There are of course lots of tools designed to make lead walking pleasurable for us…some might even make lead walking more tolerable for our dogs. Harnesses can take pressure off the neck and stop the coughing (but not necessarily the pulling). Headcollars make forward pulling difficult for dogs (but not impossible) but because they now have something that feels a bit odd around their nose and  behind their ears, they divert their energy on the walk to trying to remove it. It’s common to see dogs wearing headcollars  pawing at their noses, or  rubbing their heads along people’s legs and the ground. Hardly relaxing. Dogs need gradual and careful introduction to wearing a headcollar to prevent this from happening.

If you have a young puppy you have no excuse – one of your first tasks if you know your dog will be walked on lead during their life, is to teach them to walk nicely on a lead. Don’t wait until they are through vaccination phase. Ok they may not be allowed out yet but you can still train a puppy to walk nice on a lead and collar in the house. If you have an adult dog that pulls you can start in the same way. And here’s how:

1. Start where there are no distractions and have your dog on a lead at least a metre long.
2. Start walking with them.
3. Your dog may immediately try to move somewhere you didn’t want to go and end up going to the end of the lead. Now before they get to the stage of making the lead tight, stop dead in your tracks.
4. Do not follow your dog in the direction they are pulling..just stand perfectly still.
5. Do not yank them back.
6. Eventually (and time can vary) your dog will slacken off.
7. As soon as this happens (and you need good timing as the  slackening off may only be brief), you start moving again.
8. You will probably find that your dog repeats the behaviour mentioned in step three in which case you stop dead again and wait for your dog to slacken off.
9. Move ahead quickly when the lead goes slack and stop quickly when you think your dog is going to hit the end of it pulling.
10. You can speed up the process by using treats so when your dog looks back at you on a loose lead or when you make a sound to get their attention and they look back, have a treat ready to deliver into your dog’s mouth at your side. Don’t stretch your arm out  to give them the treat, they need to move back into your side to earn the treat.
11. If your dog looks back at you but then quickly looks forward again so you didn’t have time to deliver treats, you may need to use higher value treats, work somwhere with fewer distractions, and use a verbal marker for looking such as ‘yes’. Changing direction can also help with dogs that don’t pay attention in this exercise so as soon as your dog looks back at you say ‘yes’ and quickly move off in a different direction. Your dog may (temporarily) end up being at your side when you moved off in a different direction to enable you to deliver a treat.
12. Do the steps above every time a lead is on your dog.

You may feel like you don’t get very far when you practice the steps above but that’s normal in the early stages of your lead work training particularly if your dog has already learned that pulling works for them. Be patient and as long as you and everyone else who walks your dog are consistent, it will improve.

I thought I’d share with you some of my ‘better’ Christmas canine purchases.

1.  High visbility collars and LED flashing lights for collars (great for dark Winter mornings and nights)

2. Snugglesafe Heat Pad. Now my dogs are older and a little arthritic, this can be heated in the microwave and put in my dogs beds to keep them warm for several hours.

3. New coats (a must particularly for breeds that really feel the cold like Sighthounds).

4. Nina Ottosson interactive toys. Not just a normal toy, but a puzzle your pet has to solve.

5. Kongs (a must have).

6. Dog It Water Fountain…fresh running water for your dog at all times.

7. Garden Agility Kit – training and having fun at the same time.

Every December I make sure I clear out things my dogs don’t need whether it’s old towels, coats, beds, toys and donate them to my local animal shelter. Some years my dogs don’t get presents at all and I donate what I would have spent on them to my local animal shelter.

If anyone else has any unusual or very functional gifts they have bought their four legged friend, we’d love to hear about them!

1. Walk your dog in plenty of time before trick-or-treaters start to visit. Exercise may help to tire your dog out and relax them for the evening ahead.

2. If you are in fancy dress it is best to ignore other people’s dogs on Halloween if you meet them out walking. Even if you know the dog, he or she may not recognise you in your Halloween costume and they could react differently.

3. If you are going out trick-or-treating make sure you avoid houses if you can hear a dog barking behind doors, gates, or fences. This means that the dog could be running loose on the property.

4. If an owner opens the door and there is a dog there, just stay still and wait for the dog owner to put the dog away. Do not move toward the person and dog and do not scream or shout.

5. If a dog escapes and is coming towards you just stand still like a lamp-post (fold your arms, and don’t shout or stare at the dog). He should just sniff you and then move on. Wait for the owner to come and get the dog before you turn away. Do not scream or try to run away from the dog.

6. Your own dog may regard family members as strangers if they put on their Halloween costumes. Before the kids put them on, allow your dog to smell and see the costumes. Keep masks off while your dog is around.

7. Puppies and dogs that like to chase can get very excited by costumes with dangly bits. Supervise very carefully if you have a dog that may try to play with children’s costumes while they are wearing them.

8. Dressing your dog up in a cute doggie Halloween outfit may look like fun but you should only attempt this if you are sure your dog doesn’t mind. Dogs can become quite stressed when forced to wear a fancy dress outfit. If you do dress your dog in a Halloween costume, make sure they can see, breathe, hear, and move about freely. Remove anything that hangs loose such as cord and ribbon.

9. Sweets need to be kept out of your dog’s reach as they can cause stomach upsets if your dog eats them. Chocolate contains theobromine, which can cause nerve damage and even death in dogs. The darker the chocolate, the more concentrated it is.

10. If there is a chance that people will be knocking on the door, or you inviting guests in, then secure your dog behind a closed door, baby gate, or in their crate if they associate that with safety, in a separate room away from any commotion.
11. If your dog barks at door bells or knocking on the door then watch out for trick-or-treaters so you can get to the door before they have to ring or knock.

12. Give your dog an activity toy filled with treats to keep them occupied throughout the evening.

13. Play music or leave a TV or radio playing to help disguise any sounds of activity at the front door and close the curtains so that the your dog cannot see people coming and going through the window.

Have a Happy Halloween!

What struck me most about these photographs was the high percentage of mongrel dogs featured. Assuming that these photos are a representative of dog owners of the time, then it seems that mongrels were the most common dogs around. The photographs show people from all social classes and wealth and status didn’t seem to have any bearing on mongrel ownership. There is no sign of Weimaraners, Pugs or German Shepherds, just to name a few. In fact there is an obvious absence of pedigrees. The few dogs in the photos that do resemble pedigrees are Jack Russell’s. Perhaps these terriers were great companions as well as being able to fulfill the important functional role of eliminating vermin.

So the question is…if we took the same candid and studio shots of pet dogs today, would we still see the same percentage of mongrels? I doubt it. Where have they gone? A hundred years isn’t long at all in the grand scheme of evolution. We have clearly gone to great efforts in the past century to promote the breeding of ‘pedigree’ dogs but sadly it looks like this is at the expense of the good old mongrel.

The Urpeth Woods/Ouston Common area near where I live is quite simply ‘doggie central’. Which would be fine if it weren’t for the high percentage of dog owners who sadly fall into the irresponsible category. Those who have absolutely no control over their dogs and simply cannot recall them away from other dogs. There is a sensible minority who do keep their dogs under control either by the recall being excellent or keeping their dogs on lead, but I emphasise the word ‘minority’.

I understand that dogs need to socialise and there is a good chance you will meet other dogs out and about, but surely it’s just manners that when you see someone approaching with their dogs/s on lead, you put your own dog back on lead particularly if you know there is a possibility they will not recall as they get closer. There could be a good reason why the other dog is walking on lead. If the other dog is off lead, then it’s still a good idea to check with the owner that both dogs can meet.

But it’s the happy-go-lucky friendly dogs who unwittingly charge towards other dogs that I feel sorry for…they may have wanted to say hello but due to their owners not being able to call them away, they end up being attacked and possibly bitten. So who’s at fault here? No doubt the tale told by owner of happy-go-lucky dog will be that they were attacked, but I bet they fail to mention that they allowed their dog to run over to a dog being walked on lead in the first place.

Ok so there could be a rare occasion when even well-trained dogs go through a recall ‘blip’. When that does happen, owners are usually mortified and very apologetic. The ones I am referring to in this blog are the ones who simply do not care. When dogs charge up to mine when I am walking them on lead, I am usually left with no other choice but to either unclip or drop the lead. I have to so things don’t get tangled up.

Interestingly when I am walking the big German Shepherd on lead whose bark echoes around the Northern Hemisphere, the same ‘irresponsible’ people all of a sudden scramble to get their dogs on lead. So they can do it when they want to. I wonder why ; ) ?

In 2008, the Companion Animal Welfare Council published a report titled   ’The Regulation of Companion Animal Services in Relation to Training and Behaviour Modification of Dogs’ http://www.cawc.org.uk/reports . This highlights the welfare issues at stake at the current time and makes recommendations for the industry to be regulated. I agree.

When looking for a dog trainer or behaviourist, there are obvious red flags that should make you think twice about signing up with them. Look out for the following.

1. Says ‘qualified’ but doesn’t go into detail about the qualifications.

2. Gives a guarantee they can sort out the problem..this would almost certainly set alarm bells ringing in me about how they are going to achieve this.

3. Doesn’t have limits on class sizes, mixes adults with puppies, doesn’t need to see vaccinations or know/care about any behavioural issues that dogs have that are attending classes.

4. Uses words like ‘dominance’ ‘pack leader’ ‘alpha’. It may sound appealing to hear ’wolf’ related lingo when deciding to train Fido, and maybe your favourite TV dog trainer uses this terminology, but the whole concept is massively misunderstood. Many trainers who advertise this style of training are either truly ignorant of learning theory or are using these phrases as a ‘cover’ for physical punishment.

So..do you want someone qualified to operate on you in hospital? Do you want someone qualified to fly your plane abroad when you go on holiday? Why would working with your canine companion be any different?

Parking in the shade and leaving windows slightly open will do very little so don’t risk it. Under the Animal Welfare Act you now have a legal duty to care for your animal and if you put your animal at risk, you could face prosecution. You would also have to live with the fact that your thoughtless action resulted in terrible suffering for your pet.