DidiLove1:

I sat close to this family as well, chaperoned by their mum and granny (I think). I took a lot of pictures at the event, may have one of you and your dog! Like the organizers mentioned, next walk comes up in April or May. God-willing, I will be there.

Hello DidiLove1.

Yes exactly!! Chaperoned by their mom and granny. The organizers would call them "Paws of Lagos" or something like that over the mic and the whole family would go "Whoooooo-hooooo!!". Really interesting family that was.

Wow! There's going to be another walk? That's great. Something to look forward to. Will try to be there and maybe this time I would come with more than one dog. Thank you for sharing the information.

blasiangurl85:

Hahaha I get the similar reaction when I'm out with shadow. People just cross over to the other side once they see us coming. Will definitely get the all clear from the vet before we start jogging.
Yes I remember those children and your dog. It was really funny seeing how they were hugging and trying to take him away from you. I must say your dog is super well trained to allow them to do all those things. I kept looking and to be honest was a bit afraid. Didlove1 and I were sat close to you.

Yes, it was really funny. Even I could not help myself.

I actually train all my dogs to be that way. They are good with anybody I am good with, they just need to see this and all is well. It is a totally different ball game if I'm not good with a person or if the dogs do not get an okay from me. My boy was just enjoying and soaking up all the attention, and if I let him, he would willingly follow the little boy anywhere.

Small world we live in here. Who would have known that not only would you and DidiLove1 be sitting close by, but also would notice what was happening around us? As I said earlier, unfortunately I was not a petlander at the time otherwise I would have known to look out for you guys.

DidiLove1:


I sat close to this family as well, chaperoned by their mum and granny (I think). I took a lot of pictures at the event, may have one of you and your dog! Like the organizers mentioned, next walk comes up in April or May. God-willing, I will be there.

i hope u update us with the event then

blasiangurl85:
Wanted to post these pictures yesterday but I think the Internet connection was bad.

Out for a walk
Lemon time
Trying to take a selfie with shadow
The deadly looking prong collar

Mere looking at the prong collar shows its dangerous.

bonetalk:

i hope u update us with the event then

The organizers stated that they will have pictures of the event up on social media platforms so I didn't bother with putting up any of my own pictures. I only realized later that they had pictures only on their Facebook page. If I make the next walk, I will definitely create a thread on here with pictures.

blasiangurl85:
Wanted to post these pictures yesterday but I think the Internet connection was bad.
Out for a walk
Lemon time
Trying to take a selfie with shadow
The deadly looking prong collar

blasiangurl85:
Wanted to post these pictures yesterday but I think the Internet connection was bad.
Out for a walk
Lemon time
Trying to take a selfie with shadow
The deadly looking prong collar

Hello blasiangurl85.

If you do not mind, and with your permission I would like to say a few (or maybe not so few) words about walking Shadow.

uchpanila:


Mere looking at the prong collar shows its dangerous.

Yep, if not used properly it can be dangerous.

LordRegalia:


Hello blasiangurl85.

If you do not mind, and with your permission I would like to say a few (or maybe not so few) words about walking Shadow.

Nope don't mind at all

blasiangurl85:

Nope don't mind at all

That's great then. Thank you. My comments here are based on what I can see from the photos of you walking Shadow. I could be wrong in my assumptions though, as it is very possible that you normally do the walk differently, so again, the comments are purely based on what the photos show.

The two aspects that caught my attention are, Shadow's place / position during the walk and, the leash / style with which you walk him. I will elaborate on these observations.

From the photos, Shadow is on your right hand side. Ideally, your dog should be on your left hand and both of you should walk against the direction of vehicular traffic. That way, you get to see and anticipate any vehicles coming your way as well as quickly evade any erratic driving. You cannot effectively do this while walking along the same direction of vehicular traffic unless you want to keep looking behind you all the time. Also, remember that you and your dog's reactions to sudden surprises (like a truck or bike suddenly blaring it's horn right behind you) may not always be in sync and you want to avoid a situation where the dog is so freaked out by a surprise that in shock or while instinctively attempting to avoid it, makes a bad judgment call and right into the path of another vehicle coming from behind. It does happen. Which is why it is best to walk against the direction of vehicular traffic, because that way you have visual access to whatever is coming your way and can make the best judgment call in time for both you and your dog.

In addition to this, while walking with your dog on your left hand side and both of you against the direction of vehicles, try to ensure that you keep to the most extreme left of the path / walkway as you can so that whenever other pedestrians pass you from either front or behind, you are always between them and your dog. Remember dogs react differently to different people and also people sometimes may consciously or unconsciously do things that draw the dog's attention to them. So with you in between your dog and pedestrians, you are the first line of defense against any untoward reactions between dog and human, ie, the dog has to cross you to reach a person and in the time it takes to do that, you can always shush or correct it. This also applies with people who have strong scents emanating from their person or anything they may be carrying. Remember dogs have a keen sense of smell. Try to imagine Shadow's reaction to a person carrying a bag with something in it that smells like his favourite meal (and of course the bag would most likely be carried at the same level as his height).

Secondly, the leash you use and the style of use. From the photo, I can see why you sometimes get shoulder pain while walking Shadow. It is because you are holding the leash with one hand and that same hand is outstretched in front of you. What you need is a longer, more comfortable leash and also to change your style of holding the leash with the dog tethered to it. I will explain further below. The way it is in the photo is better suited for small breed dogs like the Lhasa Apso and not for large breeds like the GSD.

Picture this scenario; you are enjoying a nice lovely walk with Shadow and suddenly from nowhere a goat or ram appears and Shadow decides to pounce on or chase it. You are going to have a very hard time maintaining your balance let alone controlling the dog. And that is if you were lucky enough to see the goat / ram on time. If Shadow sees it before you do and takes action with you still unawares, you would most likely lose grip of the leash and Shadow is off unbridled in full prey drive mode. Or if you have a tight grip on the leash but still caught unawares, you would be dragged off like a rag-doll and probably fall flat on your face.

The style I am about to describe is actually the proper way to walk a dog, any dog. You need to get a longer leash; the type that is about 2 or 2 and half yards long, has a circular profile along it's length (it's easier on the hand and more comfortable to hold) and also has a loop at the opposite end. It affords you a two handed hold on the leash and better control of the dog and by extension, your balance at all times. How do you use it? With the dog on your left hand side, you wear the looped end of the leash on your right wrist, let the length of the leash hang lose in front and across your body and hook the latch on the opposite end on Shadow's collar. And then you have your left hand holding the body of the leash at some point anywhere between a third and half of the entire length of the leash (regulating the tension or slack you grant the dog on the leash). That is, dog on the left hooked to leash, left hand holding a portion of the leash, the rest of the leash hanging loose in front of you all the way across to your right wrist where the end of the leash is looped. You may also choose to twine the middle portion of the leash once or twice around your left hand in addition to it's hold on it as well as grip the portion of the leash just after the loop with your right hand in addition to having it looped over your right wrist. (I hope the description is not confusing). With this, you have a 2 - 4 step secure grip and better control over your dog at all times. It is also a lot more comfortable for your posture and you can hardly be caught so unawares as to lose your balance. The great thing about this 2-handed style is that if you and your dog perfect the usage, you can actually walk for hours with your dog without having to say a word to control it throughout because your left hand is regulating the dog's position at all times. In fact, the leash becomes the only means of communication between you and your dog because the tension and / or slack would say a lot and instinctively either of you would adjust your positions accordingly depending on what message one sends to the other via the leash. And if your dog is a natural that stays by your side at all times, you would find that you would only need loop the opposite end around your right wrist and not even need to grip the leash with either hand, thus freeing up both hands for other things like gesturing, carrying stuff or simply doing nothing at all.

You can give it a try. I am certain that you would love it.

@LordRegalia thanks so much for the advice. Someone has actually told me the same thing and I try to practice it when we are out for walks. I always keep him on my left. I don't do the hand thing but I will from now on. I've never really looked at if we are facing traffic or not so i will take note from now on. The lady in the picture isn't me, she's my friend. She actually wanted to see if Shadow would allow her walk him. So i let them and quickly took the pictures. You know I actually thought a shorter leash would be better for him and was going to buy one tomorrow. I saw a super short leash in the pet store.
We are going for our walk/jog this weekend so i will definitely practice all you have said and give you feedback.
Thanks once again for the advice

blasiangurl85:
@LordRegalia thanks so much for the advice. Someone has actually told me the same thing and I try to practice it when we are out for walks. I always keep him on my left. I don't do the hand thing but I will from now on. I've never really looked at if we are facing traffic or not so i will take note from now on. The lady in the picture isn't me, she's my friend. She actually wanted to see if Shadow would allow her walk him. So i let them and quickly took the pictures. You know I actually thought a shorter leash would be better for him and was going to buy one tomorrow. I saw a super short leash in the pet store.
We are going for our walk/jog this weekend so i will definitely practice all you have said and give you feedback.
Thanks once again for the advice

You are most welcome blasiangurl85. I am glad that you appreciate the advice and I have no doubt that you would find it truly helpful. It may take a bit of conscious effort to master but in the end it's easy like Sunday and perfect for walking multiple dogs.

I would gladly look forward to your feedback from your walk / jog this weekend and I hope it all works out great.

So i was supposed to jog/walk shadow last weekend but so many things came up and i couldn't. But good news we went jogging on Saturday and I must say it felt so good. I know the both of us enjoyed it a lot. And he was really good. I told my nephew to come with me as "back up" because i just kept having this vision of Shadow getting so excited and he would run so fast and end up dragging me like a rag-doll but thankfully it didn't happen. He is a really good jogging partner and I'm really excited because I've always been giving excuses that I want a jogging partner and now I've found the perfect partner. He never once tried to out run me. When i slowed down he slowed down as well. He was a bit excited when we first stepped out but after a few minutes he calmed down. Luckily there weren't much people out so I didn't really have to worry much. Jogging is an excellent way to keep your dog focused. Shadow didn't stray even when we passed the dreaded grassy area. Normally he would drag me to the grass by all means but because he was focused on keeping up with me we passed that area twice and he didn't even notice. We did see a cat though but he just walked passed it. Raised with 6 cats he is used to seeing cats run around.
Before I decided on jogging with him I got the all clear from the vet because of his fracture last year. I also did a little research of my own.
1. For large breeds you shouldn't start jogging with them until they are at least a year old, ideally 18 months. Because their bones are still growing and they haven't fully developed. Shadow is roughly 13 months plus. The reason I decided to start after a year is because I feel he needs this to burn off his excess energy. Whenever we play I see him dash around the yard and even though the compound is quite spacious, I can see that Shadow still needs more space to run around.
2. Never feed your dog prior to jogging or running. If you do you have to wait at least 4 hours for the food to digest. You also have to wait at least an hour after you're back to feed your dog in order to prevent indigestion and/or bloat. I usually give shadow his dinner by 6pm but i had to wait till 8pm because we got back around 6:45pm. I'm still thinking about it because he has been on a strict feeding schedule so this kinda messes up the whole thing.
3. Always start lightly especially if you have a dog that hasn't been exercised in a long time. What we did was interval jogging and walking. He didn't seem too tired when we got back because he immediately started playing with babydog and puppydog(formerly called sheep).
4. Never take your dog out to jog when the weather is hot. Dogs tend to overheat because their whole body is covered with fur. Also the hot tarmac roads can hurt their paws. The day i took him out was a bit hot so i had to wait till the sun went down and it cooled down a bit before we went out.
5. Always make sure you have water for your dog if you're going out for long. He/she should learn to drink from a water bottle if you're out.
6. I'm very unfit. We went out for 40 minutes and by the time i was back i thought it was the end of the world. Now i know its not only shadow that needs the exercise. We will be going again today if the weather permits. I think I'm becoming addicted to jogging with Shadow already. I can't wait to take him out this evening

blasiangurl85:
Shadow's Temperament

I believe anyone who has a German Shepherd will agree that they are one of the most hyper dogs. His nickname is Shadow the Destroyer. He has destroyed clothes,umbrellas, plants, shoes. We used to plant a few things in our garden but he destroyed them all. His energy level is so much, i would take him out for an hour long walk sometimes and he would still come home and run around. What I do like about Shadow is his confidence. He isn't scared of anything(so far). His confidence is always mistaken for aggression and I think he's beginning to enjoy scaring people though. He has learned that when he barks someone screams and runs away and is beginning to test himself. I never want my dog to be aggressive because i don't want a dog i cannot control. Dogs generally will protect their space if they feel threatened and that is how shadow is. If you are confident he will test you but back down if you don't flinch. But the moment you scream or run he will chase after you. Shadow has never really attacked anyone but I can say he has come close. I don't know if he would have really attacked the person because I held him down.
There's one thing I see often here, people wanting an aggressive dog. Now this is just my opinion, most times people want dogs that are aggressive but aren't ready to invest the time to train and bond with the dog properly. I see no point in someone having a dog so aggressive that they can't even control the dog. I'm going to derail a bit here but i remember growing up I had this neighbour who had this dog so aggressive that once it was released from it's cage no one could come out of the house. I don't see why one would put themselves in such a situation. So what if there was an emergency and they all needed to rush out? At the time I had a little lhasa called baby and she was so protective over me that if anyone yelled at me or even playfully tapped me she would immediately try to protect me. Even anyone in my family. To me that is the true form of protection. Not a vicious dog that won't differentiate between friend or foe. For me i don't believe an aggressive dog equals a good guard dog. I've read so many stories of dogs risking their lives to protect their owners and none of these dogs where guard dogs. They were all family owned pets. If you really want your dog to protect you, let the dog become part of the family. Just like a wolf pack they will always protect their own.

I agree with you on this. I have a male Rott. People around here say he's the largest they've seen around even at 2 years old. He lives with me in the house, I don't have a cage for it. When he needs to poo-poo, he goes outside the compound to do it, plays for a while and comes back in. He doesn't disturb anyone on the street. People go around their normal biz except for those who are strangers and don't know him. In the house though, he's something else. People also say Rotts can't be kept with kids. There are 5 kids in my house and there haven't been any serious incident with them. When am going out, I lock it up with crates of eggs and day old chicks and nothing happens to both. It all boils down to how we train and socialize our dogs. A dog should be sensibly aggressive. It should be able to know who is a friend or a foe. Those who don't control their dog aggression are just looking for trouble in the form of police case and huge hospital bills.
A nice job you are doing with Shadow (and this write-up).

blasiangurl85:
It's really been a challenge finding the perfect toy for shadow. Most of them he's destroyed in a day. Even tug ropes. He finds a way to unravel everything. The only one that lasted a bit longer was a large tennis ball I found at shoprite. I have bought about 6 of them so far. Someone suggested I get him a wooden ball another person said iron ball he really lives up to his name as the DESTROYER

Have you tried getting coconuts with the husk intact? I mean coconuts that weren't pealed after it was harvested. Let your dog do something constructive with it's teeth. I get those for Bullet and he peals it clean for me. If you leave the coconut long enough, he might crack it for you.

peterbello:


I agree with you on this. I have a male Rott. People around here say he's the largest they've seen around even at 2 years old. He lives with me in the house, I don't have a cage for it. When he needs to poo-poo, he goes outside the compound to do it, plays for a while and comes back in. He doesn't disturb anyone on the street. People go around their normal biz except for those who are strangers and don't know him. In the house though, he's something else. People also say Rotts can't be kept with kids. There are 5 kids in my house and there haven't been any serious incident with them. When am going out, I lock it up with crates of eggs and day old chicks and nothing happens to both. It all boils down to how we train and socialize our dogs. A dog should be sensibly aggressive. It should be able to know who is a friend or a foe. Those who don't control their dog aggression are just looking for trouble in the form of police case and huge hospital bills.
A nice job you are doing with Shadow (and this write-up).

Thank you. I doubt I can keep shadow with eggs though

peterbello:


Have you tried getting coconuts with the husk intact? I mean coconuts that weren't pealed after it was harvested. Let your dog do something constructive with it's teeth. I get those for Bullet and he peals it clean for me. If you leave the coconut long enough, he might crack it for you.

Hmmmm I will definitely try this. I'm sure it will keep him very busy. I gave up on buying those hard pigskin treats you get at the pet store because the last one I bought they told me he would take at least a week to finish it only for me to see he had eaten it all up in less than a day

Monday evening, as soon as he saw the leash in my hand he ran to the gate. I love how he sits patiently for me to come. But I was busy trying to take pictures and he got restless. Nearly got the gate open

@ Shadow's pixes, Me really likey ..... Naevia does that too whenever we are about to take a walk. I must reiterate, Shadow is a fine boi! #NoHomo

Akunyun:
@ Shadow's pixes, Me really likey ..... Naevia does that too whenever we are about to take a walk. I must reiterate, Shadow is a fine boi! #NoHomo

Lolz@No homo.

Thumbs Up @ Blasiangirl....for showing us just how fun and interesting a k9-human relationship could be.

LordRegalia:


That's great then. Thank you. My comments here are based on what I can see from the photos of you walking Shadow. I could be wrong in my assumptions though, as it is very possible that you normally do the walk differently, so again, the comments are purely based on what the photos show.

The two aspects that caught my attention are, Shadow's place / position during the walk and, the leash / style with which you walk him. I will elaborate on these observations.

From the photos, Shadow is on your right hand side. Ideally, your dog should be on your left hand and both of you should walk against the direction of vehicular traffic. That way, you get to see and anticipate any vehicles coming your way as well as quickly evade any erratic driving. You cannot effectively do this while walking along the same direction of vehicular traffic unless you want to keep looking behind you all the time. Also, remember that you and your dog's reactions to sudden surprises (like a truck or bike suddenly blaring it's horn right behind you) may not always be in sync and you want to avoid a situation where the dog is so freaked out by a surprise that in shock or while instinctively attempting to avoid it, makes a bad judgment call and right into the path of another vehicle coming from behind. It does happen. Which is why it is best to walk against the direction of vehicular traffic, because that way you have visual access to whatever is coming your way and can make the best judgment call in time for both you and your dog.

In addition to this, while walking with your dog on your left hand side and both of you against the direction of vehicles, try to ensure that you keep to the most extreme left of the path / walkway as you can so that whenever other pedestrians pass you from either front or behind, you are always between them and your dog. Remember dogs react differently to different people and also people sometimes may consciously or unconsciously do things that draw the dog's attention to them. So with you in between your dog and pedestrians, you are the first line of defense against any untoward reactions between dog and human, ie, the dog has to cross you to reach a person and in the time it takes to do that, you can always shush or correct it. This also applies with people who have strong scents emanating from their person or anything they may be carrying. Remember dogs have a keen sense of smell. Try to imagine Shadow's reaction to a person carrying a bag with something in it that smells like his favourite meal (and of course the bag would most likely be carried at the same level as his height).

Secondly, the leash you use and the style of use. From the photo, I can see why you sometimes get shoulder pain while walking Shadow. It is because you are holding the leash with one hand and that same hand is outstretched in front of you. What you need is a longer, more comfortable leash and also to change your style of holding the leash with the dog tethered to it. I will explain further below. The way it is in the photo is better suited for small breed dogs like the Lhasa Apso and not for large breeds like the GSD.

Picture this scenario; you are enjoying a nice lovely walk with Shadow and suddenly from nowhere a goat or ram appears and Shadow decides to pounce on or chase it. You are going to have a very hard time maintaining your balance let alone controlling the dog. And that is if you were lucky enough to see the goat / ram on time. If Shadow sees it before you do and takes action with you still unawares, you would most likely lose grip of the leash and Shadow is off unbridled in full prey drive mode. Or if you have a tight grip on the leash but still caught unawares, you would be dragged off like a rag-doll and probably fall flat on your face.

The style I am about to describe is actually the proper way to walk a dog, any dog. You need to get a longer leash; the type that is about 2 or 2 and half yards long, has a circular profile along it's length (it's easier on the hand and more comfortable to hold) and also has a loop at the opposite end. It affords you a two handed hold on the leash and better control of the dog and by extension, your balance at all times. How do you use it? With the dog on your left hand side, you wear the looped end of the leash on your right wrist, let the length of the leash hang lose in front and across your body and hook the latch on the opposite end on Shadow's collar. And then you have your left hand holding the body of the leash at some point anywhere between a third and half of the entire length of the leash (regulating the tension or slack you grant the dog on the leash). That is, dog on the left hooked to leash, left hand holding a portion of the leash, the rest of the leash hanging loose in front of you all the way across to your right wrist where the end of the leash is looped. You may also choose to twine the middle portion of the leash once or twice around your left hand in addition to it's hold on it as well as grip the portion of the leash just after the loop with your right hand in addition to having it looped over your right wrist. (I hope the description is not confusing). With this, you have a 2 - 4 step secure grip and better control over your dog at all times. It is also a lot more comfortable for your posture and you can hardly be caught so unawares as to lose your balance. The great thing about this 2-handed style is that if you and your dog perfect the usage, you can actually walk for hours with your dog without having to say a word to control it throughout because your left hand is regulating the dog's position at all times. In fact, the leash becomes the only means of communication between you and your dog because the tension and / or slack would say a lot and instinctively either of you would adjust your positions accordingly depending on what message one sends to the other via the leash. And if your dog is a natural that stays by your side at all times, you would find that you would only need loop the opposite end around your right wrist and not even need to grip the leash with either hand, thus freeing up both hands for other things like gesturing, carrying stuff or simply doing nothing at all.

You can give it a try. I am certain that you would love it.

Sorry to say this. The whole explanation is too long and confusing. You are making it sound like there are special tools (leash) to walk a dog. In the absence of all that, it means someone shouldn't bother walking a dog. IMO, all I see as the problem here is she not being the alpha dog. She's not assertive enough. A very easy way to make him heel is to walk him on a short but loose leash. Your leash-hand by your side. As soon as the dog goes ahead of you, you stop and make him sit. Then you move again. If you start walking again and he pulls, you stop. But when he heels, you reward him (with a treat or praise). That way you are indirectly telling him that he won't get to walk if he doesn't walk by your side. He'll catch the drift after 2 or 3 outings. GSDs are smart and learn fast. Making the leash short doesn't give him room to run around or to lag. With time, he'll heel even on a long leash or a thread.

peterbello:

Sorry to say this. The whole explanation is too long and confusing. You are making it sound like there are special tools (leash) to walk a dog. In the absence of all that, it means someone shouldn't bother walking a dog. IMO, all I see as the problem here is she not being the alpha dog. She's not assertive enough. A very easy way to make him heel is to walk him on a short but loose leash. Your leash-hand by your side. As soon as the dog goes ahead of you, you stop and make him sit. Then you move again. If you start walking again and he pulls, you stop. But when he heels, you reward him (with a treat or praise). That way you are indirectly telling him that he won't get to walk if he doesn't walk by your side. He'll catch the drift after 2 or 3 outings. GSDs are smart and learn fast. Making the leash short doesn't give him room to run around or to lag. With time, he'll heel even on a long leash or a thread.

Hello peterbello.

Thank you for the points you raised and the tips you shared. I understand the description is rather long, but it is only because I was trying to be as detailed as possible for those who may want to try it out but may have some difficulty imagining the technique. And there is really nothing confusing about it either. In another thread on this forum, younghartz posted a photo that perfectly illustrates this technique. Please follow this link to see the photo.
https://www.nairaland.com/2981906/gettn-nicky-pregnant-pics
It is the photo in which someone is standing behind the dog Nicky while holding her on the leash.

It is pertinent for me to state at this point that I did not develop or formulate the style. Rather it has been variously described on many dog training websites and fora and has also been tagged the proper way to walk a dog.

Now, I perfectly understand the short leash, stop and treats style which you described. I have used it as well to train a couple of my boerboels, only I was training them to walk OFF THE LEASH in public and instead of treats, I used praise. (Please for anyone reading this, do not try to walk your dog off the leash in public. It takes your total understanding of your dog and it’s absolute obedience to your verbal commands to achieve this. I had a special and peculiar reason for doing this. I was trying to solve a problem with one of my dogs and while I was extremely careful, the entire process took almost 3 months to perfect and so now I can confidently walk those dogs off the leash even in a crowded marketplace).

Anyway, back to your description, the short leash style, though effective in it’s own way is best suited for 3 kinds of dogs;

Dogs that are naturally calm and submissive, confident in your leadership and have no interest in being alpha.

Dogs that are not easily excitable (mostly senior dogs 4 or 5 years old and above who have seen it all fall into this category).

Service or working dogs that have been thoroughly trained by professionals and instilled with a very high level of discipline from a very young age. With these particular dogs, the leash is merely for show to set other pedestrians at ease, but in reality such dogs can be walked and taken anywhere off the leash.



But assess the following, and see that you cannot effectively use the short leash for the following types of dogs and scenarios;


You cannot use the short leash with an overly protective dog; one that simply would not easily allow anyone anywhere near you without scrutinizing the person first. These dogs react protectively so fast before words can be used to restrain them, let alone physical reflex with the leash. And I do not mean reacting with aggression, but merely attempting to shield you from any newcomer but in such a way that would set the person on edge. (I have one of these types). Bear in mind that some people’s reactions when such a dog does this may also set off some pretty undesirable chain of events with the dog.

You cannot use the short leash with a dominant dog. True you may be the alpha, but a dominant dog will constantly challenge the owner’s authority and look for the slightest loophole through which to assume the alpha position. It will always seek to have it’s way and will obey grudgingly. These dogs will ALWAYS try to have their own way and require constant vigilance on the part of the owner.

A short leash is of no use with an easily excitable or hyper dog. Such a dog may appear calm in a no-distraction situation but is completely different when there are distractions. Imagine trying to control such a dog with a short leash when there is another and / or strange dog nearby.

It is rather difficult to control a young adolescent dog (especially the large breeds) with a short leash, even if they have been very well behaved from puppyhood. These are dogs within the age bracket that Shadow currently is in now and the reason why they are difficult to control is because at this stage of their development, they are becoming self-aware and feel the need to test their strength / confidence and stretch their boundaries and this sometimes is manifested in their challenging their owners one way on another. It is a stage to be dreaded as most dogs are at their absolute worst behaviour then. This is also the stage during which most dogs become aggressive as it is the stage when they realize that they have the ability to intimidate people and tend to want to exercise this ability. Even blasiangurl85 has described a little of this behaviour in Shadow where he tests people’s confidence.

You cannot use the short leash style when you are not the alpha of your dog or pack of dogs. That much is pretty obvious.

You cannot effectively use the short leash to walk multiple dogs.

It goes without saying that when you have badly behaved dogs on a short leash, you find it difficult to maintain your own balance, let alone effectively control them.


In conclusion, the short leash method, though effective in it’s own way, is not a sure-fire solution in all cases and scenarios. With a long leash, come what may, you stand a much better chance of averting disaster than with a short leash.

An equally interesting thing about the long leash method is that with it, you can effectively and perfectly mimic the short leash method. All it involves is the amount of tension / slack you grant the dog with your left hand.

And to be quite frank, when I first started out with buying and training my own dogs, I was using the short leash method and had so many types of the short leash. But at some point i discovered that out in public, the short leash was not always effective, safe or comfortable and I had to switch to and learn the long leash method. It has been years now and I have not looked back ever since.


Thank you.

LordRegalia, I appreciate the time you took to explain. I also learned some things. But my emphasis isn't on a physical short leash. All I am saying is the leash should be folded/rolled short. And that's just for the training session. As soon as the dog learns to walk right, you can release the leash length as long as you want. But from experience, it's better you always make your leash short. No matter the temperament of a dog, it still needs to learn who the Boss is and how to walk with the Boss. Dogs can easily sense tension. Gripping your leash excessively sends a wrong message to the dog and also to passers-by. The dog will wanna protect you cos you are not exuding enough confidence with the 2 handed grip. Likewise, people will panic with the way you hold your leash and they start to act funny; which will in turn get the dog's attention.
I have a lot of explanations to do but I don't have the time. It all boils down to being the alpha dog. Cos with all your muscles, 2 hands and big chains, if big dog wan pull u, e go drag u with ease.
I use the Cesar Milan approach.

Sorry for my join-join post. I hope you understand it.

peterbello:
LordRegalia, I appreciate the time you took to explain. I also learned some things. But my emphasis isn't on a physical short leash. All I am saying is the leash should be folded/rolled short. And that's just for the training session. As soon as the dog learns to walk right, you can release the leash length as long as you want. But from experience, it's better you always make your leash short. No matter the temperament of a dog, it still needs to learn who the Boss is and how to walk with the Boss. Dogs can easily sense tension. Gripping your leash excessively sends a wrong message to the dog and also to passers-by. The dog will wanna protect you cos you are not exuding enough confidence with the 2 handed grip. Likewise, people will panic with the way you hold your leash and they start to act funny; which will in turn get the dog's attention.
I have a lot of explanations to do but I don't have the time. It all boils down to being the alpha dog. Cos with all your muscles, 2 hands and big chains, if big dog wan pull u, e go drag u with ease.
I use the Cesar Milan approach.
Sorry for my join-join post. I hope you understand it.

Hello peterbello.

Again, thank you for your comments. I believe on some level, we are saying the same thing. But then again on some others, you seem to misunderstand my explanation.

Agreed, you need to keep the leash short till the dog learns who the boss is, and then allow the slack as long as you want when he does learn. All that is possible with the 2-handed long leash method. It is just a matter adjusting the length of the leash you allow the dog with your left hand.

But my main emphasis is; with a one-handed grip on the leash, whether long or short, the chances are higher that you could lose control of the dog or the leash entirely in a situation where the dog is excited and or reactive. With a 2-hand grip on the leash under the exact same circumstances, the chances of that happening are slimmer.

Now, where it appears you misunderstand, having a 2-hand grip in no way implies that you must grip the leash with tension and with all your muscles. It is simply a style of holding the leash. How relaxed or tensed up (muscle or no muscle) the handler's grip is is merely dependent on the level of confidence of the handler and / or the dynamics between handler and dog at any given time. Let me illustrate; when driving and holding the steering wheel with both hands, the tightness and tension with which the driver grips the steering wheel is largely dependent on the driver's experience and confidence and also on the particular driving situation at any point in time. The way you sit and grip your steering wheel when cruising mildly is much different from the way you (or someone else) would sit and grip that same steering wheel in rush hour bumper to bumper traffic.

I walk my dogs every single day irrespective of what time I get home and sometimes on Saturday mornings. Here's a description of how we look when I walk them; me walking 2 - 4 large boerboels at the same time, all dogs at my left hand side and right beside me, 2 - 4 leashes looped around my right wrist, my left hand may or may not even be holding the central part of the leash, both hands on my phone because I am chatting, sending emails or even writing a post on nairaland, my head down focusing on the phone and my ears covered with headphones because I'm ALWAYS listening to mp3s. I am not looking where we are going, neither can I hear the outside world and yet we are passing by different people and cars without incident. Does that in any way seem like a tensed up, muscles flexing grip on leash walk?

Thank you Peterbello and LordRegalia for both inputs. I really appreciate it. Like i said earlier, Shadow is my first large breed dog and I'm still learning. One of the reasons I decided to do a post on shadow was to share what I've learned so far and also get input from more experienced people. Let me say I've tried both methods of holding the leash. And to be honest I don't really know which one is better. I mentioned earlier that I was about to purchase a shorter leash because I thought it would be better for Mr Shadow but I decided to try LordRegalia's suggestion on our walk jog this week and I think I'm seeing an improvement. I'm able to hold on to him better and balance myself better especially when I need to correct him if he's going too far. Someone had shown me this method before but I didn't follow through. With a dog like shadow it's really hard to keep him focused. Trust me I have tried everything from ceasar milan to George zak and a host of other dog trainers out there. Even treats don't work for him after a while. I've tried clicker training as well. Didn't work out. I have done the stop and sit and treat or praise when he was younger and it worked for some time. But as he grew older it wasn't really working anymore. He's not bad when walking, only the first few minutes we are out he's a bit excited but after about five minutes he calmly walks (almost) beside me. The jogging has really helped to focus his attention on us instead of other things around which I really like. I'm hoping that in time he will learn not to be so excited as soon as we step out.

Out jogging on Monday. It was fun. But then some crazy kid decided he wanted to taunt Shadow. I don't know why he would even try something like that. Thank goodness I had a good grip on shadow. Obviously Shadows protective instinct kicked in and he almost lunged at the boy.
@Peterbello like you said I had to wrap my hand around the leash for extra grip.


Why do dogs need to be walked on the left hand side? I have no idea. And Shadow also doesn't like it. He instinctively goes to my right and I always have to correct him. Is there any reason why it has to be the left?

Got Pet mince and chicken back from Prodeegee. Packed it up in individual bags for each day. The next two weeks are sorted

Even the cat couldn't resist some of the pet mince

Yummy food time

blasiangurl85:
Out jogging on Monday. It was fun. But then some crazy kid decided he wanted to taunt Shadow. I don't know why he would even try something like that. Thank goodness I had a good grip on shadow. Obviously Shadows protective instinct kicked in and he almost lunged at the boy.
@Peterbello like you said I had to wrap my hand around the leash for extra grip.
Why do dogs need to be walked on the left hand side? I have no idea. And Shadow also doesn't like it. He instinctively goes to my right and I always have to correct him. Is there any reason why it has to be the left?

Hello blasiangurl85.

I really have no idea why the dog has to be on the left side. I do not know the reasons or origins of keeping them on the left but it just seems to be the generally accepted position on all fora, articles and every other thing dog related.

Perhaps you started walking him on the right and he got used to it and so he is finding it a bit difficult to adjust to being on the left. Just keep correcting him and he'll get used to it. My own dogs are all so used to being on the left, they hate to be on the right even for a second. If you forget or you don't know, they will correct you and move to the left.

Do not worry about Shadow's behaviour at nothing seemingly working like before. Like I said, it's the puberty and young adolescence stage of his growth and development; he is becoming increasingly self aware and is merely testing his mettle and how far he can get away with things. This phase lasts a few months and can be frustrating but you just have to remain firm and maintain your rules and boundaries. With time he'll be fine, sweet and obedient again if you remain steadfast with your rules. Just do not let him get away with having his own way or you could end up with a badly behaved adult dog when the phase is over.

Oops! Almost forgot. I am glad that you see an improvement in general control and with your balance with the 2 hand grip method.


Keep up the good work.

lordregalia! Whoa! Hw did you achieve walking your dogs without the leash? Dnt dey get attractive to fowls or sheep or dogs?

Nicky will keep pulling when we're ready to walkout bt after a long walk,while coming back she walks side to side with me

Most times I like using the red leash which is short bt d yellow one is too long

younghartz:
lordregalia! Whoa! Hw did you achieve walking your dogs without the leash? Dnt dey get attractive to fowls or sheep or dogs?
Nicky will keep pulling when we're ready to walkout bt after a long walk,while coming back she walks side to side with me
Most times I like using the red leash which is short bt d yellow one is too long

Hello younghartz.

Achieving walking my dogs off the leash was no small feat. And like I said, I was trying to solve a problem with a particular dog, so it was a necessity. I would love describe it here, but perhaps we would need to ask blasiangurl85's permission first. It is, after all her's and Shadow's thread.

LordRegalia:



Hello younghartz.

Achieving walking my dogs off the leash was no small feat. And like I said, I was trying to solve a problem with a particular dog, so it was a necessity. I would love describe it here, but perhaps we would need to ask blasiangurl85's permission first. It is, after all her's and Shadow's thread.

LordRegalia please share how you achieved walking off leash with your dogs. It's my dream to be able to do that but realistically I don't know if it's possible. One step at a time. First let me achieve a perfect heel position

Akunyun:
@ Shadow's pixes, Me really likey ..... Naevia does that too whenever we are about to take a walk. I must reiterate, Shadow is a fine boi! #NoHomo

Yes it's really cute when they do that. Thank you, Shadow is my handsome boy

YhungCE0:


Lolz@No homo.

Thumbs Up @ Blasiangirl....for showing us just how fun and interesting a k9-human relationship could be.

Thanks, it's one of the most rewarding relationships one can have