Yesterday we had an impromptu, hastily planned, small family gathering.
I knew the mental stimulation and the activity of people coming and going meant I could get away with a short walk for the pups.
Hubby was mowing the lawn and so that left me. I thought it might be a good time to walk them individually.
It made sense to take Delilah first, honestly she can be very destructive when she’s ticked off. I knew Sampson would just sit at the top of the stairs and pout while he waited for our return.
I put on her harness, clipped on the six-foot leash and off we went.
I’ve heard that a harness can make a dog with a tendency to pull, pull harder, but that is not the case with Delilah. The harness actually helps her to stop pulling me. While we’re walking if she starts to get too far ahead or the leash starts to get too tight I make a noise that sounds like, “ent.”
It is just enough of a verbal correction to make her slow down and back off the tension.
We went to the end of the street, turned around and came back.
I decided I’d try Sampson on the harness. I put Delilah’s harness on him, made a couple of small adjustments and off we went.
Honestly, this was the most enjoyable leash walk I’ve had with Sampson since he was a puppy! We had absolutely no pulling from him either and he too was corrected with a gentle “ent.”
As I approached our house at the end of our walk I thought, “Wow, I actually enjoy walking the dogs this way.”
What I discovered yesterday, as with any training tool if you are simply using the tool and not training the dog, you’re spinning your wheels. The harness combined with a simple correction was more than enough to make our walk very enjoyable.
Do you have a dog that pulls? Have you ever used a harness? Would you use a harness?
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