WHAT’S ON YOUR SHOPPING LIST? By Diane L. Bauman If I send you to the grocery store with a shopping list of everything you should not buy, how long will it take you to shop? Obviously, it is a lot simpler and much more efficient to carry a list of every thing you should buy when shopping. There is no reason to clutter your mind with information about products on the shelves you do not wish to purchase. I believe this same principle applies when we attempt to communicate with dogs. For years people have spent time telling dogs what they should not do. The preverbal “NO” is used frequently as owners exclaim, “No jump, No pull, No chew, No bark, No sniff!” Some dogs probably think their name is
To understand why a dog pulls on a leash and how to stop it, think about the age old game of “tug of war.” In order to play this game you must have a rope (leash) and someone pulling on both sides in opposite directions. If you were engaged in a game of “tug of war” and the person you were tugging against suddenly let go of the rope, you could no longer pull against it. We use this same principle when teaching dogs not to pull on a leash. In order for a dog to pull you on a leash, you must be pulling back! When a dog pulls, avoid pulling back on the leash by moving your end of the leash suddenly towards the dog. This immediately releases the pressure on the leash in the same way that a perso
