Who me? (Photo: a grey squirrel sitting on the grass with one paw on its chest.)
You’re trying to enjoy a nice walk with your dog. The only problem is that when she sees a squirrel, she yanks your arm out of its socket. Depending on how much your dog weighs and how much you weigh, you may actually be getting pulled to the ground. This isn’t what you had in mind when you adopted your dog. Your body aches and you’re so frustrated you want to scream. You’re also embarrassed by her behaviour when you’re out in public because she doesn’t just pull toward the squirrels, she whines, barks, and screeches in a way that makes people think you’re hurting her. You know that walks are good for her health (and yours as well,) but now they’ve turned into a stressful event that you’d rather avoid. Avoiding the walks isn’t making life any easier, though. Now you feel guilty all the time and she’s climbing the walls with all that pent up energy.
Tired of feeling embarrassed and frustrated by your dog’s behaviour around squirrels? Read on for tips. (Photo: a woman with long red hair hides her face behind her mittens.)
When our walks are feeling exhausting instead of fun, it’s very easy for us humans to accidentally get stuck in “fix it” mode. We want our dog to stop doing certain behaviours that drive us crazy, like yanking us toward squirrels, lunging at other dogs, or pulling toward every smell on the ground. What we need to do is become relevant leaders for our dogs so they will look to us for guidance whether in the home, in our yard, or on a walk. We need to build a solid relationship with our dog so they will put their trust in us to lead them on walks and we need a rock solid communication system so they understand to walk beside us instead of pull.
There are many things that we need to keep in mind if our goal is to be relevant during our walks with our dogs (namely, we want our dog to stroll by the squirrel instead of lunging after it.) Here are a few things to help you get your relationship back on track.
Does your dog ignore you inside your home?
You ask your dog to sit. She doesn’t. You repeat yourself. She still doesn’t sit. Instead, she looks at the cookie jar. You walk over, get a cookie, and ask her to sit again. She does. You pay her with the cookie. She eats the cookie and then gets up and walks away.
If you’re not relevant inside your home, you won’t be relevant out on walks either. If your dog blows off your commands the first time you ask and/or releases herself from commands after she’s been paid, begin working on building your relevancy inside your home before expecting her to ignore squirrels outside on walks. A dog who doesn’t listen to you inside the home will not listen to you outside the home.
What to work on:
-Practice saying your command only once. It’s more difficult than it sounds, but you can do it. It just takes practice.
-Keep a leash on your pup when she’s supervised inside your home so she can’t ignore your commands. Use the leash to guide her if she needs a little reminding at first.
-Teach your dog a release command so that she knows when work time is over and it’s time for something else. She shouldn’t break that sit command until you tell her what to do next. By providing her clear direction inside your home, you’ll be on your way to improving your relationship. Better relationship —> better walks.
-Teach your dog the place command. If your dog currently runs around grabbing kid’s toys, herding your children, barking out the window, jumping on guests, etc. she needs to learn what to do instead of those behaviours.
If your dog ignores you inside your home use a leash to help guide her to success. If she blows off your commands inside your home, she will do the same outside. (Photo: Husky standing on her hind legs looking out a picture window.)
Does Your Dog Spend Time Watching Squirrel TV?
While cats can enjoy squirrel TV without developing annoying habits (like barking at the squirrels, whining at the squirrels, etc) dogs can learn lots of bad habits while watching squirrel (and mail carrier/Amazon driver) TV.
What to work on:
-Calm activities like crate and place help your pup keep a calm state of mind in your home. Your walk begins inside your home, so inviting a dog off of place and then out for a walk has a much better outcome than putting a leash on a dog who has just watched an hour of squirrel TV and is vibrating and vocalizing as you open your front door.
-Waiting politely at thresholds. If you can’t currently open your front door without your dog bolting through it, begin teaching her that door open doesn’t equal run out (it means be calm and look at my owner for direction of what to do next.)
Squirrel TV isn’t nurturing calmness. Squirrel TV is allowing your dog to obsess over squirrels and it is negatively affecting your walks. (Photo: a beagle looking out the window. The beagle has pushed the curtains aside to stare out the window.)
Can your dog walk on a loose leash beside or slightly behind you when there are no squirrels around?
If your dog doesn’t understand leash pressure (they think pulling you makes you move forward, rather than yielding to your gentle leash pressure) then it’s time to teach them how to yield to pressure, not pull through it. If your walks currently look like: dog pulls, human follows behind, then you allow pulling. Your dog has no way of knowing not to pull you toward squirrels, her dog friends, your neighbours, your kids when you pick them up from school, etc.
What to work on:
-Heeling with no distractions around (in your home)
-Once that is going well, you can gradually add distractions to your loose leash walk inside your home. Can your dog still heel when a family member walks by at a distance, or does she lunge toward them, bark, try to jump on them, etc? Keep practicing until she listens to whoever is holding the leash without getting distracted.
-Gradually add more distractions to your heeling. A great next step is to practice in an empty parking lot because grass is way more distracting and smelly than asphalt. Areas with lots of asphalt also tend to have less trees. Less trees, less squirrels. Get those positive reps in. We want to set your dog up for success.
-Teach a solid break command, so your dog knows when it’s work time (when to follow you on leash) and when it’s break time (time to sniff, have a pee break, time to roll, play with a pinecone, etc)
Teach your dog how to walk beside or slightly behind you. Teaching this indoors decreases the distractions and sets your dog up for success. (Photo: person practicing heeling with their dog indoors. The person is wearing socks. The dog is walking right beside them.)
Does your dog come when called?
If your dog doesn’t come to you every time you call the first time you call them, work on recall in distraction free environments and build up to Squirrelapalooza gradually.
We need our dogs to come when we call them no matter what’s going on in the environment. Once you are relevant to your dog, they know how to heel. and you can call them to you, you’ll have the tools you need to pass by squirrels (and other distractions, like sticks, skateboards, joggers, other dogs, etc.)
What to work on:
-Teach your dog to come when called no matter what furry critter is running, climbing, or jumping nearby. Keep a leash on your dog and practice this life-saving command every day. Practice in areas that have low distractions first (like inside your home) and then gradually add distractions.
Practice recall every day. It saved Harper’s life. It could save your dog’s life next. (Photo: Client dog Harper, a Cattle Dog mix, practicing her recall. She is running to her owner who is taking the photo.)
Do you know how to switch your dog from prey drive into pack drive?
There’s a lot to know when it comes to living in harmony with a dog. If your dog never follows you on a walk and is always pulling you toward whatever they want to smell, they are in prey drive. If you’re using food rewards on walks, they are in prey drive. It’s a very easy side step to go from salivating and eating a treat to BAM - chase the squirrel. Instead, teach your dog how to calmly follow you on walks without food and you’ll be surprised when your calm dog doesn’t stay stuck in prey drive the whole time. When your dog follows your lead on walks, that’s pack drive. It’s way easier to walk a calm dog who is in pack drive than a dog who is in prey drive (scouting/hunting/on high alert.)
What to work on:
-Teach your dog to follow you on the leash. You can call it “heel” if you want. It should look like: your dog walking beside or slightly behind you and calmly facing forward (their nose isn’t on the ground and their head isn’t on a swivel scouting for perceived threats.) It should feel: calm for both of you.
When your dog is in pack drive, you’ll both feel calm. (Photo: a dog walking beside its owner on a gravel trail beside a field of sunflowers.)
Are you fulfilling your dog’s breed needs?
Many dog breeds were bred to work all day long. Some breeds were bred to hunt for rats. Some for herding sheep. These breeds were bred to be tenacious and tireless. Be sure that you are fulfilling your dog’s mental and physical needs every day. A dog with pent up energy is extremely difficult to take on a stroll.
What to work on:
-Research your dog’s breed(s) and learn what they were bred to do so that you understand them better.
-Fulfill your dog’s exercise needs and balance that with placework so that you don’t create an adrenalized athlete with no off switch (because having no off switch doesn’t feel good to your dog.)
Client dog Kano is a cattle dog mix. He has his needs met through frisbee and structured walks. Here he is relaxing on place during one of our in-home sessions. (Photo: Client dog Kano relaxing on his place cot inside his home)
Are you walking your dog on a harness?
Harnesses were designed for dogs to pull (think sled dogs) and also come in handy for sports like skijoring (where our dogs pull us while we are on skis.) If you’re walking your dog on a harness, she has learned that pulling is what moves humans forward. If you’re allowing her to pull you wherever she wants to go (to say hi to her dog friend, to greet the kids off the bus, etc) then she will continue to pull you toward things (including squirrels.) We can’t expect our dogs to understand they can pull toward everything except for one thing (squirrels.)
Walking your dog on a harness or a flat collar with them in front of you and you pulling back on the leash leads to opposition reflex. If you’ve ever seen a police officer rev up their dog to go bite the person in the bite suit, that’s using opposition reflex for something that helps humans. When we pull back on our pet dogs, the same thing happens to them (they want to pull toward whatever we’re holding them back from.) This makes it very difficult for us to walk them and also harms their trachea from all the pulling. I’ve seen harnesses choking dogs out as well, not just flat collars. Instead of allowing your dog to pull you, check out the “what to work on” section below to protect their trachea from being damaged.
What to work on:
-A clear communication system that will teach your dog to stop pulling on leash and start following your lead (when your dog understands heel, break, come, waiting politely at thresholds, and let’s go, you’ll be well on your way to stopping the squirrel lunging.)
-Switching tools with someone who can teach you how to use them safely is your best bet for teaching your dog to stop pulling during walks.
Harnesses were designed for pulling (Photo: a hound pulling his owner on the leash. The hound is wearing a turquoise coloured harness.)
Need help teaching your dog not to pull on the leash? We’ve helped so many owners stop leash pulling and create amazing relationships with their dogs both on the leash and inside their home.
Schedule your free call now.
Don’t wait for your shoulder to get injured or for you to get pulled into traffic when your dog sees a squirrel. Get help today. Winter is coming!
For more tips to stop leash pulling be sure to sign up for exclusive tips and special offers at the bottom of the page.
Have a safe and wonderful weekend, Dog Leaders!
Alyssa
Photos by: Bryce Caritheds @bryce_carithers_photography (a grey squirrel sitting on the grass with one paw on its chest,) Dmitry Ratushny @ratushny (a woman with long red hair hides her face behind her mittens,) Alyssa Foulkes (Photo: Client dog Kano relaxing on his place cot inside his home,) Upsplash Images (Husky standing on her hind legs looking out a picture window,)
Frames For Your Heart @framesforyourheart (Photo: a beagle looking out the window. The beagle has pushed the curtains aside to stare out the window,) Upsplash Images (person practicing heeling with their dog indoors. The person is wearing socks. The dog is walking right beside them,) Claire Atkinson (Client dog Harper, a Cattle Dog mix, practicing her recall. She is running to her owner who is taking the photo,) Upsplash Images (a dog walking beside its owner on a gravel trail beside a field of sunflowers,)
Jeffrey F Lin @jeffreyflin (Photo: a hound pulling his owner on the leash. The hound is wearing a turquoise coloured harness,)