Dear Dogcharmer,
My dog Hudson loves to go for walks.
Recently my wife Denise and I had to teach all day, so we asked my neighbor Christine (whom he knows very well) to walk him at lunchtime. When we came home, Christine told us that Huddie refused to go out with her. There was even a protest-type growl!
Even treats would not persuade this stubborn dog to walk with our next-door neighbor! Can you help me?
Bobby D.
Dear Bobby D.,
As with most dog-related issues, I’ve encountered this situation quite a few times. Telling Rover to cross his legs and “hold it till I get home after a couple of beers with my co-workers after work,” is likely to result with Rover flipping you the bird and your having to use lots of odor neutralizers. That’s why doggie daycare centers are big business, not to mention some very successful dogwalking enterprises. Many of the dog walkers in Manhattan are so busy that they limit their geographic areas of work to a 10- or 15-square-block radius.
So, with all these virtual strangers coming into the dog’s den without anyone home but the dog, it’s not unreasonable to imagine Rover’s refusal (or in this case Huddie’s) to cooperate, even if Rover knows the person. Dogs are strong creatures of habit, and if every time Rover met the neighbor it was with his owners present; being alone for the arrival of the neighbor will make many dogs uncomfortable. Couple that with then asking the dog to leave its home, the most powerful and cherished comfort zone in the dog’s world — with a stranger no less — and cooperation may be the last thing on the dog’s mind.
So what I’ve done in these situations is leave a harness on the dog, with a four- or five-foot flat leash attached, but with the handle of the leash cut off. This makes the leash less likely to get hung up on something, and the harness instead of a collar eliminates a choking hazard. The neighbor, upon entering the dog’s domain, should immediately use the dog’s name in a happy greeting, and offer Rover a treat as he picks up the attached leash and the “walking” leash with a handle, and immediately start heading to the door. Once outside, or even before, the leashes can be exchanged. Having trained Manhattan apartment-dwelling dogs for 25 years, I’ve used this method successfully countless times to help dogwalkers with recalcitrant dogs.
Good luck,
The Dogcharmer
Have a question for the Dogcharmer? Write him at dogsrshelby@msn.com.
