Yesterday Paul and I started to get a little frustrated. One aspect of dog ownership that we were really looking forward to was lots and lots of dog walking.
We were excited when it was time to take them for their first walk, which we did about 2 weeks ago now, and were really pleased when Ziggy and Honey seemed to get really excited in the car as we drove into the grounds of our favorite National Trust Park. That very first walk - they were amazing!! It was so amusing... They were so excited to be out in what must have seemed like a HUGE garden.. though they couldn't quite understand why EVERY single passer by didn't stop and make a real fuss of them. There was snow on the ground, they were bouncy and lively and trotted (or should I say paraded) along on the lead beautifully... Our dog walking days had begun... or so we thought!!!
A few of the walks after that were just the same, even in different, less idyllic places were there were less people and children. And then all of a sudden, they seem to develop a disliking for walking on the lead. They would just sit there, bums on the ground, and refuse to go anywhere. Then they would whine, and quite obviously want to go home. We thought maybe it was too early and they were too tired - but as soon as we'd get home - they'd have their massive burn! We didn't get it. We couldn't think of anything that had changed. Sure the snow had melted and there were far more things for them to sniff at... but it's not that they were just slow and exploring - they wanted to go home.
The only conclusion we can come to is that they love playing in the garden so much off the lead, that they would just rather do that. Now for some dog owners that may seem a blessing. We have a quite a big garden, it's secure and enclosed, and there are lots of bushes, paths and interesting places for them to play hide and seek. But as I said, we were really looking forward to the walking aspect of dog ownership, and we need to get them used to having their burn when we take them for a walk in the morning, so that they feel content and sleepy when we need to start work.
What to do...? If we don't let them out in the garden when they have their burn, they are on top of each other in the house - and the play fighting is continuous.. they need the space of the garden so they can play tag, hide and seek, and chase... instead of rough and tumble...
There's nothing else for it... our challenge HAS to be to make walking with us more fun than playing in the garden... check out this video to see how tough a challenge that could be, and please do comment if you have any creative ideas :-)
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What about making walking on the lead a game of chase? You can use a flexi lead and play a game of tag by running away from the dogs in a really annimated way (waving you arms about, making high pitched noise - generally looking like an idiot but hey these things must be done!)
ReplyDeleteHopefully the dogs will think you are worth chasing - as soon as they get near you, change direction and run off somewhere else. Once you have that covered then you can start getting them closer and closer to you and then why not have a sort of obstacle course where you jump over things in the garden which will make being in the garden on the lead fun.
Maybe once they get used to having fun on the lead in the garden they won't mind so much when you go out?
Hi Emily
ReplyDeleteHey that's a good idea!!
We started doing some games that enable us to let them off the lead when out walking - but I hadn't thought of games on the lead - so that they see that as fun too...