Our beloved four-legged friends can and do easily get distracted on walks and want to sniff and engage with many things. This can make getting the much needed exercise a difficult challenge and can also be frustrating for the person walking the dog. In most of these instances the dog doesn’t get anywhere near enough exercise, due to sacrificing walk time to sniffing, investigating and doing what dogs generally like to do.
So we don’t want the exercise to suffer, nor do we want to stop our dog from sniffing and being a dog. We need a balance. That is where this technique comes in.
Note: for this technique you will need low level dog treats for rewarding.
START OF THE WALK (1)
- Select a lamppost, car, tree or something else to aim for. (approx. 15 metres from your start position)
- Before you start the walk to the first objective which you have set, give your dog a treat, loosen the lead (if safe to do so) so that your dog can sniff for 30 seconds.
- Once the 30 seconds are done, commence the walk to the set objective location.
- During this walk hold the lead close so that your dog can’t quite reach a possible distraction to his/her side. However don’t hold the lead too tight that it is straining your dog.
- If you notice your dog trying to go in for a sniff increase your walk speed until you are past the distraction, then slow back down to the normal walk speed.
- Continue being Alpha, controlling the walk.
- As soon as you reach the lamppost, tree, etc. then stop, loosen lead if safe to do so. Give your dog a treat and allow your dog 30 seconds to sniff.
WALK (2)
- During the 30 second break your dog is having for passing the first objective (lamppost, etc.) set the next objective. This will be double from the first. So approx. 30 metres distance from your current position. Once you see the car, tree, lamppost, etc. that you are to reach without dog sniffing wait for your dog’s 30 seconds to complete.
- Commence the walk, not allowing your dog to sniff during the walk (speed up past the distraction – remember not to yank on the lead).
- Once you reach the objective, stop, reward with a treat and allow your dog to sniff for 30 seconds.
WALK (3)
- While your dog is enjoying the 30 seconds of sniff time, you want to set the next objective. This time is needs to be about 45 metres distance from your current position.
- Once 30 seconds complete continue on with the (no sniffing) walk to the new objective.
- At this objective reward and allow 30 seconds of sniff time.
AND REPEAT (3)
- For the rest of the walk you need to keep setting objective waypoints to stop, reward and allow 30 seconds of sniff time. Each of these will be roughly 45 metres from each position you are in.
- Continue this until you reach your home or car to end the walk. Make sure to give a treat and 30 seconds before going inside and ending the walk.
Note: continue the above until your dog fully gets used to reaching the way points without trying to pull towards something to sniff while in a walk.
Once this is achieved now start to increase the distance before your dog gets a treat and 30 second sniff time. You can then choose through training how often your dog is to stop to sniff on a walk.
Important: be aware of signs from your dog when needing to pee or poo. Make sure to stop, then once all done and everything cleaned up, continue on to the set waypoint.
