Useful Strategy for City Walks: Splitting Up
We have talked about city walks before but of course there is always more to say. :) Today we want you to join us in exploring the opportunities that city walks offer to our dogs - and ourselves.
Sombra, Baloo and JJ are uncomfortable with city walks. The loud noises, the moving traffic and the amount of people all contribute to making city walks difficult for them.
Here are some things that we all can do to manage the environment and help our dog understand the world around them. This is a social walk run by Leti from the Smiling Leash Team.
Sombra, Baloo and JJ
Taking the next steps in their development
Choosing the right location to introduce urban walks to dogs with these difficulties is essential. We do not want the dogs to feel overwhelmed by all the things that stress them out. Stress affects our ability to think clearly, to concentrate and to act in a levelled rational way.
This location is in a coastal village that is very busy and full of people in the summer but during the winter months most of the houses are empty. There are very few people in the streets, the occasional car, and sometimes works are being done on houses to repair them before the new summer season arrives. All these things, in a moderate amount, are good for introducing some movement and sound to these dogs. They have been walking together in more rural settings, they have a strong bond between them and with the people on the walk. They feel accompanied and supported. This is the next step in their development, and we would not do this unless they were prepared for it.
This is not a real urban setting, we could call it semirural, and provides a bit of rural setting on one side and urban on the other.
Prefect!
If the dogs need it, we can move to the green side and provide a break.
There are other elements in this location that are very useful. Rubbish and Recycling collection bins. Big enough to provide a useful barrier from where to observe and process feeling safe. In this occasion we were very lucky and someone with an umbrella passed by. All the dogs were very interested in this person and this location allowed us to be able to observe calmly. This would have been too much for them in a different setting. This way we leave the walk having learned something useful: umbrellas can pass by and it's OK.
Using the bins in this way is what we refer to as “splitting up”. We have mentioned this term in several of our articles and talks. It is a management technique we can all use in difficult situations. If you can’t find bins, use your imagination. Maybe a wall or building, a bush or a tree, even our own body or a different person can be a useful barrier between something worrisome and your dog. Splitting up is part of the canine language repertoire which they use all the time to diffuse difficult situations. Our colleague Marth Knowles has a website dedicated to dog communication. We encourage you to have a look:
Splitting behaviour in dog communication
If you have some special places where you walk we would love to hear about them.
