The Foundation of a healthy relationship with your dog lies in not only fulfilling your dogs

needs, but also fulfilling your own needs. If you the owner is scared of walking your dog

because of past experiences (saw your dog act aggressively with other dogs or pulled you down

while aggressively lunging towards dogs). Then maybe your needs for safety or security are not

being met. How can you go out and do counter conditioning and desensitization and all the

exercises you’ve been given when this is weighing heavy on your mind and thus affecting your

emotions negatively.

This comes back to the question of trust. How can your dog trust you if you, “the owner,

teacher” is lacking in confidence on walks with your dog? Our dogs eventually learn to mirror

our energy.

The process of building trust takes patience, enrichment, and a learning environment that is not

overwhelming to your critter and the ability to show your dog that you are their advocate in

any situation or environment. Pushing your critter to far too soon will only break down the trust

they have in you.

Dogs thrive in a routine and at the heart of that is consistency. If you take your dog out for a

walk one time this week, three times next week, and 5 times the next, then 2 times the

following; they will become confused and might display erratic behavior by jumping on you,

pressuring you to play fetch, barking or even begin to show signs of obsessive compulsive

behavior. Especially working dogs like German Shepherds, Doberman Pinchers, Australian

Shepherds. Dogs can get into the habit displaying abnormal or anxious behaviors such as

chasing shadows in the house, or barking and jumping at lights shinning or moving on the floor

or even attach and lunge at these moving visuals in the house.

Consistency extends to another routine of saying what you mean. If you say sit and your critter

doesn’t sit and you just let it go, your critter will learn that what you say, you don’t mean. Be

late for work and get the behavior.

Clear Communication: If your dog is not able to do something you ask, listen to them. Most

likely they are saying, this is too hard for me. Maybe try moving your critter to a less

challenging environment. Maybe there was too many distractions in the previous environment.

When we are working with loose leash walking, we can be deep into the training and often act

in ways that make the dog think we are confused, so they become confused.