Walking Obedience Training Greenville SC
Teach Your Dog to Walk
A squirrel scampered into view as Barbara Nunnemacher walked her untrained 80-pound German Shepherd Dog mix. The nearly 1-year-old bolted after the squirrel. The force of the takeoff snapped a tendon in Nunnemacher’s shoulder, severing it completely. Pain shot through her shoulder.
That did it.
Nunnemacher turned to a dog trainer.
“It wasn’t her fault at all. She was a puppy. She saw a squirrel. I got a trainer involved because I could not walk her,” says Nunnemacher, of Kansas, who considers Tessie “her best friend in the world.”
After a few private lessons, Tessie did an about-face, and her success prompted her trainer to suggest that she become a therapy dog. Today, eight years later, Tessie has become the first dog to earn the Animals Love Our Veterans award from the Department of Kansas/Veterans of Foreign Wars for her many hours of cuddling with appreciative patients at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center.
How did Tessie go from a relentless puller to a polite walker? Her trainer and other experts share tips for identifying common dog-walking problems and solving them:
1. Leash pulling
Problem: Like many young dogs, untrained Tessie walked her owner — not the other way around. “She just pulled me. We went where she wanted to go,” Nunnemacher says.
Solution: Randomly change directions every time the dog pulls you. Your dog learns that his jobs are to keep track of you and maintain slack in the leash. “It’s about leadership,” says Tessie’s trainer...
Author: Sally Deneen
Copyright 2009 BowTie Inc.
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