Trainer Tip: Hiking, beaching and starting your dog off leash

This August I spent a week with my family and my dogs at Dewey Beach, DE- a beach and dog lovers paradise (second only, in my experience with San Diego's Dog Beach). I'd love to live within walking distance of the sand and be able to enjoy it year round (and off leash) with my dogs.

And, however, I live much closer to trails and parks and wooded areas where I can hike (and I relish those weeks and weekends where we are 'living' at the beach!) I think all of us want to allow our dogs to be dogs, but the reality is, that only the well trained or "reliable" ones afford these off leash freedoms. So, how do we develop or foster off leash reliability or at least work towards it?


Here we go:
1. The relationship. Sorry folks, but before you bust out the hot dogs or take off the leash, what kind of "check in" do you regularly get from your dogs? Do they look to you or watch you or hang near you?

If not...spend some time working on eye contact and name recognition.


2. If your dog has lousy name recognition. Stop, change and start again. Choose a nick name and start to reward the dog for being reliable to their nickname RIGHT in front of you- just say their name, and click or "good" and a bit of food.


3. Passive eye contact and attention. For me, this is an integral part of developing a relationship with my dogs, communicating leadership and simply using my real life to shape the behavior I'd like...
Please (voluntarily) look to met to get this door to open, this get this bone, to get off a leash (without asking). Also if I disappear or hide behind a tree (will the dog come back and find me, scent to me?) Try that around the house!

How do you get "there" from "here"?
Good question.
Start with eye contact in the house and outside of the house. Train it, wait for it voluntarily and see if you feel that your dog is more connected, simply by doing the work.

If you are the broken record calling your dog again and again as they ignore you...zip it and do a lot more relationship building work before loosening up that leash. Relationship building? Yep! More to come in later posts...