Our dog knows more about dog walking than we do!

With the great snowstorms that hit Colorado beginning in December, our walks with our dog have been somewhat curtailed. We still walk the half mile down to mail box if the wind is blowing less than 30 miles an hour and the temperature is over 10 degrees, but the knee and thigh high snow drifts makes walking through the fields close to impossible.

So, we started walking out the driveway and on the road. At first Duncan thought this meant he could just run out the gate and find the rabbit sign everywhere. We reminded him that he had to wait, first at the gate, then after we walked onto the dirt road and were assured there were no vehicles on the road. To wait at the open gate took two reminders. To wait to be released took three times reminding him to "heel."

We might as well have tatooed that on his brain because one day we walked out and forgot to release him. He stayed by our sides for almost a thousand feet before we remembered to say, "Go!" We wondered why he didn't chase the rabbits that were scurrying for cover...

We feel blessed that this puppy that lost his home and that we found in the animal shelter has developed into such a good dog. But I know that all dogs can be just as good as him, if only their humans take the time it takes to learn how to communicate and understand that dogs are not people.

I'm sure that if Duncan was locked up all day without the exercise and discipline that his daily walks provide he would be destructive and neurotic.

So, what are you waiting for! Walk your dog.

Walking the Dog

If dogs had a natural environment like their cousins coyotes and wolves, they would migrate through their territory every day. Here in the mountains, we sometimes get a glimpse of wild dog behavior with the resident coyotes.

One winter we had an adult male trot up the road every morning around 8am. You could just about set your clock by him. He was checking out the rabbit population which was rather sparse that year. We kept our gate shut, so he didn't bother trying to get the free range chickens behind the wire fence--just went about his business of survival.

Our Irish wolfhound cross, Duncan, thrives on his twice daily walks. One first thing in the morning after we feed the horses and another in the afternoon to the mailbox a half mile down the road. There's a place on the walk home where he's required to be before we get there. If we see he's off with his nose down a hole, we'll start running to the neighbor's fence corner to beat him. When he sees us moving faster, he starts like a greyhound and ususally beats us to the post. He's just so pleased with himself when he makes it and looks rather embarassed (if a dog is capable of such emotion) when we beat him to it. It's a game and one he likes to win.

When we make the behaviors that we require from our dogs into games, we all can enjoy the challenge. It's also hard to get angry when we're laughing and puffing--trying to beat a dog that was bred to run.

So make a game of your training. Your dog will learn faster and you'll both have a better day.

Is your dog afraid of ghosts? Or that the floor will swallow him up?

At age two and a half, our dog, Duncan, mysteriously became afraid of the smooth tile floors in our dining room and kitchen. It was winter and he’d be in the kitchen with us, eating or waiting to eat, when suddenly he’d bolt, slipping on the smooth floor in the process.

It seemed like all our dog training efforts were nil. The only way he would cross the 14 feet of tile floor across the dining room was at a dead run--only if the door to the outside was wide open.

It was plain, primal fear that gripped him. I coaxed him onto the floor and lay down next to him. He stayed, but was quivering with terror. What had happened to this easygoing, relaxed dog to scare him?

Finally we realized what had happened. Last winter, K.C. was electrically charged—so much so that the Jeep doors would lock when he just touched the outside of the car. He had gently touched the long hair on Duncan’s back, shocking him. The only place it happened was when he was standing on the tile floor, and when he tried to get away, the smooth floor slipped beneath him, terrifying him as he couldn’t even escape.

Superstition is the term animal behaviorists use to explain behavior when a dog accidentally misunderstands the consequences of his actions. Our dog was clearly superstitious about the floor. It shocked him and it slid out from under him when he tried to get away.

He was terrified, and it took four months of retraining to get him to go slowly and quietly across the dining room and out the door—even with throw rugs on the floor. Now, about six months later, he walks calmly across the floor, but prefers to stay on the rugs.

It’s been an interesting lesson for me, though. In the future I think I’ll teach our dog to stay out of the kitchen. He’s a big dog and can be quite a stumbling block if I back up into him. I never thought of keeping dogs out of the kitchen, but they can be quite a nuisance when moving from stove to sink to refrigerator, carrying hot dishes, opening the oven, etc. Through Duncan’s superstitious behavior, I learned that training dogs to stay out of certain areas of the house can have its benefits.

He was already trained not to be in the kitchen while the cats were eating, and if he would come into the kitchen while one was still eating, he would leave.

Duncan’s superstition of the hard floors hurting him was a test of our leadership. It showed that he didn’t unconditionally accept us as his alpha pack members and that he didn’t completely trust us to keep him safe.

The first step in choosing the best dog for the family is understanding your own lifestyle. This may seem silly--of course, you know your lifestyle, after all you're living it every day.

But often people don't really look at the things they do everyday, but imagine how fun it will be to play with the dog on the weekends. A dog isn't a bike or boat that you can just use on the weekends or vacations. A dog is an animal that needs the security of a pack and the leadership of confident pack leaders.

So, if your idea of a good Saturday is resting around the house, be sure to get a dog with a low energy level. If you want to run every morning and bike all day on your day off, find a dog with the strength and will to run like a sled dog breed.

A high energy family needs a high energy dog. A laid back family needs a low energy dog. Although various breeds have special abilities, different levels of energy can be found in all types of dogs.

Some terriers are high energy, others are low and moderate energy. Just as within families, there are high, moderate and low energy members, so it is within dog breeds as well.

It's vital to find a dog that will mesh with your family and your lifestyle. If your family has members of differing energy levels, a dog with moderate energy might be the happy medium you're all seeking.

Another consideration is the primary caretaker of the dog. Even though all the humans in the house, from the youngest to the oldest, need to be leaders to the dog, and the dog submissive to all people, the energy level of the person who mostly interacts and walks the dog can be the deciding factor in choosing the best dog for the family.

Discover How to Make Your Dog the Best Family Dog

Sharing our lives with a family dog helps keep us balanced with the natural world. Our kids learn so much from their experiences with our family friendly dogs because with them we've brought a bit of nature into our homes.
Adding an animal member to the family, however, is not a decision to be made lightly. Picking a family dog is not unlike choosing a spouse to share the rest of our lives with.
Let's discover how to find the right dog for your family or make your dog a harmonious part of your family.