After a few walks with Tulpen, it was clear that I needed to set some goals for my work with Tulpen and then work at clearly communicating what I was asking of Tulpen. From my own personal experience, if I don't do this then it's not fair for the dog when he becomes confused. How can we expect the dog to know what we want if we are not clear and consistent in our communication with them?
So, I sat down and came up with a plan to work on leash walking. The first step started in the hallway of our house. Catty and D'light were given things to do in other rooms and Tulpen and I started walking up and down the hallway. We were doing this a couple times a day for 10-15 minute increments. He did great and I felt comfortable with moving us outside.
I'd already been walking Tulpen solo so that was going to continue. What I decided was that we needed to walk on a quieter street with less sensory input from the environment. This would give us the opportunity for Tulpen to realize that I'm walking with him. When Tulpen did realize I was walking with him he was rewarded with high value treat. remember - reward the behavior you want!
We saw changes with this plan and Tulpen was figuring out what I was asking of him. But, the plan needed refinement as Tulpen was still nose to the ground and pulling more that I wanted.
So, I changed up parts of my plan and came up with walking down the middle of a quiet street! I saw big improvement with this plan which was pretty exciting.
We kept at this for a number of days but, I was getting stymied on how to progress to loose leash walking with Tulpen. I decided that it was time for help from a professional so that I could help myself and in turn help Tulpen. Stay tuned to read about our consolation!
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