To me, nothing could be more boring than a walk, or jog, with Callie when she “heels” every step of the way. (Not much danger of that, as she’s still a full-of-beans puppy, but you know what I mean.) That’s obedience run amuk. I love it when Callie participates in our morning jog, and we go out of our way to let her make a few of the decisions.
1. “I really like to go walking or jogging.” For starters, what do you think your dog tells you when you’re getting ready to go for a walk or jog? Does it get excited when you put your jogging clothes on? Does it hydrate when it sees the leash coming? Callie’s predecessor, Jamie, did both of these things every morning before our jog. And Callie gets very excited when she sees me putting on my jogging shoes. She knows her turn is coming.
2. “OK. It’s time to pee or pooh.” You probably already know your dog’s pee & pooh habits, but can you tell when it’s sniffing for a place to do its business or just sniffing? When your dog starts sniffing the ground, it might be telling you, “Hey, I need to make a quick pit stop!” Your dog will appreciate it if you “hear” its message, and give it a little leeway.
3. “I need some help.” Callie (and Jamie before) sometimes comes to a cold, hard STOP in the middle of a jogging step. My first reaction is usually, “Let’s get on with it. We’re jogging, not looking at scenery.” But when a dog does this, it’s often trying to say something. Jamie’s message was often, “I’ve got some sticks stuck in my feathers, and I need some help getting them out.” Here’s a photo from My Doggie Says… Jamie was fine once we got the stick out of her butt feathers.
Callie’s feathers aren’t quite as full yet, but last summer she did the “hard stop” thing a time or two because she got some tar in the hair between her toes. She appreciated it when we helped her clean things up.
4. “Could I please stop and retrieve something I see over there?” Another reason Callie stops sometimes is that she sees something she wants to retrieve. After all, she is a Golden Retriever. She has a very polite way of saying, “Could we please stop for a minute, so I can retrieve that pine cone?” Or, “Could I pick up that stick and carry it for a while?” There’s nothing she’d rather do than carry a pine cone, or a stick, or a ball while she jogs.
5. “Could I please stop and get a drink out of that water sprinkler?” The first few times Jamie did this, it startled us. We had to think a little about what she was doing. But then the message became clear. She came to a complete stop right beside a water sprinkler. It was her polite way of asking, “can I grab a quick drink?”
A daily walk or jog offers many opportunities to “listen” to your dog and get better at understanding what it’s telling you.
