We've all had these walks, maybe your dog pulled for the entire walk, barked at everything that moved, stole and punctured a childs' ball, or seemed to completely forget everything you've ever taught them. These walks are awful and can leave us feeling frustrated and deflated.
The thing is, when we're training and raising dogs, I can bet we'll all have at least one of these walks. So what do we do when our walks have gone wrong?
As soon as you walk in the door:
Give your dog something to chew or shred.
Both help with tension and frustration and can aid in decompression. This also allows you to take a moment for yourself.
Once your dog is occupied:
Help yourself decompress, this could just be putting the kettle on, doing a few breathing exercises or stretching. If you’ve got time, go for a bath or go back out for a walk by yourself. Whatever helps you best.
When you’ve decompressed:
Write down what went wrong. This can help put things into perspective and can help you plan to reduce the chances of the same thing going wrong in future.
Think about what you can change.
Was that location too busy? Can you go at a different time in future? Was it too challenging from your dog? Are there any skills you could work on to make it easier for them
Remind yourself of this very important phrase:
"Your dog isn’t giving you a hard time, they’re having a hard time"
Then go and do something fun together, play game, practise some tricks, have a cuddle whatever you enjoy most.
These walks are hard, especially when you've been making progress and the set back feels out of the blue.
Need someone to talk it through with when walks don't go well?
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