I don't just walk dogs I work the dogs. I use their drives to create connection and harmony
with me so that the dog would stay mostly in Pack Drive / follower state of mind with me.
I free them for moments of being in prey drive to explore or track; but on my terms and as a reward for complying with me in PACK DRIVE which actually creates a more fulfilling and fun walk. In these videos, you will see me leading and switching him back to pack drive every time he went into prey drive.
This is Rocco an Australian Labradoodle who is a past training, now dog walking client and fur friend. Rocco's family lives in my community and his family reached out to me for training; so we have some history together,
but we have had a gap since we have last interacted with each other. Now I'm helping them out with walking him 1-2 times a week.
In these 3 vids you will see Rocco loose leash walking through the neighborhood with me yesterday. This is my first time going through the neighborhood with him with distractions. All our work up till now has been in his house, backyard and just in his drive way. I've taught Rocco what leash pressure means by using the wonderful @dynamiclead 15ft long line and the 4 commands for good structured loose leash walking which are Come, Let's Go, Here, and leave it. So this walk would be an opportunity to proof and reinforce what he already knows.
So basically I had a good feel and understanding of what the levels of his drives were already, but this walk would give me an even greater baseline of them especially with the distractions that we came across during the walk. I also got to see how much value he has for people and other dogs in public. The goal is to make myself more valuable so he chooses me over other things in the environment.
Rocco has high prey/play drive and wants to meet every thing on the walk, but he also has medium to high Pack Drive. As you'll see in the 3rd video we pass by some girls playing in the street, but before that I had to recall him to me (that part not caught on vid) I then had him stay with me through his understanding of leash pressure, and just simmer down to a calm state and observe them playing before we moved on. Over all Rocco did great!
Every dog owner can have this kind of connection and loose leash walk, if they would take the time to work their dogs before trying to walk Their dogs.
Contact me if you need help walking your dog and we can set up an In person or on-line training session!