(Day #2) Pulling dogs, hypervigilant dogs, let’s go!

Skill: Scentventure Stations

Rise and shine – welcome to Day 2 of the Loose Lead Walking Challenge!

Ooh we LOVE this one in Club Dogwood!

It’s super easy yet massively effective and you can do it out on your normal dog walk today.

Pulling on the lead is never simply a loose lead walking problem. It’s a lack of focus problem. A distraction problem. An excitement, fear or anxiety problem.

If you tried to train loose lead walking every step of your walk it would be tedious, frustrating, and you and your dog will both be utterly miserable.

There’s a much better way that is actually, dare I say… easy… enjoyable?

And it doesn’t involve drilling boring, repetitive exercises.

Learn a few simple anti-pulling techniques that keep the lead loose – even when you’re not doing actual loose lead walking training! Nice.

Who’s it good for?

Pulling dogs – Stop them racing ahead by grounding them at stations along the walk.
Anxious dogs – Encourages dogs to be curious about their environment instead of hyper vigilant to triggers, increasing optimism and confidence.
Dogs who would benefit from controlled sniffing – i.e. all of them!

Here’s what to do now:

Watch the video above (step-by-step instructions are further down).
Have a go with your own dog!
Watch our second exciting masterclass this evening! If you feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day for dog training, this class will be your saviour!

This evening’s class gives you clear, science-backed answers to the questions dog owners often wrestle with most:

How often should I train?
How long should each session last?
What’s realistic when I’m already busy, tired and overwhelmed?
How can I make the most of the little time I do have?

If those questions have been spinning in your mind lately, here’s some good news! You don’t need to spend hours a day, or sacrifice your sanity, to make progress with loose lead walking. Come along live and I’ll show you how!

Until then – happy sniffing!

Sausage Logs

Skill: Scentventure Stations

Scentventure Stations make the environment work for you rather than against you. Practice quick, simple activities for bringing focus back to you, and increasing calm and connection so your dog chooses you over the many distractions out there.

We chose one of the most popular Scentventure Stations from The Stress Free Dog Walks Toolkit to share with you today!

Sausage Logs is all about dogs sniffing out and discovering treats on logs, fences, trees, benches, rocks, or any other safe feature in the environment.

Sausage Logs give you a break from pulling and develops interaction with your dog so it’s not just you on one end of the lead and them on the other completely ignoring you.

Also great for reactive dogs! Sausage Logs distract your dog from triggers and help them to relax after they’ve encountered another dog, person or whatever it is. It calms them and shifts their attention away from the trigger and onto sometime more productive.

Method

Prepare some small treats before you leave the house. Soft foods such as cheese or pate works well
Squish a treat into a log, fence, tree, or whatever station is available.
Ensure you don’t go too high to start with.
Release your dog with a search cue e.g. ‘Find it’.
Help your dog find the treats if they need it.

That’s it! Nice and simple but oh-so effective!

Wait! My dog is an obsessive sniffer! Won’t this make them pull to sniff more?

Sniffing, searching and finding is what dogs were made for! They’ve evolved with an incredible sense of smell and what a dog can ‘see’ with their nose just blows our minds!

It’s a natural behaviour that feels rewarding for them. It’s no wonder, really, that scents on walks can be so distracting to them – and, sometimes, a frustration for us! 🐿️🐇

The thing is, asking them to stop sniffing is like asking them to stop wagging their tail or walking on all four paws – it’s part of what makes them a dog! When sniffing is restricted and they aren’t provided with appropriate sniffing outlets, obsessive scent trailing can become more intense. Sausage Logs provide a controlled outlet for their natural instincts.