I had an urgent text today from a lady whose dog was apparently pulling her everywhere.
"My shoulder aches constantly from his yanking me around and he gets worse when he sees another dog," she told me.
It was a very familiar complaint and one relatively easy to rectify once the handler knows what to do. I was about to answer when the message trail showed the same lady with the same dog had contacted me back in March with the same problem.
I had advised her to come to class where I could show her precisely what needed to be done. She hadn't and now here she was nine months later still struggling with the same problem.
I often find owners want to talk about their dog problems until they are faced with doing something about it. They continue in the vain hope that the dog will 'grow out of it' which is like walking on a broken leg hoping it will heal itself.
The avalanche of advice on offer serves only to convince the owner that the problem can be solved with minimum disruption to their existing routine. Sadly that's not how it works. As in most walks of life significant effort must be made to make a significant improvement.
Having tried numerous quick-fixes these owners often contact me again but now the problem has become a habit. Breaking a habit takes time and consistency so a problem we could have resolved in a few weeks will take several months.
If you do not like your dog's behaviour the sooner you do something about it the easier it will be to change. Remember dog behaviour is nothing more than a refection of the environment that surrounds him/her. A dog that lives with excitement and/or chaos is unlikely to be a calm respectful dog.
Once owners understand the relationship between their behaviour and their dog's behaviour making positive change is relatively easy.
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