Before Sampson tore his ACL I use to love to walk the dogs. Once a day we’d head up to the park at the top of the street and I’d wander the woods, letting the cares of the day fall like leaves on a windy day.
Delilah would be on her 15 foot leash, and Sampson would either be on a long leash or I would un-clip him and he would lope along beside me, sniffing whatever his nose caught. Occasionally we would encounter other people and their dogs, but mostly it was a quiet reflective time for me, and a joyous time for the dogs.
That all changed when Sampson tore his ACL. Now the bulk of our walks are taken in the neighborhood, usually first thing in the morning and sometime in mid-afternoon.
That quiet reflective time is gone for me. I am constantly on high alert for DADO’s, dogs in e-fences, joggers, kids catching school buses, etc. I’m not complaining about these folks (well maybe about the DADO’s and the e-fence dogs just a tiny bit) I mean, they have as much right as I do to be out in public. If my dogs were better trained, (and yes, I am working on it) then my walks would be more enjoyable.
Delilah has gotten pretty good. When it’s just her and we approach a house with a dog, she looks to me for treats.
When I’m walking Sampson by himself, I can usually get him past almost anything if I use my treats.
But when I’m walking both dogs, it’s a lot more challenging. Not only do I have one dog who thinks every treat I pull out of the bag is for her, I have dogs that like to sniff in different directions. It doesn’t matter which order I hold the leashes in my hand, five to ten times per walk, my hand looks like this.
Wow, that doesn’t look comfortable. That’s because it’s NOT!
Yes, I know I could walk the dogs individually, and I intend on doing that when I have days off or weekends when I have extra time, but during the week, I just have to walk them together.
I always let the dogs choose which way we go, most of the time they head down the hill, but there are times when they turn right out of the driveway and head up the hill. And there are times when they head up the hill when I can tell they are hell bent for the field. Now since that last encounter with the off-leash dog I’ve been careful about visiting the field/woods. For instance I won’t go up there on a weekend when the weather is nice.
But Tuesday when they headed up the hill in the morning, I thought what the heck.
The path in is only a wee bit scary at 6:15 in the morning.
Here’s what I discovered Tuesday morning, besides being reminded of how beautiful and peaceful the woods can be.
Sampson, my sweet, darling boy can be, well how shall I phrase this? Sampson can be a bit of a dick when he gets in his favorite spot.
By this I mean, he has to stop and sniff every single thing when he’s on his leash. I really think it was a calculation on his part. I mean, I could barely get him into the field he was sniffing so much. Finally I decided to try an experiment.
I check the area carefully to make sure there was no-one else about and I unclipped his leash. Guess what that little stinker did?
Yup. That’s him, moving briskly along.
He moved right along, like he was manipulating me to take him off leash.
What do you think? Do you think dogs know how to use manipulation? How do your pets get you to do what they want?
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I definitely believe dogs are manipulative. I don’t mean in a negative way at all. It is just their way of teaching us what they want! Notice I said want and not need! Sampson got you to do what he wanted and he was a good boy. Smart boy! He’d ask verbally if he could!
Gus brings me his ball, which doesn’t always mean “play ball”. It can mean treat, hungry, play ball, or go upstairs to the balcony.
One of his tactics is to get in his dad’s lap and move around like he is trying to get comfortable. When I notice him and ask him if he wants a treat, ball etc., etc, he hops down and says “Finally, you notice what I need”.
We always say, he makes his needs known!
Gus’ Mom
Manipulation………always LOL. Have a tremendous Thursday.
Best wishes Molly
Mom says our only real problem is the squirrel population. We pull, tug, wrap around trees, drag Mom around anytime there are squirrels. We often walk real early before the little buggers are up, or choose a route with few known squirrels, but Mom says squirrels will be the death of her. Right now she thinks she has tendonitis in her left elbow from the pulling. I was pretty good about squirrels until Bailie took interest, now I have reverted back to the bad, pulling, chasing, crazy dog. We would gladly trade for idiots with dogs.
Dogs can be MASTERS of manipulation! *cough* I mean, that’s what I’ve heard. I have no experience with that naughty manipulative behavior myself…. I heard it from … Um…. A friend.
Love and licks,
Cupcake
I think my dogs invented manipulation!! Bless Sampson, at least he was having a great time right?!!
The lead does look painful – have you considered a lead splitter? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/171531901834?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108
I don’t think it’s manipulation — dogs don’t think that way — but I do think we dog moms fall under a magical spell when we’re with our dogs. It’s one that tells our spirit to let the dog enjoy her/himself as much as possible during it’s too-short life. And they enjoy it so much that we start to believe they conned us into it. 🙂
What I do when I take Callie & Shadow to the park — while Ducky’s at daycare or at home with hubby — is walk in between them, with Callie on my right (my stronger side because she’s stronger than Shadow). And, if I see a dog approaching us, I just move to put myself between both girls and the other dog; and shorten the leashes as though we were at a busy city intersection until the other dog is past us. Of course, I can’t do that now with Callie, but she’ll be back to walking at the park again in a few months.
I’m not sure if they are really manipulating us or not, but they know what they want and they don’t give up until they get it. Mine wear me down with their persistence, especially when it comes to wanting to play.
I only walk my dogs individually at this time, because they are all so difficult. But I don’t walk them daily either, because I just don’t have the time to walk each of them. So we play fetch in the yard daily for exercise, and walks are for fun and just getting out for something different.
I totally think dogs cam manipulate like that. Torrey does it all the time, and Roxy too for that matter.
Oh yes! They definitely know how to manipulate!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Haha…Maggie is my manipulator. Jack will pretty much do whatever I tell him to do, but Maggie is stubborn. If she wants to go left she digs in and won’t move. For a small ‘fearful’ dog, her stubbornness is kind of endearing.
OF COURSE we Manipulate our peeps.. and we are DARNED PROUD of it.
Hi Jodi. Whether Sampson was intentionally manipulating you or not, he got some freedom and he enjoyed it. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he remembers what worked for him and uses that ploy again in the future! Dogs do learn how to “train” us to their advantage!
Many years ago before Sam was on the scene, when I had two wayward and quite ‘puckish’ Old English Sheepdogs, I used a coupler that was about 18″ long that clipped to both of their collars and eliminated the need for 2 leashes. The leash would clip to an O ring in the the middle. Talk about a ‘dog-send’ on the ole wrist! Good luck with the continued training. 🙂
Oh, dogs TOTALLY manipulate. They’re so cute about it, though. Pop over to my post today. I think the leash idea might be better for your dogs. Might need a longer one, though. I might have to make you one.
The way I see it… if I have to walk at human speed, I might as well take the leisure to sniff… but if you let me walk at dog speed, of course the situation changes HAHAHA! 😛
I’ ve always thought Poodles wrote the book on human manipulation. There is no question that they know exactly what they are doing to get their way. But it is so cute, who can complain too much?
My trainer is always talking about how dogs are good at training us without us even noticing! It’s definitely true. 🙂
Have you tried to teach your dogs that walk time is “working time”?
We give our dogs permission to sniff and specific sniffing times while out on our walks to keep things fun for them, but they know that when the leash is clipped on I expect them to walk nicely in a “heel” position and walk with me. Following my lead, where I turn they turn, I stop they stop, I slow they slow, etc…no sniffing during this “working time”. They look around and their eye gaze checks out the cats, squirrels, bikes, and other stuff we come across but no sniffing, no stopping at their whim, and no stopping every 5 feet to pee on something.
Unless I tell them, “ok!”
It makes for nicer walks, no arm dragging, or sprained wrists, no tripping… 🙂
lol, they are certainly more clever than we think!
I have out manipulated my mom so many times but she would never admit it. But we understand about the loss of enjoying your morning walk. My cousin Taffy walks with us now so with mom fighting to keep her in control and me she isn’t enjoying our walks anymore either! Love Dolly
Ha! I’ve been in that position before with the leash and yes, not comfortable. I now usually use a coupler, but it’s always easier with just ONE dog.
Hi Y’all!
Don’t tell my Human, but I only let her think she’s trainin’ me! I’m really trainin’ her! BOL!!!
Y’all come on back now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
I do believe that dogs can manipulate situations, yes. I call it creative problem solving. LOL But I also think that difference circumstances might encourage different actions. For example, knowing that a leashed walk is going to be short, it would make perfect sense to sniff every grass stalk.
Jasmine wasn’t really manipulative but she was a great negotiator. So is Cookie.
Of course they manipulate. They spend all their lives training their owners….lol. The trick is not to let them do it. 🙂
This morning, Elka went out twice, per usual (Princess can’t be arsed to defecate in both ways in the same trip); she peed with my fiancé while I was in the shower, then post shower she pooped for me. Then, I had my laptop slung, coffee in hand, purse and keys…and she looked up at me with her dewey Disney eye and said “Out”. I kissed her on the nose and said “Elka, you’re a lying bitch, you just want to go play in the snow.” and went off to work.
Oh yes they know how to push our buttons for sure