Ace is doing well heeling with me. Now he needs to learn to heel when someone else wants to take him for a walk. It makes sense, Ace heels better with me because he’s used to walking with me. It’s an event if Josh or someone else comes on a walk! We’ll be working on that in the next week.

Ace’s cairn friend Radar is staying with us for a day or two, so that will be perfect for Ace to practice heeling with another dog.

This is day 18 of my 30-day challenge to work with my dog on loose-leash walking. Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts.

Related posts:

1. Loose-leash walking: Days 2-4
2. Loose-leash walking: Days 11-15
3. Loose-leash walking: Days 7-8
4. Loose-leash walking: Day 1
5. Loose-leash walking: Days 5-6

This dog loves to jump up and give anyone kisses! She loves all people, and everyone comments about her tail that never quits wagging. Sasha is really optimistic despite all she’s been through. She has not given up on humans.

Sasha has been waiting for a home for a long time. She was adopted for a few weeks in October but then she was returned. From the shelter, I take her for runs and started taking her to a beginning obedience class.

Someone willing to train and walk Sasha on a daily basis would make a great home for her. She is eager to learn and only wants to make people happy. She already knows sit, stay and down. She often looks up at me with her tail wagging as if to say, “I’m being a good dog, right?”

Sasha responds well to heeling when someone gives her the leadership she needs. She is very strong and will pull on the leash if she can get away with it. I started using a prong collar with her and she responds very well to it. She tries to run up to any dog, which doesn’t always go well if the dog doesn’t match her energy. Sasha also has an instinct to chase small animals like squirrels so she needs to be supervised around other pets.

Like any dog that’s living in a shelter, Sasha has lots of pent-up energy. But after I take her for a run she begins to calm down. Imagine how good she would be if someone took her for a long walk every day!

A great thing about Sasha is how quiet and still she is in the car. When I took her to obedience class she rode in a kennel in the back and waited patiently. She is obviously kennel trained and jumps right in.

Sasha is a good girl and deserves a home. You can read more about Sasha on her profile at 4 Luv of Dog. If you would like more information about Sasha or are interested in adopting or fostering her, send me an email at Lindsay@thatmutt.com.

I might feature a local homeless dog on my blog every week or month. What do you think of that idea?

Related posts:

1. Walking with shelter dogs
2. All mutts are not rescues
3. Some dogs do better in a new home
4. 10 reasons to adopt a shelter dog
5. A new addition

I love dogs, but I can see why some people don’t. Most dog owners just don’t control their dogs, and that makes it really easy for others to continue disliking, fearing and misunderstanding dogs. Everyone who reads this blog loves or at least tolerates dogs. But that’s just it, we tolerate dogs owned by our friends, family members and neighbors because we love dogs. Imagine what it’s like for the people in our lives who don’t love dogs.

Last week I asked you what you tolerate from your own dog. But now I want to know what you tolerate or don’t tolerate from other people’s dogs. Even as a dog lover, I get annoyed with dogs all the time. For example:

Big dogs that jump up at my face. In most cases the owners have done nothing to teach the dog not to jump. Instead they act annoyed, like it’s the dogs fault. And although little dogs are more likely to jump on me, it’s the big dogs that test my patience. It’s probably because I assume a small dog will jump. We all know it’s highly unlikely that the owner of a small dog will teach the dog any manners at all.

Dogs that lack any self control. When friends or family members visit with their dogs big or small, the dogs typically run all over like they own the place, including the furniture. When I visit them, the same happens in their own homes. It’s chaotic and stressful for everyone.

Dogs that chase my cats. I understand why dogs want to chase cats! But it’s a big pain in the ass to feel obligated to lock my cats up when someone’s dog is visiting.

How about you? What is most annoying about the dogs you know?

Friends and family of mine who read this are strongly encouraged to rip apart Ace and I. Believe me, I know my mutt is far from perfect. The same is true of his owner.

Email your dog-related question to me at Lindsay@thatmutt.com, and I’ll post it for others to answer. Click here to read all my weekly question posts.

(Image from flickr.com. I steal photos from Flickr all the time. If people don’t want their photos used, they shouldn’t post them on the Internet.)

Related posts:

1. Bad dog: When the family pet bites
2. What do you tolerate from your dog?
3. Your dog questions answered
4. Paul Owens says positive reinforcement training is best
5. Loose-leash walking: Days 11-15

Like most dogs, Ace is often in an excited mode before we even get out of the car at the dog park. I always make sure he is relaxed before I let him jump out. That means he sits and waits until I say “OK.” He never lunges out of the car anymore. But when he used to, I put him right back in and had him jump out on my terms.

The mutt did very well walking from the car to the gate. I had his choke collar on, but it wasn’t really necessary. I took his leash off and we practiced off-leash heeling for the next 20 minutes or so. I made sure to walk randomly, turning into him and away from him and to walk over tennis balls.

The dog park is a great place for Ace and I to work because there are tennis balls everywhere. He gets a double challenge because he is expected to leave the tennis balls alone and heel. One thing I’ve noticed about Ace’s tennis ball obsession is that when we are in a working mode, he leaves them alone. When we’re not working, he easily becomes fixated on anything.

As far as loose-leash walking goes, Ace is doing very well. The only thing that distracted him today was the trash scattered everywhere. Apparently paper, plastic bottles and other pieces of garbage are full of tempting smells. It took a lot of focus from Ace to leave the garbage alone.

Really, the only time the mutt ignores me if he decides he has to go to the bathroom and he can’t wait. I think I’ve unintentionally trained him that he can stop and go to the bathroom whenever he wants as long as it’s in the grass. But it is really annoying sometimes. The only way I know how to fix this is to make sure I give him time to go on my terms so it won’t be an issue for him to make his own “pit stops.” By the way, when a dog is on Prednisone, he has to pee about every hour! Poor Ace.

Although our walk was a half-hour at most today, Ace came home and crashed a lot harder than when we go for a longer walk in our own neighborhood. That just shows how important mental challenges are for dogs.

Doesn’t this pitbull look a lot like Ace?

This is day 15 of my 30-day challenge to work with my dog on loose-leash walking. Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts.

(Image from latimesblogs.latimes.com)

Related posts:

1. Loose-leash walking: Days 16-18
2. Loose-leash walking: Days 2-4
3. Loose-leash walking: Day 1
4. Loose-leash walking: Days 7-8
5. Loose-leash walking: Days 5-6

The second-highest commenter of the week was Marie from Resq Tails. Saint Lover from It’s the Dogs’ Life was third.

Thank you to everyone who comments! I appreciate it! I added a list of top commenters for the month on the right side of my blog. It will refresh at the beginning of each month. It also looks like FeedBurner is back. Thanks for being patient!

Related posts:

1. Get your copy of ‘Loving Our Dogs’

Ace wears the Avery Sporting Dog Parka. I call it a vest. The parka is designed for hunting dogs, mostly labs that spend time jumping in and out of the water in cold weather retrieving birds. I know Ace would make a great hunting dog, but I have never taken him hunting. Instead, he spends a lot of time hiking, camping and backpacking with me. In North Dakota, that involves rain and snow and cold for at least six months of the year. Ace has short hair like a great dane and very little body fat, so some sort of dog coat is necessary for him in the winter.

I’m a little embarrassed to be the chick with a dog dressed in camouflage. I feel like a redneck from Fargo. But I went with usefulness over style and this vest really does keep the mutt warm when we are out on long walks through the snow or on weekend camping trips in the winter. A downside to the camouflage dog vest is the mutt blends into the surroundings and I would hate for him to get lost or shot. A bright red vest or any other color would be better, but all I could find was the camouflage.

The Avery parka comes in sizes from small (15″ neck, 24″ chest) to 3XL (21″ neck, 35″ chest). Ace has a large, and it is a little tight on him. I should’ve gone with the XL. But one great thing about this vest is that it is designed so the arm holes and waistline can be trimmed if needed. I trimmed the arm holes on Ace’s parka and now it fits him better.

Ace’s Avery parka is made of neoprene with insulation that drys quickly. It’s really easy to put on him. He just steps into it and I zip it up in the back. He hates wearing it, but once we get outside he forgets he has it on.

If you have a lab-type dog, I recommend the Avery parka to keep him warm. Dogs can get hypothermia very easily when they are out in the cold, especially if they like rolling in water and snow like my mutt. A dog coat or vest will help keep him warm this winter.

Don’t forget that the top commenter between last Friday and this Friday will win a copy of “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Dogs.”

No related posts.

Thank you for being patient and taking the time to visit my actual site.

Don’t forget that the top commenter between last Friday and this Friday will win a copy of “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Dogs.”

(Image from punny.org)

No related posts.

Loose-leash walking: Days 9-10

The mutt and I (not pictured) are continuing to work on heeling. Some walks are better than others, but he is slowly improving. He has come a long way since the day I met him and took him on his first walk. Yep, he did not get a single walk for the first year of his life (that would explain the tennis ball obsession).

Whether you are just starting to teach your dog to heel or if you’ve been working with her for a long time and getting nowhere, below are some tips for teaching your dog to walk on a loose leash. If you have other ideas, share them. Most of our dogs could use help with heeling, including mine!

1. Remember the walk starts at the door. As soon as you touch the leash or put on a coat, your dog might become excited. If she is out of control before you even put the leash on, make her sit or lie down until she is calm. The same is true with walking through the door and down the stairs. Every piece makes up the walk. This might mean you have to put your dog’s leash on a half-hour before you intend on walking so by the time you are ready to go, she is calm. A calm dog can pay attention and learn. A frantic dog can’t.

2. Make your dog sit every time she lunges forward. This technique works better than people realize. The problem is, most of us don’t have the patience to stop every five seconds during an entire half-hour walk. The day I brought my mutt home, he wanted to barge out of his kennel, barge through the door and barge down the stairs. Instead, I stopped and had him sit every time he pulled. It took us 10 minutes to get from his kennel to the front door and at least 10 or 12 attempts to get through the door. I remember people staring at me like I was crazy. I had steps outside and had to go through the whole routine again at the top of the stairs. But after that first day, Ace had already learned that in order to get anywhere he could not pull.

3. Be consistent. If you allow your dog to pull sometimes, she will try to get away with pulling all the time. If you make her heel but your husband doesn’t, she will learn heeling is optional.

4. Buy a dog backpack. Ace heels much, much better with a backpack on because it gives him a job to do. It really puts him in a focused mode, and he is less concerned with pulling. Plus, I’m in favor of anything that tires the mutt out! Another way to give him a job is to let him carry something in his mouth like a stick or water bottle. He will carry anything I hand him, and that becomes his job instead of pulling.

5. Stay relaxed. If you are angry and gripping the leash like there’s a bear on the other end (OK, for some of you, there pretty much is!) or anticipating bad behavior from your dog, it gives her more reasons to be anxious, too. Dogs pick up on our energy more than we realize. The best thing you can do for an overly excited dog is to stay calm and in control. I know that’s easier said than done! Focus on standing tall and proud without being tense.

6. Don’t allow the leash to get tight. Part of staying relaxed is keeping the leash loose. If you pull back on the leash constantly, your dog will resist and pull harder. Instead, allow slack in the leash and when your dog pulls ahead, give the collar a quick pop. The leash and training collar must be loose when you give corrections in order for them to be effective. A correction should be a light pop, not a frustrated yank!

7. Focus ahead, not on your dog. You can sense where your dog is without staring down at her the whole time. If you are constantly staring at her, then she is in control. If your dog sees you as weak, she will take advantage of that and take you for a walk. One trick I use with Ace is to loosely hold the middle of his leash at the seam of my pants. That way when he begins to sneak ahead, I feel the leash tighten without looking at him. It also reminds him to stay in heel position.

8. Sign up for an obedience class. When I first adopted Ace, I planned on training him on my own. I’d trained other dogs and taken them through formal obedience classes, so I thought I could teach Ace myself. Let’s just say I changed my mind when Ace pulled and was basically out of control every time we passed another dog on a walk. Once I started taking him to class, he got used to other dogs so it was no longer an event every time we passed one on the street. After taking Ace to that first class, I was hooked and have been taking him to obedience and agility ever since.

9. Use treats. Use anything to keep your dog’s attention. It might be plain old kibble, jerky treats, bits of hotdogs, cheese or a tennis ball. It doesn’t really matter as long as you can get your dog to look at you and reward her when she is not pulling. I try to reward Ace when I catch him making eye contact.

10. Walk at different speeds and directions. Walking at different speeds and directions will require your dog to pay attention to you. If Ace sneaks ahead, I slow down or even stop and he backs right up. I’ve even unintentionally trained him to back up when I say “Get back.” Teach your dog that you are unpredictable and don’t always go in a straight line or at the same pace. You are deciding where to walk, not your dog! Do a U-turn, walk in a circle, etc. If you are able, run with your dog for the first 15 minutes. It will be easier for her to stay at your side if you are going at a faster pace. Plus it will get rid of some pent-up energy and make it easier for her to focus when you slow down to a walk.

11. Practice random obedience during the walk. Randomly telling your dog to sit, lie down, stay or come while you are walking will also teach her to pay attention to you. It will also help to keep her in that working mode. Try taking a step back and calling your dog to you if she sneaks ahead or pulls.

12. Limit distractions at first. Don’t expect too much from your dog. Be patient and take training in small steps. Work indoors first, then in your driveway or a parking lot with few challenges.

13. If all else fails, use a head collar (at least for now). I don’t see anything wrong with Gentle Leaders or Haltis. If it means you can walk your dog in peace, it is worth it! The goal is to use these collars as a tool to encourage loose-leash walking. Then you can eventually return to a choke collar and hopefully a regular collar. Other people will depend on a Halti or Gentle Leader all the time. It’s up to each owner and depends a lot on the dog.

This is day 10 of my 30-day challenge to work with my dog on loose-leash walking. Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts.

Don’t forget that the top commenter between last Friday and this Friday will win a copy of “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Dogs.”

Related posts:

1. Loose-leash walking: Days 11-15
2. Loose-leash walking: Day 1
3. Loose-leash walking: Days 2-4
4. Loose-leash walking: Days 16-18
5. Loose-leash walking: Days 5-6

The list goes on and on for me. I’ve been working on Ace to change many things, but there are others I just tolerate. Here are a few:

This mutt walks while he poops! If I am holding the leash, he makes a ring of shit around me!

He is constantly flinging drool all over the walls and on other people. I should probably do a better job at cleaning up after him and apologizing.

He will always, always love to play fetch no matter what. I can expect to receive random pieces of trash, hair ties, crumbled up pieces of paper, sticks and toys shoved onto my lap for as long as Ace lives. But I will always challenge him by limiting the fetch playing and working with him to control himself around a tennis ball.

Ace will puke up water at least once a week. I could put him in his kennel after he drinks or give him tiny amounts of water at a time. I could spend a lot of time teaching him to drink slowly. Instead, I just accept there will be puke to clean up at least every few days. It doesn’t even faze me anymore.

What do you tolerate from your dog?

Don’t forget that the top commenter between last Friday and this Friday will win a copy of “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Dogs.”

Email your dog-related question to me at Lindsay@thatmutt.com, and I’ll post it for others to answer. Click here to read all my weekly question posts.

(Image from flickr.com)

Related posts:

1. What’s most annoying about your friends’ and family’s dogs?
2. Your dog questions answered
3. Bad dog: When the family pet bites
4. Weekly question: Can a dog’s barking be a sign of jealousy?
5. Weekly question: Is it OK for other people’s dogs to poop on your lawn?

Even though it was so cold, I was surprised to pass only two people the whole hour we were out. Ace heeled without a leash as a runner approached us and then a walker. I didn’t trust him 100 percent to stay in heel position, but I trusted him not to jump or chase. To my surprise, he remained in heel position and barely glanced at the people. Good boy! It would’ve been another story had either of the people had dogs along or chosen to acknowledge the mutt. Instead, they ignored us and continued on their way. Of course, I would have clipped the leash back on Ace if there had been any dogs involved.

One reason Ace heels well off leash is because he can’t pick up any tense signals from me through the leash. Sometimes owners (myself included!) will anticipate a dog’s behavior and unintentionally pull or tighten the leash before the dog even does anything wrong. All this does is make the dog more anxious and encourage her to pull or lunge.

As for Ace, he did a lot better than I expected on our walk. I broke it up into sections of heeling on leash and heeling off leash. I like having a dog walk at my side, but there is also something great about watching a dog frolic around just being a dog. That’s why I rewarded Ace with time to run. I always make sure to call him every few minutes when he is running and then release him right away so he doesn’t associate coming to me with getting back on the leash. We also spent some time playing fetch. I was surprised that even when I allowed Ace to be “free,” he preferred to walk at my side most of the time. This isn’t normal for him, so I’m hoping my practice has paid off, and it wasn’t just the Prednisone.

We never made it to the dog park because after we left Lindenwood, we were both too cold to do much else. I made Ace wear his vest, which he was not thrilled about. But when it’s cold out, he shakes without it. It sucks for black dogs with short hair. They are always cold in the winter but hot in the summer.

This is day eight of my 30-day challenge to work with my dog on loose-leash walking. Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts.

Don’t forget that the top commenter between last Friday and this Friday will win a copy of “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Dogs.”

Related posts:

1. Loose-leash walking: Days 11-15
2. Loose-leash walking: Days 2-4
3. Loose-leash walking: Days 5-6
4. Loose-leash walking: Days 16-18
5. Loose-leash walking: Day 1