It’s just natural to think that the way we are right now is how we will be in the future. Unfortunately, injury, disease, and age change what we can do so we need to be able to adapt. This is true of dog walking. Even the strongest person will not be strong forever. This is the reason that the first thing we do is get your dog to walk on a loose leash with one finger.
We then pressure test this by walking with baby steps to simulate a person with slow, limited mobility.
Most people know that I started training my own service dog as well as service dogs with other people. Many of which were older, with physical disabilities that slowed them down and, in some cases, requiring canes, walkers, and wheelchairs. One of the fastest ways to frustrate a handler, especially an elderly one with PTSD is to have a dog constantly pulling and yanking them on the lead.
All people are not fond of falling, but those who have fallen and been injured are very frightened of it happening again. Mindfully keeping their balance is a huge part of their life. Add in different surfaces, doors, and steps and the world becomes an obstacle course.
This is what we take into consideration when we teach loose lead walking.
It starts with the human, not the dog. People are instructed to keep their head up; shoulders back and most importantly relax their arms with the lead on one finger. As soon as you make a fist you are not relaxing your arm and any tension at all will cause you to respond by pulling back on the lead. This causes a pulling dog to pull harder, often with a yank. the farther your elbows are away from your body the more unstable you are. When handling a dog on one finger you simply cannot pull the dog, so at the slightest amount of tension you redirect by turning with your arm next to your body. With a little consistency, Grandma and the kids can all walk the dog. This is healthy because not only can anyone walk the dog, but anyone also who controls the dog’s movement will consider a higher-ranking dog. The higher-ranking dogs in a pack the more secure and under control a dog of any age, breed, size, and background will feel secure and be calmer. That is why it’s the first thing we do and until everybody present can walk the dog on one finger we don’t move on. It is not something you come back to, it is the foundation of the entire dog, human relationship. Most people have never walked a dog on a loose leash and cannot believe how enjoyable it is. As I say, “It’s so easy, you can get a teenager to do it”.
I wrote this because a huge amount of our fans (from the date Facebook provides) are over sixty. If you cannot walk your dog outside, at least walk them inside. If you are going to see training for your dog, you need to ask only one question “Do you guarantee that I will be able to walk my dog on a loose lead within one hour”. If the answer is anything besides a quick “YES” go somewhere else. Don’t listen to any BS about the breed, or the size of the breed. Then make sure they are not going to use a prong collar or e-collar, and hopefully no treats.
Our training is one size fits all for the dog, not the human. Seldom do we have an appointment with someone without an ache, pain, or previous injury, that we take into account when teaching them to handle their dog. Yesterday we had a young lady in a wheelchair. Adapt, improvise, and overcome is the way I live my life. If I don’t know how to do it, we will figure it out together.