Riley and her Leash Aggression

I must share this photo of my little fatty. She was able to do the entire hike...way to go Riley!

I used to not be able to take Riley on walks, she was really dog aggressive (barking and lunging) on the leash. When she wasn't on the leash, she would be fine with dogs so dog parks would be ok.

Anyway, it wasn't that I didn't walk her, I mean, we would always take her to friends houses with dogs, and would go to the dog park. It was more that I never corrected the problem when it started to be one. I mean, the first time she ever barked at a dog, I just let it go, which was laziness and ignorance on my part. It wasn't until I trained with john that I understood that this entire thing was my fault and not Riley's. She never felt secure on the leash, she actually felt more threatened because when they feel restrained, they feel they can't defend themselves and I wasn't acting like a leader at the time. Therefore, every single dog that would come around us, she would lash out. Sometimes I would even take her off of the leash to allow her to sniff the dog so she would stop. Things like that, along with avoiding taking her for walks made my situation with her worse day after day...she never learned to behave on the leash.

I finally decided to put Riley through my bootcamp (she was about 2 years old when I did it). Her day to day life was being my personal cuddly bear and although I was very happy with that, I am sure she would have liked to get out. So, I decided to take charge.

Guess what? Now she goes on dog hikes with me! I am so glad I get to enjoy her outdoors now. She loves walking...LOVES IT...she loves being put in the papoose when she gets tired too (I will dig up a picture of her in the papoose, people laugh hysterically when they pass us.). Don't get me wrong, she still has some things I would like to fix, but I got her to where I wanted her to be so she can enjoy the outdoors. It definitely took time and a lot of patience...I mean, she was already set in her ways at 2 years old.

Moral of the story is: You can choose to be leader at any point in time in your dogs life. Age doesn't matter. Because I stepped up and was willing to try to solve the problem, Riley gets to hike and be with her sister, Quinn and brother, Emmitt. Our lives are all better for it. Laziness and ignorance gets you no where. Human error got your dog to be that way...now its your turn to fix it!


Tags: leash aggression, dog aggression, heel, alpha dog