Well isn’t it wet! Too much rain now, the ground is so water-logged now even walking is tricky! The next day the sun shines I will take some new photo’s of Betty, she is getting so big now, she must be as tall as her Daddy Pie now, though a lighter build thankfully!
A small incident over the Christmas holidays reminded of another training job for adolescent puppy’s! I was out walking the dogs and stepped across a small gully, for a split second I had one foot barely on the ground, at that moment Betty rushed passed me and hit the leg that nearly had my weight on it and bang, I spun round and found myself sitting in some snow, luckily a fairly soft landing! In the dog world there are no accidents, if Betty respected my person sufficiently there is no way she would have hit my leg, there is no way she would do that to Pie, and if she did he would give her a big telling off!
I find that most puppy’s need to learn not to barge people, the larger the dog the more vital it is, though I must say even the little ones can take anyone off their feet. I have known one lady whose leg was broken by a large dog bowling into her on a dog walk, and not her own dog! Fortunately in this weather most of this training can be done indoors! The method is simple, but first we humans must make the decision that we have had enough of being knocked about, if I start to soon with Betty I won’t be consistent, so I have waited another month, she is bigger and getting heavier, I am more bothered by her behaviour, the time is right for me:)
How I begin is to ensure I do not walk around Betty, either when she is lying down or on her feet, this will mean that I walk through her and she must move, I do not tell her to move or ask her, she must move out of my way, if she doesn’t I bump her so that she does. It is easier said than done, my human instincts are to avoid her, but I have to make myself do the opposite. Out on a walk I make a point of frequently walking into her so that she learns to watch me more and avoid me.
This is an important lesson for all dogs, as the years have gone by I have noticed over and over that dogs that do not move out-of-the-way of their owners will show signs of difficulty in their behaviour, from pulling on the lead, lunging as well as knocking people over, including jumping up. Taken to extremes if the dog does not respect the human body in this way the behaviour can spill over into more serious issues. It seems to me if this area of behaviour is not addressed the fall out from it will not be corrected either.
Let me know how you get on please? Maybe you have already taught your dog to move out of your way and seen the benefits at other times or you will maybe start now? Whichever I look forward to hearing about your experience!