How To Begin Fitness Walks With Your Dog

 Professional Training Approach For Successful Fit Dog and Handler

Choose your Route

From your doorstep, stand on the stoop and set your timer on your watch or phone for 20 minutes.  Leave your dog at home.  This observation is conducted by you solo.  Observe your chosen route with your eyes and ears. What do you see that will be challenging for you and your dog?

Sound Challenges

Dogs are noise sensitive. They have excellent hearing and for the sake of training you need to understand that they hear everything as if it is in a sound amplifier.  You aim to know what sounds your dog is noise sensitive to on this route.  Additionally, you need to know what sounds you are sensitive to on this route.  Keep in mind that dogs are reactive to their environment and when you react, your dog will react.  For your dog you will notice body language change, they may dart back and forth on the leash, perk ears up forward in direction of sound, react with aggression-barking or anxious whines or full flight behavior, in attempt to run away from the sound.  These reactions may also be present in you, but you will simply become tense, pull on the line attached to the dog, or you will clench your jaw and hold your breath.  This body tension displayed by you is felt and read by your dog.

Once you identify your sensitivity and your dog’s noise sensitivity, you will know your challenge areas on your fitness walk route. How will you navigate the noise sensitive challenge areas?

Sights of Challenge

Dogs are sight sensitive to movement.  Most dogs with high prey drive are sight sensitive.  Dogs with lower prey drive are less likely to be sight sensitive.  Dogs can see their prey from far away, if it moves.  So more specifically moving people, places and things are challenging when choosing to fitness walk with a high prey dog.  For the sake of training, we view dogs as sight challenged if your dog seems to see and chase everything that moves, you have a sight challenge to work through.   This over sensitive ability to see movement overtime leads to prey aggression, frustration and hyperactive aggression or hyperactive energy issues. 

All dogs at some point will have sight challenges on their fitness walk because they are sight sensitive to movement because of the very fact they are a dog.  Dogs are predators we all know this.  We aim to know what sights cause your dog to react with stopping, starring, barking, lunging or whining.  The above-mentioned behavior will cause you to react by grabbing your line attached to your dog.  Pulling and tension that remains constant is detrimental to your body.  Tension is of concern because your muscles are tense, tight, with you holding your breath.  Tensions must be released, or explosive behavior will become rampant on both ends of the leash.

How will you navigate your sight and sound challenge areas you observe on your 20 minutes solo observation fitness walk route?

Social Fitness Training Tips

One social training idea is to manage your behavior of self and dog by turning around at the first indication of sight or sound challenge.  Continue forward and ignoring your team behavior is a mistake that most people of novice make.  Turning around and immediately addressing both your behavior and your dog is a positive training choice.  This is called “about turn strategy”.  Yes, as soon as you see the challenge, about turn right and walk 35 paces back the other direction you came from.

Sudden change of direction from you will snap your dog out of reacting or fixating on the sight or sound.  The dog must follow you.  While you lead him back 35 paces in the opposite direction of the challenge.  If your dog returns to a calm state, you can right about turn and go back 35 paces in the direction of the challenge.

When aiming to have your dog as your fitness partner we are obligated to continually manage our dogs reactive nature for success.  If your dog reacts negatively with one of the behaviors mentioned: stopping, staring, barking, lunging, whining or pulling in direction of the sound or sights. Any of the behaviors create tension for you, your dog and your line that attaches you and your dog together will become tight, you must immediately “right about turn” and go back the direction you came from, going the opposite direction of the challenge, for 35 paces.   Repeat the about turn strategy one or more times, this likely consumes your 20 minutes time frame.  Yes, you should have your timer set when working with your dog. 

On attempt #3, if your dog reacts to sight challenges negatively or your timer has marked 20 minutes, it is time to turn around and go home.  Try again on your next 20-minute walk.  Using the same route you chose in your neighborhood. Always, going the opposite of your challenge.  Using right about turn and left about turn when your challenges are triggered.  35 paces - 45 paces opposite of your challenge, will help your dog follow your lead and reset his mind to calm.   Allowing you both to be moving for 40 minutes (20 minutes one way is 20 minutes back home = 40 minutes of fitness teamwork).

This is how you establish your route, your time frame and begin immediately extinguishing your route challenges of sight or sound, that create reactive behavior.  I apply this method to all dogs over 6 months of age, that are healthy vaccinated and de-wormed.   It is helpful when each dog is leash and collar trained prior to beginning 20 minute fitness walks on leash.

When I am working with a dog under age 6 months or is not vaccine complete, I use my home gym.  Another pro tip is when I work with high energy dogs I always exercise them in the gym before I leash up and go for my fitness walk.  A well exercised dog is more biddable during on leash fitness activities and outings. Here is how you can set up your home gym for you and your dog!

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