Walking An “Alpha Dog”: 5 Tips for Walking Dominant Dogs

Article courtesy of Native Remedies
by B. Chancey

Lately I have been trying to take more walks with my six month old puppy Atticus; every time he sees me getting the leash he gets so excited. After several minutes of hyperactivity, he sits patiently while I put the leash on him. I have been trying some techniques with him while we walk such as, teaching him to walk only on my right side, not to walk ahead of me, and keeping a steady pace.

A couple days ago while going for our morning walk, Atticus wasn’t listening to my commands, and I felt as though I was forcing him to walk properly. I crouched down to pet him and to try to understand why he was acting this way; he squirmed his way out of his collar and bolted down the street. Like a mad woman, I ran after my 55 pound dog with his tongue sticking out and flapping in the wind almost to say “catch me if you can”.

Finally after repeatedly calling his name and telling him to sit, I managed to put the collar and leash back on him, and we returned home. Thank goodness no one was around to see me talking to Atticus the whole way home saying things such as “what in the world were you thinking” and “why would you do that?”.

Turns out my training tactics were wrong. I have been giving him complete freedom during our morning strolls and this led to his dominate behavior. After researching numerous sites on “Dog Walking Training Techniques”, I learned that I needed to act more like the leader, be more confident and stop my “alpha dog” in his tracks.

5 Tips on How to Walk a Dog

1. Make your dog come to you when it’s time to put on its leash.

2. Always be one step in front of your dog when beginning the walk .

3. The collar should be far up the neck and the lead should be relaxed.

4. If you pass a barking dog or other distraction keep moving forward. If your dog is distracted tug on the lead to direct the attention back to the walk at hand.

5. The dog should not sniff the ground or relieve itself where it pleases; a dog should concentrate on following its handler while walking. The dog needs to see you are leading it, it is not leading you.

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