mean at that very moment your eyes meet, make a sound and give a treat.  The sound can be like a cheek tick, a noise with your voice, your tongue, a ‘tsk’ noise or use anything that you can make the same clear sound with quickly and repeatedly and that you will always have with you. 

If your oral dexterity is limited, maybe say a very quick ‘gidgirl/gudboy/goodgenderfluidfurryfamilymember’, or maybe a finger click.  Your choice.  But always use the same.

 I do not use clickers ... I prefer owner sounds rather than mechanical noise. I want my pup associating with me, not to some inanimate tool.  You will always have you, you will not always have a tool to hand. That is just one of my personal aversions though, use what you like. There are plenty of clicker training tools around if you want your pup to respond to generic clicker that’s fine.... really, it’s fine.

Now. Every time pup looks at your eyes, give the sound and a treat but only for that eye to eye look. Not if pup looks at the food or at your hand or somewhere nearby to test if you mean it.  Sound, then reward eye to eye, simple. Repeat.

If pup then does not stop staring at your eyes, yes, that does happen, toss a treat to the floor or otherwise distract pup’s stare by touching something with your foot, and reward the next good eye contact. 

Do it 20 times with a sound and treat and only give a high value treat if you think the desired response is quick, excellent and continuous.  Do it every day once or twice.

Once you think pup has locked in to the fact looking at you is great, you can use that, with sound and reward, before you embark on all other trainings.  Always refresh this ‘look’ behaviour over the months as it is a fantastic bonding, trust and training tool. If you have happy pup attention and pooch commitment to look at you, you can proceed to use that same method to teach sit, come to name, come to whistle, and much more.

Once you think you have nailed this look response in a low distraction area, after a good number of days, take it outside. Into an area where wind blows leaves or the dog next door can be heard.  Do choose somewhere though without too many distractions. This is about growing gradually.

Stand still and calm, repeat the ‘look’ training .  When you’ve both nailed looking/reward in that outside environment, over many days, repeat in a higher distraction environment.... you can see where this is going.  Keep doing it everywhere you go.  After some or many days you will not need the treats, just the sound, and perhaps a touch as the reward.  How nice is that?

As a final word on this sort of bonding, consider that, in a normal day, the process of spotting a desired reaction and giving sound and reward can be adapted to any behaviour you desire.  During the day you may find pup comes and lies by you.  If you immediately sound and reward this behaviour, and use a word like ‘settle’ as the following command , I am sure, again, you can see where this is going... How good would it be to have a command like ‘settle’ to use when out and perhaps wanting to share a coffee or sit down chat with a friend and have pooch at your feet, settled and calm. 

You have the tool, pup has learned the relationship between doing an action and getting sound, reward.  If you stay observant of desired pup acts when they happen, give a sound, reward, command and repeat, you can use accidental good behaviour as positive training. 

URBAN WAITING

Now is as good a time as any to talk about sitting around and waiting.  We can use the above observation skill, where you observe the pooch and where pooch is looking at you for direction, to get a very useful tool developed. 

Wait for a time and observe if pooch chooses to sit down while you are waiting or standing doing nothing.  If this perchance happens when you are watching, immediately make the praise sound and reward the sit giving command ‘sit’.  Give the sound ,reward, command through the day every time you observe pooch choosing to sit without instruction.  You can in time enhance this sit if it continues over a short period by another reward and a command like ‘wait’. Then praise and reward while waiting. This is not training so much as rewarding a natural movement and bringing an automatic act into a conscious and named behaviour (wait) for which pup gets your positive recognition.  A point for you to recognise here is once you start this observation and reward for the action you need to be aware and reward the act as often as you notice and immediately when it happens.  When pup understands that sit means bum on floor and wait means stay there you can repeat the wait command while moving away slightly and rewarding if pup stays waiting.  You get the drift of this... observation, repetition, reward.  Simple.

As well as the above ‘wait’ praise, the ‘sit’ command is a great bit of training to easily include in play time.

To get a reliable commanded sit performed by pup is a primary bit of bonding training.  Start when pup is standing in front of you and paying attention to either a toy, treat or is looking at you. 

You will need both hands free.  In one hand hold a treat and bring to scent range at the nose.  Smoothly and at the same time, move the treat over pup’s head and gently put a little weight on pup’s rear at the base of the tail with slight pressure down and forward to encourage the sit position.  Pup will lift head and follow treat, trying to move backwards.  Your gentle pressure on the hind quarters will encourage a rear end downwards motion.   Time a command ‘sit’ with the bum going downwards motion. As soon as bum hits floor, release, reward and your praise sound all together.

You can do this little bit of training in every play time to mark a rest stage in the play, like sit before ball throw, sit before rope pull, sit before chest rub etc.   For the ‘sit’ training once again use an area of low distraction, then medium distraction, then urban exposure. Repeat with the same actions in each environment so pup recognises what is expected and that your reward comes reliably if pup behaves reliably.

Pup will begin to sit when it comes to you, out of habit, recognise this action and reward it every time you notice the behaviour.

With repetition you will both come to trust the wait and the sit command as being a normal part of the day in play, on walks and when together.

The sit command is one to use when you want pup calm, looking and near you.  The wait command can be used for teaching to pause at kerbs on walk, before going through gates and doors or to remain with bum on floor while you are engaged in an activity.  Both sit and wait commands are to be repeated every day and rewarded for appropriate performance. 

It will take a short time but reliability will increase and you will both be able to trust each other to stay for longer periods of time with better rewards the better the performance.

Bindi now waits at kerbs before I command her to wait and will wait on command (mostly) if there is a trigger I have spotted ahead I know will cause her to react.  I recommend therefore that you do lock this ‘sit’ and ‘wait’ training skill in very early on as the benefit to both of you is great.

Sit and wait are the anchors for much of your daily interactions, to calm pup before attaching walking harness, before allowing pup access to meals, when answering the door to visitors.  In fact in so much of the day to day interaction between you both, it is worth concentrating and enjoying the learning early on in your relationship. 

Bindi Teaching ch3

 

 

CHAPTER 3.

URBAN RESISTANCE

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER.

I want to very quickly cover collars, leads and harnesses.  On this topic alone I am going to be instructive not advisory as one thing I have found is that most pups need to be given tactile guidance when outside in the urban world.  Before you can trust pup to stay rock solid beside you off leash in your streets and parks, if you ever can, you need to have restraint, contact and control.

Control while training means having the pup connected to you on a string of some form or other.

These are the things I recommend you attach to pup.

A nice wide well fitted collar that can have some form of limited constriction when pulled on so pup cannot pull backward out of the collar.  The use of choker chain collars is abhorrent and cruel and will harm pup’s air, spine and vocal passages. A properly adjusted check collar is marginally acceptable but only so it will not come off if pulled, not to constrict the pups neck.

And here is an important bit.  A collar is for hanging an ID tag off, or because all dogs look great with a nice collar, or because pup feels special when wearing a collar.... I know, sounds silly but all my dogs seem really pleased with their collars and want them on not off.  A collar is not for attaching a lead to.

What?

A collar is an ancillary bit of gear for you to have a very occasional tool to hold when in play, grooming or activity where calm hand to collar guidance is needed.

We live in a time where there are a lot of dog harnesses available and a lot of advice on size and fitment so I am not going to cover all the variants of harnesses out there and I am not going to rate them.   

What I want to share is my learning about collars and harnesses.

When training a pup you will need to provide control, restriction and guidance.  Having a string attached to pup gives you a tool to give a tactile message immediately, provides pup with a feeling of connection to you, and allows you to remove pup from danger.

A collar is a poor tool for any of these things.  A dog with intent and pulling away from you while tied by a string on a collar will experience a collar slipped down the neck to a top of chest point where it enables maximum effort to be distributed to the feet.  The collar will have lodged across the lower throat where obstruction to breathing is not severe but stimulates the thyroid to a point of irritation.  As pup continues to pull and swerve the collar will move upwards, compressing the larynx and creating a sensation of anxiety and restriction. So, what we end up with is a pooch pulling with all its ability while getting buckets of endorphins pumped through discomfort and pain.  Not very calm and graceful.

A good harness will attach to the lead from the top on the back just above the withers, will have a brace across the chest and a belt going behind the front legs and under the chest. This provides a very comforting huggy sensation for pup, sort of like a favourite coat or sweater is for us.

When pup pulls against the lead, the harness will provide a comfortable resistance but because the anchor to the lead is central and back a bit it will make pup unstable in the pull and will reduce the effectiveness of the front paws on the ground by levering up and making an unstable pivot point for the rear feet to drive forward power from.

The centrally located harness mount for the lead provides a strong but unpredictable restraint so pup tends to resist pulling and being unbalanced and so remains a bit more controlled.  

Similarly, for a pup that jumps to greet you,  gently push the pup off to the side, it destabilises the forward and upward movement and makes pup feel that standing on rear legs near us is not a comfortable or secure stance.  We don’t like being off balance and neither do our pooches. 

When in training and a tactile correction is required, a tug on the harness lead will be slightly to the side and will again destabilise the pup’s gait and gain their attention to you.  Calmly and gracefully. 

Although a harness looks like a tool to encourage pulling it is a very effective and kind solution to help teach a pup to not pull.  Harnesses mostly come with a grab handle on the pups back too.  This is like an emergency brake on a car, really great to have in a pinch.

For my Bindi, I use a harness now and have a clip connecting the harness to her collar as the clever little bitch has figured that if she really wants, she can stop, twist and if I’m not paying attention and I just tug on the lead, she can slip out of the brand of harness I chose.  I am left with a harness on a lead and a pup off and doing what she wants.  Although her recall to me is pretty good now the clip to the collar ensures I am always connected. 

Despite this escape ability I am stunned at how much easier our harness wearing walks are and how much more responsive she is to tactile messages sent down the lead.  There is a calm and grace we never shared when using lead and collar.

As well as experiential learning there is good science behind not restraining pup with a collar.  I mentioned the possible damage to the thyroid which can be evidenced by foot licking and mood swings but the obvious injury from choking is self evident.

The observation of a pup that coughs, has trouble swallowing food or splutters when drinking can all be linked to pulling too hard or too much on a constricting collar.

So my instruction is buy a lovely collar that looks great, fits and does not irritate.  Use it to gently guide pup when off lead.  Buy a suitable harness for your breed size and your budget and train and restrain pup as necessary using that.  

This harness/collar restraint equipment is the only binary instruction I will give.  It is important you provide your pup a safe and secure restraint that is comfortable and effective for you both.

Bindi Teaching ch4

 CHAPTER 4.

WHAT?  ANOTHER WALK?  Oh, great.

URBAN WALKIES

Urban life has changed in the 21^st century .  Olde-time dog training experts authored standard clichés that were suitable to a more relaxed, less connected lifestyle, when alone time, outside space and open roaming for dogs was more available.  Times where not every other house had a dog and owners didn’t fast-walk their pooches thrice daily as part of some haywire personal fitness regimes. 

Just want to say early on, I do not want to be a pack leader or to dominate my pooch. But I am honest enough to admit that it is very unlikely I will completely hold my calm resolve on an urban walk.  At times I’ll probably curse and generally stuff up when I get frustrated with my girl’s seemingly bloody minded stubbornness as she ignores, charges or refuses to obey.  There is space in dog training for expressing one’s dissatisfaction.   I try however to remember there is a beautiful little soul who is as individual as I, and she is just trying to make it through her day as happily as she can.

 If there is lesson that is the hardest for me, it is to realise that patience, kindness, understanding and gentle persistence in training means that I must be even more patient, kind, understanding and gentle on a distracting urban walk.  It is a keen skill to then ensure my actions and guidance in times of urban challenge will send pup a strong and consistent message that I can be a calm, safe place to come back to, every time.  

That’s a lot of personal development for me as I work towards expecting consistent training results.  

I can say, on occasion of a scary sound or when other dogs are presenting a dominating situation, Bindi does now break away from the activity or conflict, on my command!  And she does come running back to me now, a major and extremely rewarding change in behaviour which I love her for.  She will always defend her virtue if another dog tries to dominate by mounting, as I would expect any respectable lass to do.  She will, as she is a dog that comes from a long, long line of police dogs, react by approaching with intent, sometimes with too much intent, but that is something my consistency in being gentle will in time blunt.  It is about providing her with calm example and gentle approach tools that she can rely on.  Mindful always of her genetics.

These tools I outline are based on showing pup that her being and staying calm is far more enjoyable and feel-good than thrusting into challenge, defence, confrontation or protection.

TIME FOR WALKIES

Being busy people, our urban dog walks are often scheduled into irregular windows of opportunity in our daily timetable.  Owners may set times in every day to drag the dog around a pre-determined route.   

A DAILY WALK IS NOT MANDATORY!! 

 That is some news that may surprise you.   It’s okay to walk the dog every other day or so.   On non walk days the pup can unwind, relax, chill-out at home in the environment that is safe, calm and not needing constant vigilance or activity.  Conversely, it is NOT okay to deprive your dog of various outings into the local community and surrounds.  Like most things in life, it’s a balance. 

If you have an enclosed area  where the dog can happily toilet and lay in the fresh air, keeping cool or warm, then that chill-out time in a safe and comfortable place will be lovely and a de-stressing time for pooch. 

When your urban walkie is one of buzzing new experiences, exciting memories and chance encounters, pup will naturally maintain a level of expectation and excitement.  Like with our feel good chemicals, natural or artificial, pup endorphins are nice. So pup will want to get pumped by the walkie experience. Especially if that experience is frequent.  If walked three times a day then the chance for pup to relax into calm in a safe place is very unlikely in pup’s remaining waking hours.

If your walkies are gentle, calm sniffing strolls, then I envy you your location and leave it up to you to decide how much of an occasional break your pup needs form the daily outing and exercise regime you are offering it. Regardless of how calm your walks are, when your pup is at home it still needs a safe place to relax in.

IN MY SAFE PLACE

When your little mate has found a good spot at home that it likes to curl up in, it’s up to you to honour that place or direct it to a suitable spot as a ‘Safe Place’. 

Safe places are those where the pooch is out of the way of the traffic of daily life, where it can be left alone, where sleep and calm and separation are always the norm.  Safe places can be in rooms where family activity and noise is present, can be behind a sofa or under stairs.  Anywhere the pooch feels comfortable and knows it will not be in the way, not disturbed or asked to move.   

We all need a break, pooch needs a couple of places where they know they can unwind.  Young pups can and should sleep most of the day and night. Old dogs too.  Active dogs can still steal a good 16 hours of rest.  The longer the calm period you can provide your dog, the more it will enjoy being calm, the easier getting it into calm behaviour will become. 

Activity should be enjoyable.  If you are not going out with pooch one day, then on that day, give the pup some things to do. 

STAYING IN

Bindi and I play ‘Go Find’.  I grab a handful of treats (evening meal kibble, low fat cheese) and let her see/smell them. Then with my other hand I briefly cover her eyes and give her the ‘Wait’ command.  I leave the room, oh, and because I know she will cheat I usually close the door so she can’t watch,  then I spend a couple of minutes placing the kibble around places she can smell but not see, places where she will not need to move anything to get to.   I return to her, cover her eyes again and bring my now empty treat-scented hand to her nose, removing my other  hand from her eyes I command ‘Go Find’ and the fun begins.  She loves this game, I ensure she keeps looking until all found.  Once complete, lots of praise, perhaps a quick game of tug of war with her tugga toy, then a calming pat and I get on with doing my stuff.  She wanders for a while and then naps.  Every time.

Search is mentally tiring for her and sniffing is good calming therapy. 

I recommend you come up with your own find-it or solve-it or balance-on-this and move-like-this games that will exercise the brain muscles.  There are lots of great games for dogs out there, just be sure they meet the criteria of a good amount of work for small but valued reward. 

These play sessions can be remarkably short in time, say five to ten minutes and will probably result in a quarter to half hour pup nap in the following hour.

 I don’t want to give you any more games as I think, like I know Bindi loves the ‘Go Find’ game, your pooch and you will probably discover other games that are great for you both. 

I started this bit saying walking pooch every day was not necessary, but maybe for your pooch it could be mandatory, again, everyone is individual so I won’t draw absolutes. I do though want to paint the opportunity for calm into every day, so do be aware of how your dog relaxes to calm and ensure it gets to do that often and without interruption. 

Despite the fact that an urban walk may be fraught with many things pup is unsure of, all dogs love both short break walks and nice long walks. 

Mix them up through the week.  Bindi and I enjoy short local treks to favourite ablution spots, past scent spots where recent adventures are logged.  On these short walks, in fact even on longer walks I have to remember that I am walking the dog.  I am not getting my exercise, I am not on my way to an appointed meeting at a certain time.  I am walking my dog. It is a thing dog owners do.  For the dog.  In a set time.

Let the dog enjoy the walk, it really won’t care how far you go if it has lots to smell watch and hear, it will be happy with a sufficient period of time.

 I see people dragging their hapless pooches around the town in a desperate conflict of doing a distance for the dog and getting chores done within a schedule.  

WALKIES IS FOR THE DOGS

Here are some things to remember about walking a dog.  Yes, it’s for the dog.  It is a lovely thing to see a pooch deciphering the smells of the day, interacting with the landscape and the animals it comes across. It is rewarding when pooch is looking to us for guidance or support when the cyclist’s bell rings, a horn or siren blares or any of the myriad distractions happen in normal daily urban life.  There is a joy in calming the pooch and sharing the pats and play a walk can include.  It is probably why you wanted a dog.  So, walking the dog is for you to enjoy too.  But it is walking the dog. 

Walking helps pooch use the energy it gets from the food you supply, walking reduces the need to cut nails, something Bindi would prefer not to have happen at all.  Thankfully, as she is still active, nail clipping has not been required for years. 

 

 

MARKERS OF IMMINENT BEHAVIOUR

 Are you paying attention to your pup on its walk?  Do you recognise the telltales your dog’s body gives you as warnings to what it may be about to do?  Once again it is about observing your pup to figure out if it is stressed, fearful, excited or uncomfortable and how those emotive states may make pup react to urban stimuli.

Excitement markers can be fidgeting rapidly in position, circling, high pitched yipping, unnecessary barking. 

Fear markers are typically pooch’s head held still and lowered, ears alert, hackles up, tail raised still or quickly vibrating? 

Discomfort markers, favouring a limb, hunched back, eyes squinting, sensitivity to your touch/strokes. You may have to be good to spot discomfort markers as it is doggy nature to mask any sign of pain lest it be seen as a weakness to be taken advantage of by others.   

And here is the kicker.  STRESS MARKERS.  No matter what your dog is telling you, one of the best ways to judge your pooch’s comfort and emotional balance is by observing for stress markers and working with your pup only while the most obvious are not apparent.   

The most obvious stress markers are lip licking, panting when rested and the can’t-be-missed Yawnnnn.  I will say that every time the pup licks its lips or nose is not necessarily a stress marker but consistent lip licking is. Lots of panting after exercise is not stress behaviour but may be an indicator of over exertion.  Finally not every yawn indicates stress but in this case almost every yawn following some interaction is a stress indicator.  Yes, if you have just given your pup a huge cuddle and great loving pats and it yawns, ,,. Guess What? You have plastered too much hooman on your pup and it can’t be dealing with that much gooey lovey dovey stuff at one time.  Yawns are a fantastic stress indicator and you will soon learn what is a just woke up tired yawn and what is a too much for me yawn.

Every breed is different, every individual in the breed will have variant default behaviour and stress markers.  You need to learn to see these indicators as your pooch displays them and react appropriately.   Remember always that pups no matter what breed or personality all prefer calm and grace in their day.  A calm pooch will react to the urban world stimuli in a calmer way than an always excited or worried pup.  We are responsible for enabling our pup to be calm.  Note the physiology of your pup when it is calm and relaxed, that will help you see changes when out and about.  Things to observe are how pup’s ears are held, tail activity, angle the head is held, how pup spaces its stride in walk...any movement that seems relaxed.

Observing these indicators will allow you to forecast the reaction and the likely impulse actions from your pup.   No, to start with you won’t notice them in time to distract the pup before it reacts, or you will wrongly identify the pup’s marker.  Its about practice, observation and persistence.

Life is like that, we all stuff up a process until we become familiar.  I can assure you that you will become a savant in noticing the shifts in your pup’s demeanour.  If you remember to, as much as possible, observe your pup.

It is not enough to just be looking at your pooch on walks, watch pooch for signs of over excitement or fear at home, in the car, on transport, everywhere. 

You own a dog, and that comes with responsibilities.  We all want calm dogs and calm owners.    Observe behaviours before you both go out, while out, on the way home then again when you have returned home.   Watch for the stress and the sometimes more muted behaviour indicators.

Head lowered? Ears alert?  Tail elevated?  Hackles up?  Maybe pooch feels uncomfortable in your neighbourhood, feels exposed or that it needs to display self protection poses to ward off unwanted approaches ... Be aware, if fear is evident in a place or at a time, avoid those places, give short safe exposures to it over time on different days, calm direction, avoidance of interaction and confrontation, distract focus from being in the place with reward calm behaviour, a favourite toy or valued treats.  As pup shows less stress to that place gradually allow pup to get closer always having a clear and calm exit or avoidance route to take if stress becomes evident.  Don’t drag pup into a stressful place using calm words and treats.  Obvious but, don’t.

If you have a totally excited pup the same tools are yours to use, wait until pup is calm or return to the walk opportunity later.

It may be that you can’t get past your front step before pooch tells you it is not feeling calm.  If you notice, then distract pup with a good thing, a pat, a treat or a toy depending on their focus level. 

Stay where you are and play or pat or whatever you both enjoy, or if pup is feeling not safe, retreat until pup does not show fear markers.

If you continue to observe and pooch does remain relaxed then take the lead and continue on the adventure. If pup does not relax, return to a calm place and relax.  If that means no outing that morning then fine. Play an inside game in the time you had planned for the walk.

Your pup will probably tell you it wants to go out again later and you can try again, I would think you’ll get to the same place or a little further.  Do the same thing and in time pup will trust that you are not dragging them into an unpleasant thing and will also probably relax and have a sniff around and make some headway into the preferred route.  

Dog training is not a course of dealing with frustration it is a path of caring, observation and joyous reward for both of you.

A dog walk can be no walk at all, just time together outside.

I am nothing if not a pragmatist and I know there are some readers who will say that their dog loves going on a daily jog with them.  It’s the one time both of you get to have real time together. It has been happening for years and there is no problem with it at all. 

That too is great. As long as you are aware of the things I have said, you are sure your pooch is not damaging themselves in order to be with you, and that the duration is within the pups endurance.  Training rules are not binary but should be implemented with balance. 

I have a neighbour who went jogging/running daily with their new and very young pup.  A pup’s heart and lungs need time to grow and become strong and sound.  Foam at the nostrils and ongoing breathing difficulties indicated a vet visit was required for this puppy.  I thought a psychiatrist visit for the owner would have been more help but, hey ho.   He continues to run with the pup.

As long as your pup is not suffering and has good opportunity to rest and has a safe place at home, then I guess, although I would still be concerned, then it is, probably, okay to take pooch for a regular run with you.  But how about, every other day you take pooch, and let it have some days off.