Dogs - Becoming a Gentle Leader

By: Ira Allen

Recently, we started having trouble on walks with our dog. Out of the blue, as it seemed to us, he had started snapping and snarling at passersby. We felt afraid, wary, each time we walked too close to someone on the sidewalk. I started choosing out-of-the-way routes for our walks, and avoided families with children at all costs, and my partner and I both tightened our grips on the lead when other dogs came near.

In short, we did everything wrong that we possibly could have done. The only thing we could have done worse would have been to physically punish the dog, making him still more fearful and anxious—and also sending the message that violence is an appropriate form of dominance behavior. But our response was bad enough. In short, we were telling our dog that he was right to feel anxious on walks—because we did, too—and communicating that he shouldn’t trust himself—because we certainly didn’t.

Mind you, now, I’m talking about a two-year-old dog who, up to this point, had been as gentle as can be. This isn’t a story about some horrid, permanently mean monster-dog, nor is it a story about a poor, mistreated lump of life we’d rescued from the pound but still couldn’t quite trust. This was our family dog, and we were desperate.

At first we had ignored the behavior, hoping it would go away, even casually not mentioning to one another the times when an evening walk would be accompanied by a sudden fit of growling. But it didn’t go away. It got worse. And so we finally called the animal behaviorist at the shelter, where we’d gotten our little guy when he was just a small pup.

Thank goodness we did! She did a behavior test with our dog, and immediately sent us to the vet for a check-up and a full round of blood-work (this is common practice when dogs suddenly begin having behavioral problems, as these often stem from undiagnosed physical ailments). Nothing was wrong physically, and so we went to Plan B: a fresh approach to training, plus a gentle leader.

The new training (and there’s plenty of info about this online) is based on the idea that "dominance" is not what it’s all about with dogs. Rather, your goal is to be respected as a trustworthy leader—not because you’re "dominant," but because you provide for the needs of the pack and make everybody feel secure. And the Gentle Leader (the other U.S./U.K. brand is called Halti) is one—among a number—of methods available for helping you to become a respected leader.

Using the Gentle Leader (which looks a little like a muzzle, but very definitely is not one) for walks, we watched in amazement and pleasure as our guy stopped straining against the leash entirely. And adding the training tips, it was wonderful to see, in a matter of literally only days, his entire demeanor on walks change. He clearly felt more confident, less tense. And, because one of the training tips was to ask strangers to offer him treats, he swiftly learned to expect beneficence from all those people on the street who had formerly seemed threatening.

This isn’t a commercial for Gently Leader, or Halti, the other brand; it’s just the suggestion of a very grateful dog owner; if you’re having difficulty on walks, of whatever stripe, don’t just live with it. And for Heaven’s sake don’t buy one of those terrible electric collars and hurt your dog everytime s/he does something you don’t like. That’s not good for anybody!

We’ve since moved to a much bigger city, and our guy is making the adjustment from small-town dog to city dog much better than a lot of people do. But please do remember: it’s not just about the product, great as that is. If you’re not doing effective training, no amount of purchasing power will "fix" your dog. As far as that goes, it’s like the rest of life: you can’t just buy real change.