This is a huge bugbear of mine.
Dogs pulling like a train with guardians clinging on and yanking back on the lead, which is attached to their collar. The dog coughs and gasps for breath and the guardian shouts ‘serves you right – you shouldn’t pull’!!
Yikes – the dog is being choked. Not only is the dog struggling for breath – it can also injure your dog in 3 significant ways:
- Via damaging the muscles that support the throat
- Via damaging the windpipe itself
- Via damaging the Thyroid gland.
We need to understand why a dog pulls before anything else.
Ever heard of the Opposition Reflex? This is your dog’s natural instinct to physical pressure. I.e. Pull your dog towards you and they’ll pull away. You pull back, and they pull again a vicious cycle. Your dog is not being stubborn, naughty or dominant, it’s simply nature. How do we stop this? We train, we invest time into training them to walk with us, not against us. Research training methods, my favourite is ‘Loose Lead Walking the Tellington TTouch Way ®’.
My top tip for this week is to TRAIN YOURSELF and your dog not to pull, invest time into this. It’s not too late!
Thank you for reading today’s article.
Louise James, Momentum Clinical Canine Massage
