If you’re teaching your dog to walk at your side, a simple way to alter the walking experience and potentially reduce distractions is to keep your dog in the center of the sidewalk exclusively. This keeps them away from the grassy edges with all the good smells and could improve success rates as a result.
Category: Posts
Green Mountain Hiking Area
Location: near Denver, Colorado
Size: very large
Quality: high – this park seems well maintained in a safe area
Ease of Access: easy – the main parking lot is right off a main road and easy to find
Features: 1 parking lot, porta potties, trash, 1 creek, 1 pond with no easy water access (water quality low), many miles of hiking paths, little shade, low traffic, difficult terrain
Cost: free
Notes: this is a fun place to hike with some excellent views of the mountains and city of Denver. This is not technically an off-leash park, however the side trails are very low traffic. The trails are fairly difficult terrain and require some level of fitness to hike (except the main path which is easier).
Recommended: yes – there are plenty of opportunities to let your dog run free without disturbing other hikers, however, you will most likely have to leash-and-unleash occasionally.
There are three high priority training items I am focusing on with Ellie:
- Ellie goes crazy for certain people and dogs (her neighborhood friends). I need to work with her on sitting calmly and letting them approach. She should be able to contain herself better.
- There are numerous areas in my neighborhood where I can leash up Ellie and walk away. I would like to leave her sight and have her remain calm and quiet. I sometimes do this at the grocery store and roughly 50% of the time I come out to a barking dog.
- I have a bad habit of saying commands multiple times. “Ellie, can you sit? Sit. Sit Ellie.” I need to stop this first and then work with Ellie to respond one the first and only try.
Progress
I’m a worrier and I often take little things too seriously because I fear where they may lead if not corrected. Adopting a puppy has been challenging because of this and it’s why I’ve worked hard to train Ellie. At roughly 6 months old she started to show signs of fearfulness towards strangers, traffic cones, Halloween decorations, and many other seemingly random things. Over the past 8 months I’ve helped her face these fears one after the next and we’ve made a lot of progress.
The other day, on our way to Petco, I was reminded of those walks and the worry I had that she might not overcome her fears. She is now 1 year and 2 months old. I glanced down at the calm and happy puppy next to me and realized those worries never came to fruition. It was just another challenge we needed to face. The point of this message is that you’ll worry about things like a good pet owner should, but don’t stress it too much. Your dog will surprise you and grow with your training over time. Stay positive and hopeful and just keep working hard!
Dog Sci by SMSHDW
Dog Sci is an amateur dog training and science blog by Sam Shadow (SMSHDW).