Speaker 1: This is pet Life Radio. Let's talk pets.
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome the Canine Master Radio show on pet Life
Speaker 2: Radio and I'm your host, Chris Abank. How are you
Speaker 2: guys today? I have joining me my director of training
Speaker 2: at dog Smart, the Canine Center in Fairfield County, Jamie Kelsey. Jamie, Hey,
Speaker 2: how are you today?
Speaker 3: Good?
Speaker 4: Hi, everyone's so happy to be here.
Speaker 2: Well, today we're going to talk about, Jamie, what to
Speaker 2: do when I have all things reactive when it comes
Speaker 2: to my dog and my dog being on a leash.
Speaker 2: I think this is a great subject matter to cover
Speaker 2: because so many people are dealing with this kind of
Speaker 2: situation every single day. I mean, Jamie, don't you hear
Speaker 2: about our client's always dealing with this.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, It's a top training priority for our clients and
Speaker 4: even in our canine facility. In our lobby, when clients
Speaker 4: enter with their dogs, sometimes before we even say hello,
Speaker 4: we say don't let your dogs meet on leash or
Speaker 4: keep your dogs close to you because we know in
Speaker 4: that you know, type of close proximity to other dogs.
Speaker 4: When dogs are on leash, we can see some leash
Speaker 4: reactivity when we don't see it when they're off leash,
Speaker 4: playing on the play floor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that comes down to you know, all dogs
Speaker 2: have fight or flight, right, So when a dog is
Speaker 2: on a leash, we're eliminating what we're eliminating flight. And
Speaker 2: when a dog is off fleash, the dog has the
Speaker 2: ability to back away, to look away, So we get
Speaker 2: a lot of false body posture readings coming out of
Speaker 2: the dog when it's on a leash. A couple of
Speaker 2: things that I always mentioned. When a dog is on
Speaker 2: a leash, generally they're out in front, which is the
Speaker 2: wrong place for them to be. We're going to get
Speaker 2: to that today, Jamie. Right, But being on leash, when
Speaker 2: I have I have a dog that's on a leash
Speaker 2: and he's pulling on that leash, he's leaning forward, and
Speaker 2: he's leaning forward against the leash, pulling on that leash.
Speaker 2: But what am I reading as another dog, I'm seeing
Speaker 2: this body pressure of leaning forward. Well, when I see
Speaker 2: body pressure of a human leaning forward or a dog
Speaker 2: leaning forward, that's dominance. It reads as hey, I'm about
Speaker 2: to kick your butt. So having a dog on a
Speaker 2: leash can really make your dog appear to be more
Speaker 2: dominant or threatening. And of course, if I'm scared and
Speaker 2: I don't have the ability to run away or back away.
Speaker 2: You're giving me a cornered response, which is also that
Speaker 2: cornered response which I want to talk about so much.
Speaker 2: That cornered response is responsible for a lot of the
Speaker 2: aggression and a lot of the barking coming out of
Speaker 2: the dog.
Speaker 4: Yes, and you know you're talking about a dominant stance,
Speaker 4: but most of the times what that is is reflective
Speaker 4: of the dog's fear because, like you said, fight or flight.
Speaker 4: When a dog is uncertain of an interaction and you
Speaker 4: remove a defense option of flight, well what's left is fight.
Speaker 4: And so dogs will present us that even though it's
Speaker 4: based in fear.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so this is where we see that Gosh,
Speaker 2: the dog is fine with everybody outside when he's off leash,
Speaker 2: but as soon as I put him on a leash,
Speaker 2: he gets very reactive. And again we see dogs sometimes
Speaker 2: even it leads to aggression. So where one dog is
Speaker 2: fine off leash, and then he's on a leash and
Speaker 2: he appears aggressive, but then if it's pushed, the aggression
Speaker 2: comes out. And that's where dogs will either bite another
Speaker 2: dog or attack another dog, or even possibly a human
Speaker 2: or even a child, an adult or a child so
Speaker 2: we really need to make sure that when a dog
Speaker 2: is on a leash, there's a couple of rules that
Speaker 2: we want to adhere to. And if we adhere to
Speaker 2: these rules, rarely do we have issues. But if we don't,
Speaker 2: it happens a lot.
Speaker 4: Chris, can we start maybe just with a little bit
Speaker 4: of a review of the best tools when you're leashwalking
Speaker 4: your dog.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so that's a great place to start.
Speaker 4: Like, no retractable leash.
Speaker 2: So retractable leashes, you really don't have a lot of control.
Speaker 2: I am not a big fan of retractable leashes, unless,
Speaker 2: of course I'm going on a road trip and I'm
Speaker 2: stopping at rest stops and i need my dog to
Speaker 2: go to the bathroom very quickly and feel that freedom.
Speaker 2: But retractable leashes, the owner has a lot of risk
Speaker 2: either to themselves as to the other dog. Right, we
Speaker 2: see that where a dog will go to the end
Speaker 2: of the retractable leash and they'll knock the owner over,
Speaker 2: or the retractable leash wraps around a finger and does
Speaker 2: severe damage to a finger or our leg. But a
Speaker 2: retractable leash, also you don't have the control that you
Speaker 2: have with a six foot leash. Now, we like to
Speaker 2: use leather leashes. Leather leashes give you an amazing amount
Speaker 2: of grip, but there are some types of rubber leashes
Speaker 2: that do also have grip. But a nylon leash can
Speaker 2: be very slippery. So like to walk our dog on
Speaker 2: a six foot leather leash, size appropriately in width for
Speaker 2: the dog that we're walking. That's important. The next best
Speaker 2: thing is what are we walking the dog on? Now,
Speaker 2: this can really vary depending on the dog's temperament. We
Speaker 2: prefer either a no pull hardest Jamie. Which which kind
Speaker 2: of brands are we looking at?
Speaker 4: For Nople Herny we is a freedom Nople harness. We
Speaker 4: really like that. What's really important is that it clips
Speaker 4: in the front. It's almost like power steering. When you
Speaker 4: clip the harness on the back, you think, yes, it
Speaker 4: redistributes the weight, so the dog isn't pulling on their neck.
Speaker 4: But what happens is it turns them into a sled dog.
Speaker 4: So it gives them the upper hand and the strength
Speaker 4: to pull you. When the clip is in the front,
Speaker 4: if they pull, they're going to get redirected and so
Speaker 4: and also some of these brands have a clip both
Speaker 4: in the front and the back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So basically the Noble Harness is a really good option.
Speaker 2: The other option is something like the Gentle Leader or
Speaker 2: the Halty by my friend rodih your Mugfort in England
Speaker 2: with the Company of Animals they make the Halty, which
Speaker 2: is also very good. The thing about these leashes is
Speaker 2: are these kind of head collars. They're almost like a
Speaker 2: horse halter. Where the head goes, the body will follow.
Speaker 2: So these can be fine, except it takes sometimes a
Speaker 2: little bit of adjustment for the dog to get used to.
Speaker 2: And so you know, what we tell people to do
Speaker 2: is to actually don't start out just putting it on
Speaker 2: your dog and walking outside, but actually put it on
Speaker 2: your dog, give them some great treats when it's on,
Speaker 2: and then take it off, wait for a little bit,
Speaker 2: maybe wait for a minute, then put it back on
Speaker 2: and give them great treats and let them get used
Speaker 2: to the feeling of this halter and pressure, yeah, we
Speaker 2: call it all. And the way it works is that
Speaker 2: when you pull on the Halty or the general Leader,
Speaker 2: what happens is you're putting pressure around the muzzle and
Speaker 2: around the back of the head, at the top of
Speaker 2: the back of the head. So these are two very
Speaker 2: controlling parts of the dog. Again, some dogs really really
Speaker 2: have issues with this. The other thing that you can
Speaker 2: use is just a flat collar. Flat collars can be
Speaker 2: a little bit harder. I think that you will find
Speaker 2: that with a flat collar. You need to make sure
Speaker 2: that you are able to control the dog with a
Speaker 2: flat collar on it, and if you aren't, then that
Speaker 2: flat collar is probably not the one to use. I
Speaker 2: would then go back to a harness.
Speaker 5: Chris.
Speaker 4: One thing I want to say about the flat collar
Speaker 4: that's so important is you need to make sure that
Speaker 4: it's snug enough. If it's looser than two fingertips, the
Speaker 4: dogs can Houdini their head out of it. And if
Speaker 4: you've got a dog who's being reactive and barking and
Speaker 4: they slip that collar, that's not a good situation. So
Speaker 4: make sure your dog's collar is snug. Chris Alway says,
Speaker 4: two fingertips under the collar.
Speaker 2: Yep, thanks Jamie for reminding me of that. That is important,
Speaker 2: making sure it's snug enough. And a lot of people think,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, well I can put my whole hand
Speaker 2: in it, and if your own hands is in it,
Speaker 2: it's too loose. So the other collars that we can
Speaker 2: talk about, but I'm not big fans of. One is
Speaker 2: a chain choke collar. I'm not a fan of that
Speaker 2: at all. It can collapse the trachea. They are abusive.
Speaker 2: I don't see the need for one of these. And
Speaker 2: you're training the dog. They say it's the sound of
Speaker 2: a chain and the link. That's a lot of hogwash.
Speaker 2: It's actually it's a pop on the leash that inflicts
Speaker 2: a little bit of pain onto the dog. There is
Speaker 2: another collar that we sometimes will re recommend, but rarely again,
Speaker 2: and that is the prong collar. But I wouldn't recommend
Speaker 2: you using a prong collar unless you're working with a
Speaker 2: trainer that really knows what they're doing and is not
Speaker 2: an abusive trainer, because they can be really used in
Speaker 2: an abusive way. So my best bets for teaching a
Speaker 2: dog to walk nicely on a leash is either a
Speaker 2: head halter or even a harness. And the other resort
Speaker 2: is a flat collar and the six foot leash, and
Speaker 2: the six foot leather leash is a great, great thing
Speaker 2: to start with. All right, I tell you what I
Speaker 2: think what we should do before we start getting into
Speaker 2: the techniques than how to get our dogs to be
Speaker 2: non reacted. I think we should take a small break,
Speaker 2: hear some words from our sponsors, and we'll be right back.
Speaker 6: Take a bite out of your competition. Advertise your business
Speaker 6: with an ad in Petlife radio podcasts and radio shows.
Speaker 6: There is no other pet related media that is as
Speaker 6: large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than
Speaker 6: pet Life Radio with over seven million monthly listeners. Pet
Speaker 6: Life Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms,
Speaker 6: and our live radio stream goes out to over two
Speaker 6: hundred and fifty million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, tune In,
Speaker 6: and other streaming apps. For more information on how you
Speaker 6: can advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network,
Speaker 6: visit petlifradio dot com slash advertise today.
Speaker 7: Let's talk pets on petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back. It's Chris thank from KNI Master. All right, Jamie,
Speaker 2: so let's take a look. Let's delve a little bit
Speaker 2: deeper here.
Speaker 4: Let's look at some of the causes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, some of the causes. Well, when a dog is
Speaker 2: on a leash and he is walking down and you
Speaker 2: walk up to another dog on a leash with a
Speaker 2: human attached, and that dog is out in front of you,
Speaker 2: pass what we'll call the body plane, you know, pass
Speaker 2: your knee out in front, and he's walking up to
Speaker 2: this other dog in this person. What is happening is
Speaker 2: you're putting that dog in the decision making process is
Speaker 2: this dog friendly or foe? And what happens when you
Speaker 2: do that is you're putting all the pressure on that
Speaker 2: dog to make a decision on how to read the
Speaker 2: situation and how to react. And that right there is
Speaker 2: the cause of many men, many dogs getting aggressive and
Speaker 2: becoming reactive on leash. You're putting the dog in the
Speaker 2: decision making process of determining whose friend or foe. So
Speaker 2: where do dogs naturally want to go if they have
Speaker 2: a strong leader, and we're going to go back to
Speaker 2: this leader, because if I'm the leader, and I'm the
Speaker 2: human leader, then I determine who's friendly our foe. I
Speaker 2: determine who's dangerous and what we're going to do. So
Speaker 2: if a dog is out in front of you, you
Speaker 2: are acting sort of as its subordinate. And when I
Speaker 2: say subordinate, you're not taking the lead, you're not taking charge.
Speaker 2: They're letting the dog make that determination. And a fearful
Speaker 2: dog which many, many, many dogs have a little bit
Speaker 2: of fear in them, and they're cornered and they're on
Speaker 2: a leash, are going to become reactive. So how do
Speaker 2: I get rid of this?
Speaker 4: Chris? Doesn't some of this mindset start inside the home
Speaker 4: before we try to transfer it outside into justs.
Speaker 2: That's a great point, Jamie. A lot of how a
Speaker 2: dog determines its role within the pack, within the family
Speaker 2: pack is that started in the home, and that brings
Speaker 2: me to what we should be doing. We should start
Speaker 2: this in the home. But let me back up a
Speaker 2: little bit. If you're in front when it comes to
Speaker 2: meeting another dog in a human on a leash, if
Speaker 2: the dog is behind you and he's let's say he's
Speaker 2: an arms distance behind you, are a good eighteen inches
Speaker 2: behind your rear end, he's accepted that you are in front.
Speaker 2: What happens is your dog will be non reactive. It
Speaker 2: is impossible for a dog to be reactive if he's
Speaker 2: behind you. I'm just going to repeat that again. I'd
Speaker 2: never see it not happen. It is impossible for a
Speaker 2: dog to become reactive if he is behind you and
Speaker 2: you are taking over the greeting. So where do we
Speaker 2: practice this. What Jamie Jovis said is exactly right. We
Speaker 2: practice this in the house, all right, Jane, and give
Speaker 2: us some examples of what we do in the house.
Speaker 4: In the house is making sure that your dog, we
Speaker 4: like to call it accountable. It's positive, it's loving, but
Speaker 4: it's accountable. It's making sure that you're answering the door first,
Speaker 4: you're not tasking your dog with being the gatekeeper to
Speaker 4: greeting guests. That you're giving your dog little commands, little
Speaker 4: jobs throughout the day, Sit down, go to your bed,
Speaker 4: so your dog knows they're accountable. Many people say, oh,
Speaker 4: my dog's perfect at home. It's once I get outside
Speaker 4: the house, and so that's when you have to do
Speaker 4: the work. But if being accountable to you is a
Speaker 4: novel idea, it's going to be very hard to teach
Speaker 4: in a distracted environment. So I'll even work with clients
Speaker 4: and will leash walk around the house. We'll walk around
Speaker 4: the house and we'll practice the position. We'll practice the
Speaker 4: leash and the collar and the harness and make sure
Speaker 4: that the owner feels empowered and in control so that
Speaker 4: we're not learning outside. We're just transferring. And that can
Speaker 4: be very helpful.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that's all important stuff. And that is
Speaker 2: exactly the kinds of stuff that we start off doing
Speaker 2: when we we are starting off. So when we start off,
Speaker 2: we start off inside the house. So a couple of
Speaker 2: just techniques. I'm walking through a doorway or a threshold,
Speaker 2: and as I'm walking through the threshold, the dog tries
Speaker 2: to race through the door in front of me, and
Speaker 2: if I allow him to do so, I just voted
Speaker 2: him and as the leader. Now a lot of people say, oh, sit,
Speaker 2: I don't want you to say sit. No commands in
Speaker 2: that situation. Use body pressure. Body pressure your own to
Speaker 2: your own dog can be very very useful. So if
Speaker 2: I'm walking through a doorway and the dog is accompanying
Speaker 2: me in let's say I'm going from the donner room
Speaker 2: to the kitchen where all the food is, and the
Speaker 2: dog tries to shoot through that doorway and he tries
Speaker 2: to race through in front of me. I'm going to
Speaker 2: actually give a guttural tone and then I'm going to
Speaker 2: turn and face the dog with body pressure, so sort
Speaker 2: of leaning forward into the dog a little bit, and
Speaker 2: then if I have to, I'll use my legs to
Speaker 2: shove him, not kick him folks to shove him behind
Speaker 2: me going through the doorways. Same things with going upstairs
Speaker 2: and downstairs. Again, if the dog tries to pass me
Speaker 2: going up the stairs and I let him do so,
Speaker 2: I just voted him in as being the leader in
Speaker 2: my territory. So again up and downstairs, he must be
Speaker 2: behind you going up and downstairs through all doorways. Sometimes
Speaker 2: it is very helpful if I have a dog guy
Speaker 2: just can't catch in time to take about a six
Speaker 2: foot leash, nylon leash. I'm gonna say nylon because they're cheap,
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna cut off the loop and I'm gonna
Speaker 2: attach it to the dog's collar, flat collar, and then
Speaker 2: I'm going to tie that to my belt or even
Speaker 2: hold that as I wander around, so that at least
Speaker 2: I have some control if the dog wants to try
Speaker 2: to pass me going through doorways upstairs and downstairs. You know,
Speaker 2: one more thing I just want to let you know
Speaker 2: is if I going outside and my dog races out
Speaker 2: the door and I allow him to do so, you know,
Speaker 2: insides one territory outsides anotherbody races into the new territory. Again,
Speaker 2: I'm teaching him that he goes first. He makes the decisions.
Speaker 2: Your dog must be behind you, behind you, behind you,
Speaker 2: behind you, and then we start to see the dog
Speaker 2: becoming non reactive, and then when we take that outside
Speaker 2: it becomes much easier inside.
Speaker 4: First, I want to add one thing, and you let
Speaker 4: me know if this is on point. Again, we're focusing
Speaker 4: on cause, not correction. When guests come to our home
Speaker 4: and we allow our dogs to jump on them or
Speaker 4: be the first greet they start to feel that they're
Speaker 4: the representative of the pack and they're the greeter and
Speaker 4: people are coming and people walk in and oh my god,
Speaker 4: what a cute dog. So they may start to anticipate
Speaker 4: when they see neighbors or strangers on the street that
Speaker 4: that's going to be the same type of interaction. So
Speaker 4: I coach clients when people come over, don't let them
Speaker 4: interact with your dog. Don't make it like they're there
Speaker 4: to see your dog. Take the pressure off of your
Speaker 4: dog so they feel you have control of those interactions,
Speaker 4: and then that can transfer into the greetings outside.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's very very good advice.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: One of the things I will do is when clients
Speaker 2: we had recently a dog named Cassius, large great Dane
Speaker 2: and he was becoming reactive. The owners were having some
Speaker 2: real problems and he actually became aggressive when greeting people.
Speaker 2: And you know, the interesting thing is is that we
Speaker 2: started doing some exercises at the door where we taught
Speaker 2: the dog through using a lot of body pressure that
Speaker 2: when a stranger comes to the house, there to basically
Speaker 2: keep the dog away from the stranger. So we took
Speaker 2: some blue painter's tape and we made a box around
Speaker 2: the front door and I rang the doorbell. The dog
Speaker 2: didn't know me at this point, and when the dog
Speaker 2: came racing up barking, barking, barking, they took their body turned,
Speaker 2: flipped faced the dog and literally shoved the dog out
Speaker 2: of the box using their body pressure and their legs
Speaker 2: as well. And they were able to do this. And
Speaker 2: now the dog literally when the doorbell rings, he waits
Speaker 2: patiently for the stranger to come in. And it really
Speaker 2: took away all the reactivity of that dog with strangers.
Speaker 3: Example.
Speaker 2: So teaching that first that you are in charge as
Speaker 2: the leader of your family pack, and that you're in
Speaker 2: charge of the interactions within the space that carries through
Speaker 2: to you're in charge of the interactions outside of the space.
Speaker 2: All right, now, I know that you, Jamie, have some
Speaker 2: questions and some examples of some of our customers. But
Speaker 2: what I'd like to do is take a small break
Speaker 2: and we can hear some words from our sponsors and
Speaker 2: we will come right back at you guys with some
Speaker 2: really good examples of how to fix these reactive dog situations.
Speaker 2: We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: Begging to hear more of your favorite show. Holful. Episodes
Speaker 1: of all our shows are available on demand. Go to
Speaker 1: pedlife Radio dot com to fed our entire lineup of
Speaker 1: powsome ped podcasts. Also dig us up and iHeartRadio and iTunes.
Speaker 1: Let's Talk Pats Live only, pet Life Radio, Let's talk
Speaker 1: past it, Let's talk pet Life Radio, Heat Life Radio.
Speaker 3: Pet Life Radio dot Com.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome. I'm here with Jamie Kelsey, the director
Speaker 2: of dog training at dog on Smart, and we're here
Speaker 2: talking about reactive dogs and reactive dogs on leash. Jamie,
Speaker 2: you have heard from some of our uh some of
Speaker 2: our clients and some of the listeners. Give me some
Speaker 2: flavor of what you're hearing out there and maybe maybe
Speaker 2: we can address some of.
Speaker 4: These Yeah, so I think you know just understanding why
Speaker 4: the dog's behavior is so different on leash than off leash,
Speaker 4: and we see it every day, and when they come
Speaker 4: into the lobby before they go into the playcare, the
Speaker 4: dogs may have hackles up and there may be growling
Speaker 4: on leash, and then they get into the group and
Speaker 4: they're off leash and they're totally fine in their best friends.
Speaker 4: And so really explain that dynamic to clients so they
Speaker 4: can understand it within family dogs and neighborhood dogs. I have,
Speaker 4: you know, I printed a bunch of training in crees
Speaker 4: and we can read some of them and I'm sure
Speaker 4: they apply to many and coach for the techniques. I'll
Speaker 4: read one here. Callie is very nervous on leash. She
Speaker 4: wags her tail so maybe a bit conflicted. She wags
Speaker 4: her tail like she wants to say hi, but then
Speaker 4: she gets loaded the ground, barks and lunges if they
Speaker 4: attempt to come near her. She's also reactive to dogs
Speaker 4: in her neighborhood on leash. There are dogs that are
Speaker 4: barking at her first, but now the response is that
Speaker 4: she is reactive every time she sees them. This is
Speaker 4: not sustainable and I'd really like to find a place
Speaker 4: where we can walk in my neighborhood without her barking
Speaker 4: and lunging, and can be comfortable until we pass. She
Speaker 4: is extremely social with dogs and other humans off the leash.
Speaker 4: But this is a behavior on leash that I need
Speaker 4: some guidance with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you know that is so typical of what
Speaker 2: we hear often some people need to understand. You know
Speaker 2: that when a dog is on leash, we talked about
Speaker 2: false body language, the dog is not able to retreat,
Speaker 2: The dog is not able to do maybe go into
Speaker 2: a play posture because he's pulling on the leash and
Speaker 2: he can't get into that position. And then of course
Speaker 2: they're also feeling very cornered, and as soon as we
Speaker 2: take them off leash, they have the ability if a dog.
Speaker 2: You know, all dogs have fight or flight, right, and
Speaker 2: they all have different degrees of fight or flight. So
Speaker 2: a very confident dog is going to have a higher
Speaker 2: fight than flight, and a fearful dog is going to
Speaker 2: have a higher flight than fight. And a conflicted dog
Speaker 2: is gonna be right there in the middle saying should
Speaker 2: I fight SHEDD run? Should fight Cheddar run? But when
Speaker 2: a conflicted dog, which she just described this dog CALLI
Speaker 2: sounds a little conflicted. Is on a leash, we're taking
Speaker 2: away the ability to flee, and then we build fight.
Speaker 2: So many dogs, many many, many dogs will become more
Speaker 2: aggressive on leash than off leash, and as soon as
Speaker 2: you take them off leash, they're fire. So what do
Speaker 2: we do with those dogs that are aggressive on leash? Well,
Speaker 2: remember when I said to you that a dog that's
Speaker 2: behind you cannot be aggressive. So we teach the dogs
Speaker 2: to walk behind us. Now you'll say, oh my god,
Speaker 2: that's crazy. You know I can't get my dog to
Speaker 2: even walk next to me. Well, you can't get your
Speaker 2: dog to walk next to you because your dog is
Speaker 2: trying to be in front of you and the relationship
Speaker 2: is broken. So some of the things that you can
Speaker 2: do is, again you start out at home, getting the dog,
Speaker 2: you go behind you, behind you, behind you. You also
Speaker 2: then start working with the dog in a non distraction area,
Speaker 2: maybe your backyard, put a leash on them, and you know,
Speaker 2: you can use things like a clicker. Everybody uses a
Speaker 2: clicker these days, it seems, but not all people do.
Speaker 2: A click is just a Marxi behavior as correct. It says, yes,
Speaker 2: a treat is coming, and what you're doing is correct.
Speaker 2: It's like a picture of exactly that moment and says
Speaker 2: now a treat it's coming, so it marks it as correct.
Speaker 2: But you can use a word yes, or you can
Speaker 2: say good girl. You can praise her when she's behind you.
Speaker 2: But I think using treats as a first step to
Speaker 2: lure the dog behind you. If the dog tries to
Speaker 2: pass you, you can give a guttural tone, and you
Speaker 2: can also use forward body language, so you flip around
Speaker 2: and put a little bit of body pressure on the
Speaker 2: dog to get them to stay behind you. And then
Speaker 2: use a queue like let's walk. We use that a
Speaker 2: dog on Smart, don't we, Jamie all the time. That's
Speaker 2: our cue. I wouldn't use let's go because we say
Speaker 2: that to our husbands and our kids all the times.
Speaker 2: You know, hey, let's go. You're ready to go, you know,
Speaker 2: So use the term let's walk. It's its own particular cue.
Speaker 2: And that's walk means walk behind me. And as long
Speaker 2: as I'm walking, stay behind me. And I think if
Speaker 2: you can teach your dog to naturally walk behind you,
Speaker 2: some dogs naturally walk behind you, and they those are
Speaker 2: the dogs that already know that you're in charge. But
Speaker 2: the ones that are constantly fighting you. Those are the
Speaker 2: ones that need to change the relationship a little bit.
Speaker 4: I can say that I became a real believer. I've
Speaker 4: been with you many years, but I became a real
Speaker 4: believer in understanding this is an instinctual position for dogs.
Speaker 4: Is when I had three dogs, and I had a
Speaker 4: very dominant cattle dog, and whenever we were out on
Speaker 4: a walk, my other two dogs, Border Collie and Beagel
Speaker 4: would never pass her tail. Never she was out in front,
Speaker 4: and they would and if they even tried, she would
Speaker 4: send them back to where they came from. They were
Speaker 4: so happy on the walk because they didn't have to
Speaker 4: do security detail. They could just be happy on a
Speaker 4: walk and know that she had it covered. And so
Speaker 4: that really made me understand how dogs view it when
Speaker 4: we own that front position and we decide what's safe
Speaker 4: and dangerous and they can just go along for the
Speaker 4: walk with less anxiety or fear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I will tell you getting a dog
Speaker 2: to walk non reactively on a leash, the first step
Speaker 2: is is trying to get that dog behind you. You know,
Speaker 2: we have many clients a dog on smart that come
Speaker 2: to us every single day dealing with this subject. And
Speaker 2: the what we first do is we first teach them
Speaker 2: how to become a good life. And you can go
Speaker 2: back on some of my other Canine Master radio shows
Speaker 2: and learn how to be a good leader. Just just
Speaker 2: go through the old shows we do talk about how
Speaker 2: to become your dog's leader and how to lead the dog.
Speaker 2: And let me just be very clear, leading the dog
Speaker 2: is not becoming abusive or aggressive or we're going to
Speaker 2: dominate you. It's not about that. It's about leading the dog.
Speaker 2: Most dogs are looking to be guided or led, so
Speaker 2: I wanted to just address that. So but in our
Speaker 2: classes we deal with this. People drop their dogs off
Speaker 2: to us. Gosh, it seems every holiday, can you get
Speaker 2: my dog to be non reactive on a leash? So
Speaker 2: it's something that we do constantly, and I think that
Speaker 2: it's a real, real, big problem. And what we do
Speaker 2: is we teach the dog to walk in a let's
Speaker 2: walk behind us until we release them out of positions.
Speaker 2: So it's almost like a sit or a down position.
Speaker 2: They stayed in that position until they're released to go
Speaker 2: take a potty. And people go, oh gosh, they're gonna
Speaker 2: be so miserable. They're not miserable. They are so much
Speaker 2: happier and go ahead, happy and go lucky because they're
Speaker 2: not in the decision making process we are. And the
Speaker 2: dogs learn to They love their walks, they enjoy them,
Speaker 2: but they're taking your lead and following you, and they
Speaker 2: will never be aggressive behind you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I mean, even just a little example of
Speaker 4: when we'll start a new class, we may have you know,
Speaker 4: twelve people come in with dogs and everyone comes in
Speaker 4: and that's why they're coming to us for help, and
Speaker 4: all of their dogs are pulling them across the room
Speaker 4: and they're letting their dogs pull them into the corner
Speaker 4: and smell and sniff, And I'll say, everybody, stop, just
Speaker 4: plant your feet, don't let your dogs decide where you go.
Speaker 2: Just stop.
Speaker 4: But my dog wants to go here, but my dog
Speaker 4: wants to go there. Stop. And even that just saying, hey,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna decide where we go when we go and
Speaker 4: not let my dog pull me everywhere. That's just like
Speaker 4: a little baby step to starting to be the decision
Speaker 4: maker on the walk, even before you can get your
Speaker 4: dog behind you. Is not to let them dictate where
Speaker 4: to go all the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Jamie, there was one other question you
Speaker 2: had for us.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, maybe you can just explain to our listeners.
Speaker 4: You know we say don't let your dogs meet on leash.
Speaker 4: We can't drop the leash, and so can you just
Speaker 4: give some pointers on an appropriate way for people to
Speaker 4: safely introduce their dogs on leash to diminish that fight
Speaker 4: or flight reflex.
Speaker 2: Okay, so let me just say one thing that's really important.
Speaker 2: Introducing two dogs on leash that don't know each other
Speaker 2: is always a risky situation. I don't care. The dogs
Speaker 2: always seem friendly and oh I never saw my dog
Speaker 2: do that before putting your dog in that decision making
Speaker 2: process and the dogs not knowing whether the other the dog,
Speaker 2: how the other dogs would react. It's always risky. That said,
Speaker 2: we're gonna do it anyway, aren't we? Way most of
Speaker 2: us some of us will. And so here's some pointers.
Speaker 2: Do you want to get your dog when you're introducing
Speaker 2: him to another dog, make sure that that dog you're
Speaker 2: not pulling on the leash and tensing on the leash.
Speaker 2: When you pull on the leash, you're actually transmitting to
Speaker 2: your dog. Hey, I'm nervous. So you want to add
Speaker 2: a very jovial and friendly Oh what a good boy.
Speaker 2: I always tell people to do the jolly routine, which
Speaker 2: is a singing voice when they're starting to meet. Oh
Speaker 2: what a good boy you are, say it in a
Speaker 2: very happy, sing song voice. This relaxes the dog. The
Speaker 2: next thing is don't hold your breath. Dogs here, especially
Speaker 2: your own dog, here's you when you hold your breath,
Speaker 2: and knows that you're nervous. So if you're nervous when
Speaker 2: the dog is meeting another dog and the dog hears
Speaker 2: you holding your breath and not breathing and not being happy,
Speaker 2: the dog is going to sense there's something to be
Speaker 2: nervous about and will many times become reactive.
Speaker 4: Even if you know, clients will pull on the leash tighter,
Speaker 4: they'll grab a harsher grip of the leash because they're nervous,
Speaker 4: and the dogs will sense that. Then their owners are nervous,
Speaker 4: and so then that can escalate.
Speaker 2: That makes the whole situation worse. So slack in the leash.
Speaker 2: You can guide your dog little pulls, but not a
Speaker 2: constant pull. And if you're going to have them meet,
Speaker 2: try to get your dog. The head to head part
Speaker 2: is the dangerous part. Try to get your dog to
Speaker 2: do a friendly greeting. And you know where a friendly
Speaker 2: greeting is for dogs. This is going to sound kind
Speaker 2: of disgusting. It's a butt sniff, a mutual butt sniff.
Speaker 2: That's a friendly greeting. So I don't tell people do
Speaker 2: this and when they're meeting people at cocktail parties, but
Speaker 2: certainly when you are introducing your dog to another dog,
Speaker 2: get them away from the face to face and get
Speaker 2: them right to the rear end where they can sniff
Speaker 2: each other's butts and do a friendly greeting. Then put
Speaker 2: slack in the leash and hopefully at that point the
Speaker 2: tension is over. So those are the ideas that I
Speaker 2: would do if I'm going to go against Chris's advice
Speaker 2: and introduce my dog to another dog on leash. Okay, great,
Speaker 2: we do need to wrap up the show, Jamie, and
Speaker 2: I just want to thank you so much for being
Speaker 2: on the show today. Yeah, and I think we gave
Speaker 2: some people some good pointers. You know, I'd love to
Speaker 2: know your comments and have you join the conversation. And
Speaker 2: you guys can always email me at Chris at canine
Speaker 2: dot com and you know we'll be sure to answer
Speaker 2: your questions. And yeah, and they can also email Jamie.
Speaker 4: You can email me. I'm the training director at dog
Speaker 4: on Smart. My emails Jamie j A, I M E
Speaker 4: E at dog on smart dot com and we'll be happy.
Speaker 2: To help you absolutely, so make sure to visit our website. Also,
Speaker 2: it's kaninemaster dot com. We have a monthly newsletter that
Speaker 2: is really informative and grated. You can sign up for that.
Speaker 2: We may even have you, you know, call into the
Speaker 2: show and with your questions. So send me your videos
Speaker 2: and your photos so I can see what's going on
Speaker 2: with your dog and help you fix your problems. So
Speaker 2: Jamie and I say bye for now, and we'll see
Speaker 2: you next time on Knine Maaster on pet Life Radio,
Speaker 2: where I will continue to help you master the relationship
Speaker 2: with your dog.
Speaker 5: By for now, let's talk bets every week on demand
Speaker 5: only on petlfradio dot com.
Speaker 4: The reputa