Anxious dogs don’t want to lead (Photo: Setter mix looking unsure)
Your dog walks look like:
-your dog walking in front of you, pulling on the leash
-your dog zigzagging in front of you (and sometimes behind you)
-your dog wrapping you up in the leash
-your dog licking her lips and constantly looking around
-your dog stopping suddenly to smell something, yanking your arm out of its socket
-your dog refusing to stop smelling, eating, gulping down garbage, mulch, and dead things
-your dog refusing to walk anymore, leaving you feeling badly because you don’t want to drag her on the sidewalk
-your dog pulling toward other dogs, houses where other dogs live, houses where their dog friends live
This dog is leading and feeling unsure (lip licking.) (Photo: Dog walking on leash in front of the owner. Dog is licking his lips. There is tension on the leash.)
Your dog walks sound like:
-constant whining… for hours!
-whining only when your dog sees another dog
-whining when your dog sees people she wants to say hello to
-whining when she sees a squirrel, seagull, or bunny that she can’t get to
Your dog walk feels like:
-failure
-anxiety (yours as well as you dog’s)
-like something you’d rather avoid doing
-feeling terrible because you don’t know how to help her overcome her reactivity and anxiety
You want to enjoy your walks again? You want to stop being pulled down in the street? You want your dog to feel GOOD on her walks, not anxious?
Here’s something that has helped so many people and so many dogs enjoy their walks again. It’s called a structured walk.
This is what a structured walk looks like (Photo: A great example of a pack walk. Two couples are walking with their dogs. One couple has a stroller. Both dogs are relaxed and walking beside their owners.)
During every walk, there is one leader and one follower. If you are behind your dog, they are leading and you are following. They have the leadership role in that moment.
Your anxious dog really, really, really doesn’t want that role.
A structured walk encourages you, the human, to be the leader, and your dog to relax and be a follower. This helps set your dog at ease. She doesn’t WANT to walk in front of you, be your leader, or make tough decisions about oncoming dogs, cars, or children whipping by on scooters. It stresses her out.
By walking beside you (her head should not be in front of your knee,) you are sending a clear message about her role (it’s to follow.) Anxious dogs feel WAY more relaxed when they are in this position.
Your dog should be checking in with YOU, not scouting ahead for danger (Photo: a poodle mix looks up at his owner while heeling with a loose leash.)
Here’s the more challenging part: YOU have to FEEL confident. Teaching your dog to walk in a heel is only part of the solution. You HAVE to provide leadership, calmness, and confidence for her. If you’re nervous every time you see a dog, she’ll still be nervous, even if she’s beside you. You have to do both parts of this for it to work. Can you do that for your dog?
Sometimes we can’t do it for ourselves (feel calm, tell our nasty inner voice to SHUT UP, feel confident) but we CAN do it for our dogs. That’s a powerful, wonderful, beautiful thing. Dogs are a gift. Dogs can help US on the path to wellness.
Cesar Millan says it best: “You don’t get the dog you want, you get the dog you need.”
I’ve seen this beautiful shift happen for people many times. People whose pets were fighting in their home, whose dogs were all over the place on walks (lunging, whining, nipping people who walked by,) whose dogs wouldn’t let strangers get near their owners. When the humans addressed their OWN anxiety first and then added in the structured walk, their dog was able to relax and be calm.
The ripple effect is real. Your behaviour does affect your dog’s behaviour.
Now that you KNOW that, you can do something about it.
Happy healing and heeling, Dog Leaders!
Alyssa
Photos by: Gary Sandoz @gala_san (Setter mix looking unsure,) Upsplash (dog walking on leash in front of the owner. Dog is licking his lips. There is tension on the leash,) Upsplash ((Photo: A great example of a pack walk. Two couples are walking with their dogs. One couple has a stroller. Both dogs are relaxed and walking beside their owners,) Upsplash (a poodle mix looks up at his owner while heeling with a loose leash.)