I remember being shocked by just how much I found wrong with that situation and I wasn't the only one. Commenter after commenter posted their thoughts on the situation, but I was really struck by his response... What else was he supposed to do? He'd frozen, clueless at how to respond, and just hadn't thought.
I can say I've been in that last position myself. In our neighborhood, loose dogs are kind of the 'flavor of the day.' Just depends on whose owner let who out, or who slipped their chain or so on. There's a reason I carry Direct Stop (though I'll be trying out Halt shortly). I will say, walking around our neighborhood doesn't exactly make for easy walks... It was even harder for Toby, who has issues with other dogs, because all of our training and conditioning to help him not have an aggressive response towards other dogs was very slow going. A tiny step forward, two large ones back is what it always felt like. But at the same time, due to time restraints (and at the time when I first got him, no method of transportation to drive elsewhere) we learned some pretty valuable skills over the years. Then again, he is the dog that forced me to become the trainer/owner I am today.
A few of those lessons, I thought I'd share. As they were so highlighted in our walks today.
1. Know Your Route - And I don't just mean know you're going to walk up this street, turn here, here and here, then head home. I mean know where the trouble spots are. I know on Macy's 1-mile loop where each and every dog lives. The breed, their tendency to escape, whether or not they bark, if they have a visible fence line that they're going to run up and down, if they're chained out front or fenced in the back, which houses tend to have the most stray cats...you name it, chances are I know it. Because one thing I learned with Toby--is your dog knows it too. Especially those hyper aware of their surroundings. They keep tabs on the things that interest them/are potentially dangerous to them. And secondly, you want to know where those potential dangers lie. Any dog can get loose and not every loose dog is friendly.
2. Plan Ahead - For Toby, every time I walked out that door for a walk...I had a plan. I had treats I thought I would need, escape routes in case I needed to leave a block fast, the time of day factored in...I wanted as much of an idea of what I was going to encounter before it happened. I did plan for the worst. If we were on a trail and a loose dog came charging up, how was I going to react to keep him safe? I still do this with him out of habit. For Macy, I plan training areas as well. If I know a dog has been chained in their front yard the other day, and she had trouble walking by without reacting, I plan to have everything I need to train our way by it. Today, I knew I was walking past an obnoxious dog chained out front. I knew I needed treats saved for that section of our walk. I knew I wanted to do attention games starting several houses before I reached that house. I knew I wanted to cross the street so I had a safe distance. All of that? Let's me stay calm. Gives me the tools to handle a situation if things don't go as planned. If that dog had gotten loose, I'd have already had her engaged, I'd have already built distance between us and the other dog, and I'd already have myself positioned between her and the other dog.
Planning ahead also means I train for the event of a loose dog. Most people instantly tighten up the leash. To be honest, I do. If a loose dog is running up, I want my dogs tight behind me, so I can stay between them and the oncoming dog...but that tends to mean I tighten up on that leash. So I do a lot of counter-conditioning around the house and out and about on normal walks. I'm working on adding a verbal cue and with my next dog, I'll train it from the beginning ("Safe")...and I tighten up the leash, put them behind me on a regular basis in non-threatening times. It lessens how much they react in 'real life' situations.
It also means I carry a protection spray. Something to deter an oncoming dog. I'll list more ways to defend yourself further below.
3. Stay Calm - And this one is so hard in the beginning. Heck, there are times even now, where I get totally sideswiped by something that happens on our walk, we get out of the situation and I'm shaking. This is a hard one to master. It can be embarrassing if your dog loses it and starts barking up a storm. It can be scary when you have a loose dog running up to you. However, the more nervous you get, the more amped your dog is going to get. If you stress at the sight of another dog, so will they. Same with people. Stay calm. Staying in control of you is one of the first ways of helping your dog stay in control of themselves.
4. When all else fails... - Most people don't live in a perfect neighborhood or walk the perfect trails. Therefore, most people are going to run into a loose dog--who may or may not be friendly. Here is how I handle potential situations.
- In as many situations as possible, I like to try and spot a loose dog way ahead of time. Which is why I know my route. If I see a dog running loose a block ahead, or even a few houses ahead, and I can...I change my route. I'll do my best to avoid the situation all together. Sometimes this means my dogs go out for a two mile walk and end up with four. It happens. Sometimes this means their walks get drastically cut short because we head right back inside and opt to try again later. But I always try and avoid a situation first...
- If you're going to have to deal with an oncoming dog (maybe they're trotting your way) and you have the luxury of time and the dog body language skill to read an oncoming dog...analyze the dog. For the record, in my opinion...no loose dog is friendly. That's the rule I stick by. I will on occasion if I'm walking Macy make an exception, but not for Toby. All it takes is one wrong look from your dog, too tight a leash, a snap, something spooking them and things could turn dangerous. If I'm making an exception to the rule I make sure I am 110% sure of that dog. Why analyzing the dog is so important? Because you can often tell how to chase a dog off by how they're coming. A calm dog? Most often a "No!" (firm voice, you mean business) will give a dog pause. Most dogs don't know "go home" or "get," but 90% of the dog population knows "No."
- Get yourself between your dog and the oncoming dog. I say this because this is how I do it. My dogs are my family, they are mine to protect. It is my job to see to their safety. They need to know that I will protect them. I am not saying this because it is safe. You could get bit, you could get hurt...which is why I always try and avoid a situation first. However, if I can't, I place myself between my dog and the loose dog. I make my body language stiff, tall, as big as I can get (which can be hard when you're trying to maintain control of your own dog). I shout loudly, in a low and firm, I-mean-business voice, "No." "Sit" sometimes will work too. "Hey" tends to be pretty effective for me too, but I have one heck of a fierce "Hey!!!" Lion roars have nothing on me. :-p
- Prepare to defend yourself and your dog. Because let's face it, some dogs out there aren't cowed by people yelling at them (they hear it enough at home) and others, though thankfully few, are coming to attack and don't care. Which is why I will repeat avoid a situation at all costs first. But as a back up...carry a protection spray. I've used Direct Stop for years and love it. If I have one of the former dogs just not cowed by shouts, I spray near the dog and that tends to be enough. If I have a latter...I spray the dog dead on. I've only had to resort to physically defending myself and my dogs beyond the spray a handful of times over the years. It works wonders. I'm trying Halt (because Amazon had it for half the price of Direct Stop) soon, so we'll see if I like it as much.
- Remember, your dog has to come first. I said there have only been a handful of times where it hasn't worked. In those times, I've kicked dogs, tossed a full poop bag at a dog. All combined with an additional spray.
I don't write this to scare people, but to give you tools. Nor do I want to make it sound like my neighborhood is the worst one out there. It's not. It is a rough one, it does have it's share of issues, but nine times out of ten...we have no issues on our walks. But we have had issues in the past and so, I plan for them. I train my dogs for them (in which, these lessons are also valuable for normal life...my dogs walked quietly past dogs barking and running up and down fence lines). But the more prepared you are to face a potential issue on a walk...the better you're going to be able to handle it. Too often people freeze, not sure what to do, their dog acts up and the dog gets the brunt of their owner's frustration. When you have a plan, know what you need to do, know how to train for it...it's so much easier.
No comments:
Post a Comment