Enjoy wonderful walks on a Smiling Leash!
Smiling Leash is a community dedicated to sharing special moments with your dog - while the leash is smiling.
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Each of the Smiling Leash team members is an experienced dog behaviour consultant and human mentor with deep knowledge about dog behaviour and high ethical standards. We enjoy sharing our experience and are committed to improving the lives of people and dogs.
Latest from the blog
Dogs need to have agency in their lives, but they should not be expected to handle things they are not naturally equipped for. How can we tell when to trust our dog and when that would be unfair?
Some dogs exhibit very obvious behaviours that show us they are having trouble, like barking, lunging, destructiveness and so on. Others do no such thing. Does that mean they are problem-free?
Slow, relaxed walks without frantic feelings and pulling on the leash may see like a distant dream for some, but they can be achieved with a bit of detective work.
Splitting up is a management technique we can all use in difficult situations. We can use different elements in our daily walks as a useful barrier between something worrisome and your dog.
When dogs are puppies, infants of the canine species, we should ensure they are nurtured. That we surround them with love and safety. They will pass this period feeling safe and protected, allowing the puppy to develop without worry.
We write about Smiling Leash walks meaning a special moment that you can share with your dog. But for most of us walks are not really special, we take our dogs out several times per day and it may feel like routine. In this article we take a different perspective on these routine walks.
When we walk with dogs where the bond is strong, they know themselves and the others well, they care for the wellbeing of every individual and the collective. Humans bond too and true friendships emerge.
What are some myths around social walks in dogs? Why forming meaningful relationships is so important to dogs? How we can help them do it even if we have a sensitive dog? Our guest writer Clara López-Brea will answer in this interesting and practical article.
Our dog needs training to walk with a loose leash. That's a given. Or is it? We would argue that we people need the training first.
That's because the behaviour of our dog and the quality of our walk hugely depend on our own actions. In most cases of dogs pulling on the leash, no training for the dog is necessary - it's the humans who can make several important changes to help their dog. Let's take a closer look at what we can do to drastically improve the walks:
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