Chickentrain's Dog Q&A

[RiverOtter]

You've known stuff about every animal I've ever seen you respond to a question about.....chickens, dogs, pigs, hermit crabs......magic!!

It helps that I own all of those. And more. I've worked with animals professionally since I was 15, loved and studied them even before, have a degree in this and stay on top of educating myself.

 

[chickentrains]

"sorry, chickens are a little distracting'' can relate tbh

haha I didnt catch that part!

 

[black_cat]

It helps that I own all of those. And more. I've worked with animals professionally since I was 15, loved and studied them even before, have a degree in this and stay on top of educating myself.

You are basically everything that I aspire to be tbh

 

[black_cat]

Does having a dog walk in a heel take the fun out of the walk for the dog?

 

[chickentrains]

Does having a dog walk in a heel take the fun out of the walk for the dog?

no, the dog is happy to be on a walk. I do "decompression walks" in the field or on hikes off leash where my dog can do whatever he wants, but with my lack of time, walks are training sessions and my dog is still plenty happy to be engaged with me and not sniffing the ground and being out of control. A well trained dog in a heel is much more calm, and happy, than a dog pulling on the leash and lunging, sniffing, etc.

 

[RiverOtter]

You are basically everything that I aspire to be tbh

Awwww!!!!

Does having a dog walk in a heel take the fun out of the walk for the dog?

No, you can make it a game. I train heel by lots of sudden changes in direction. Neighbor's might think I'm nuts when I suddenly go dashing off randomly, but the dog thinks it's great fun.

 

[chickentrains]

Awwww!!!!


No, you can make it a game. I train heel by lots of sudden changes in direction. Neighbor's might think I'm nuts when I suddenly go dashing off randomly, but the dog thinks it's great fun.

Some of my neighbors watch me train, or they compliment me

others think I am literally insane

 

[chickentrains]

yesterday I was working on walking downs and we had a breakthough and i was YELLINg YES YES YES and dancing with my dog and my neighbors who where casually hanging out on their front porch turned to me and the look on their faces...

 

[black_cat]

On the topic of walking.....today when walking the neighbor's puppy, she was super energetic, running around, sniffing, etc. I let her chase leaves, but that was the only time that I would speed up for her. I thought that letting her pull me along could develop a bad habit, so I kept walking at the same pace the whole time, and let her move freely around me on the leash (aside from when a car came pass, so I made sure she was on the grass). I realize now that that was putting a lot of pressure on her neck. Being mindful that this isn't my dog and I"m not in charge of training, what should I do? I really don't want to enforce bad habits by accident.

 

[RiverOtter]

Some of my neighbors watch me train, or they compliment me

others think I am literally insane

Yup.
Even more fun, I correct puppies by growling. It's wildly effective. No strangers will ever challenge you after seeing it, either.

I can't even count the number of people who are confused and disappointed watching me train horses.
But ... he's so calm. It looks like you're just messing around with him.
Well, yeah dude. You want a calm horse, you train them calm. You want a neurotic mess, you make it look interesting.