As a dog walker I’ve learned that one of the most important items in my line of work is a quality leash. For obvious reasons it's an imperative item for both myself and the owners of the animals I work with to have at least one on hand. When taking your dog on a walk I absolutely have to have a leash in order to safely guide your animal on our walks.
With a good leash I can take your dog outside so they can chase squirrels, bark at cats, or use the restroom. However having a good leash only goes so far. I can pull and guide and give commands all day with a leash. However your animal needs to be trained to respond to all of it or I’m not going to be able to accomplish my job as effectively.
An animal that isn’t properly trained on a leash is a hazard to everyone involved including itself. As a pet owner I am asking to work with your animals on leash etiquette. Yes part of my job is reinforcing this training but if it doesn’t come from you the owner it's going to take a lot longer to have the same kind of effect. Your animal recognizes you as the one in charge so all training is going to be best coming from you. You also have to consider that training is most effective when the animal is younger and I don’t actually interact with many puppies, meaning any training I try to implement is going to be mildly effective at best.
The reason this training is so important though is because of what it means for your animals interactions with the rest of the world on our walk. I need to be able to have control of your animal so they don’t tear up someone's yard after pooping or run into traffic because something across the street caught their attention.
Though I think one of the most common and frustrating instances I have with dogs not properly leashed trained is aggressiveness. When on a leash dogs lose some level of autonomy and they know it. It causes them to get defensive, or over excited when seeing another animal, especially other dogs. This means they get scared and react in ways they wouldn’t otherwise. Whether its super friendly dogs suddenly bearing fangs and attempting to charge across streets at another dog half its size or over expressive friendliness that is interpreted by other dogs as aggression. Both situations aren’t desirable and can be dangerous to all animals involved. Scared animals will do dangerous things like attempt to run into traffic, to attack or to run away.
All of this is to say that a properly leashed trained animal is a happier animal. If you train your animals on proper leash etiquette they’re going to enjoy walks more. If I don’t have to spend time getting them to get them safely where they want to go, your dog is going to have more time to do whatever they love on those walks whether it be sniffing around the park or finding a stick to chew on. I promise I’ll do my best to teach them, but I need your help when it comes to your animals.
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