May 13, 2025 • 28 mins
Have you ever felt the humiliation of being dragged down the street by your large dog? Or wondered if you'd made a terrible mistake adopting a powerful breed that outweighs you? You're not alone.
This eye-opening conversation with Alice reveals her journey with 40kg Mastiff mix Bonnie – from painful incidents where she was pulled over to confidently walking together as a team. What's remarkable isn't just the transformation, but how it happened without relying on physical strength, dominance, or harsh methods.
The secret lies in understanding what concepts large dogs are missing that make loose leash walking difficult. Most powerful breeds aren't being deliberately difficult – they simply haven't learned that being near you is more valuable than pulling ahead. Through carefully designed games that build this understanding, even the strongest dogs can become willing walking partners.
Alice shares her most effective strategies, including the critical importance of preventing rehearsal of pulling behavior and starting proximity training in secure environments without leads. She explains how properly conditioned management tools like head collars can provide safety while the real work happens through relationship-building games.
The discussion also addresses the reality of rescue dogs, which Alice compares to "getting a second-hand car with no service history." Despite Bonnie's challenging background and previous serious incident, games-based training created a partnership where Alice now feels "like Lara Croft" walking confidently with her once-unmanageable dog.
Whether you have a 4kg Chihuahua or a 70kg mastiff, the principles remain the same – build value for being with you, and your dog will choose to walk nicely. No muscle required.
Ready to transform your walks? Visit Absolute-Dogs.com for the 10 Days to Stop Pulling course or join the supportive community where owners of challenging dogs become their dog's true priority through games, not force.
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https://absolutedogs.me/stoppulling
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel
podcast.
I'm Lauren Langman.
I'm one of the world's leadingdog trainers and it's my mission
to help owners become theirdog's top priority.
In each episode, you'lldiscover how to gain trust and
communicate with your dog likenever before, creating
unbreakable bonds that make youthe most exciting part of their
world.
Big dogs on lead alice, I knowthat your dog's big enough to
(00:33):
pull you over.
What breed are you walking andhow is this even possible?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
so, yes, bonnie is my uh 40d kilo mega mastiff mixed.
So, yes, she's more thancapable of pulling me over and
has in the past, and so walkingon lead has been a team effort
and I'm happy to say that we arenow in a space where we can go
(01:01):
out together walking nicely as ateam, but there's been a lot of
games between now and where westarted and when you think about
this one, I know that I've seena very big dog on lead.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I saw a dog to bordeaux at crufts tow its owner
over and its owner was probablyin there, I'd know 90 kilos and
this dog probably in its 60, 70kilos and towed this man over.
I mean towed when it put bruteforce in.
It was on a flat collar.
It towed and a lot of peoplewould say games are not going to
work for a big breed andthey're certainly not going to
(01:35):
work for getting a dog to walknicely on a lead when they're
that bigger breed or they'rethat type of dog.
What would you say?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
exactly the opposite.
So I I can completely understandthat there would be that
assumption that actually a bigdog needs firm handling, you
know, needs asserting who's bossand all the rest of it, and I
can understand why that would bea very human assumption to make
(02:06):
and that was never going towork for me because I barely
outweigh Bonnie Muscle, wasnever going to be a part of our
relationship or, you know, sortof me being sort of dominant or
kind of any of those kind ofthings.
That just it's just it's not me,it's not how I comport myself
(02:30):
in any other any other aspect ofmy life.
And so for me it was alwaysgoing to be about actually
building a relationship withthis dog, having teamwork with
this dog, having her want towork with me, want to move with
me, me and for us to have thatawareness of each other and
cooperation.
And it's just so much morepleasant to be able to build
(02:58):
that and to be able to playgames with my dog and build
those skills and build thatteamwork dog and build those
skills and build that teamwork.
I'd I'd choose that anyway overany kind of more kind of rough
and ready kind of methods.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Um, so yeah, games all the way so I am all in on
that and for me, I know I'm allin, but have you had any before
you started playing games orbefore you kind of really got on
board?
Have you had any scary momentsor moments where potentially she
has pulled you or you've reallyfelt the brute force of a dog
that's really towing in theopposite direction?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think, um, like a kind of acouple of times where, um, we
were just kind of learning thatshe was really not very
comfortable when sort of inclose proximity to dogs.
She didn't know, and I gotpulled over in the park a couple
of times, a bit painful, a bitembarrassing, a bit scary for
(03:56):
other people in the environment,and so we, we definitely kind
of put a stop to me solo walking, uh, whilst we couldn't
guarantee that we could do thatsafely and we didn't have the
skills as a team to be able todo that, um, and yeah, I mean I,
she's never hospitalized me,but definitely, um, you know
(04:20):
it's, I'd say it's come close.
So definitely, definitely, haskind of um ended up with kind of
really nasty bruises all downmy arm and kind of, you know,
quite a bit of pain on oneoccasion, um.
So, yeah, it's definitely notsomething to be taken lightly.
Um, um, but um, you know, allof these, all these struggles,
(04:42):
can be sort of broken down intowell, actually, which skills is
the dog lacking and how do weactually teach those skills to a
point where now she can walk ona really nice loose lead?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So if we think about where a lot of people are with a
big breed pulling and we thinkabout where we want to be, which
is great dog walking outsideand I'm not looking for
professional heel work, but Iwould absolutely love a dog
walking with me and love a doghanging out with me If we think
about it like that, what skillsare missing or what concepts are
lacking?
(05:13):
When we think about here atGames Club and Pro Dog Trainer
and all of what we do withAbsolute Dogs the 10 days to
stop pulling opportunity thateveryone's got here today £27,
you're a listener, we want youto come join us.
It's lifetime access.
Or if you're in Games Club, youget all of the 10-day courses
anyway.
Or if you're in PDT Club, youget everything, including real
cool live coaching.
(05:33):
When we're thinking about that,what concepts are lacking?
Because we're concept trainers,we train in concepts.
What concepts was Bonnie lackingwhich enabled her to pull so
strong, but not necessarily tofocus or to connect or to walk
nicely on a lead and, most ofall, to choose to walk with you?
Because I think we have toacknowledge that big dogs,
horses, whatever else it is theychoose to walk with you.
(05:55):
So when I'm walking with one ofmy ponies on a, on a leader,
let's say on a, on a, um, a leadrope, and when I'm walking on a
lead rope, I know they'rechoosing to walk with me.
If they wanted to pull me over,they can pull me over.
If they want to take off withyou, they can take off with you.
There's a choice, right.
And what are those concepts,alice?
Or what was missing that wasstopping Bonnie connecting and
(06:16):
walking correctly with you.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So I think, yeah, I think the most obvious one you
think of when it comes to looselead walking is proximity.
Does the dog see value in thespace that's right next to you?
Does the dog see value thatshould I say more value in the
space next to you than the spaceout there past the end of the
(06:38):
lead?
And you know it's, it's so easyto actually show the dog that
actually the next to you iswhere the best deal is going to
happen.
But that's where all the funhappens, that's where all the
rewards come from.
So you know that's that wouldbe the first concept that that
really you would think abouttackling when it comes to losing
(07:01):
the game.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And it's so, so, so, so, so, very true, isn't it?
If the dog doesn't value thespace next to you, then no,
they're not going to beloose-leash walking, right, they
need to value the space next toyou, like that's really really
king and really really important.
And for me, if I think aboutloose-leash walking, the other
thing and I think this is partof our Stop Pulling or our 10
Days courses for me the otherthing was what do they rehearse
(07:23):
on a day-to-day basis?
So when I'm trying to stop adog pulling, whether it's a big
dog, whether it's a small dog,the only reason it's more
difficult when it's a big dog isthey actually can hurt, they
actually can pull you over, theyactually can take you to the
floor.
Chihuahua is never likely to sooften.
We tolerate a chihuahua pullingmore than we'll tolerate a dog
de bordeaux pulling.
Or, um, your dog bonnie, who'sa german shepherd, um, cross
(07:44):
with a mastastiff yeah, allsorts of stuff, mastiff.
Do you know which type ofMastiff?
Neapolitan, or bull.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
There's a bit of Neapolitan in there.
There's Canicorso in there anda little sprinkle of Boxer.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yes a bit of all.
Canicorso was the breed I wasthinking and my brain went to
Mastiff.
But for me, when you're talkinglike a dog's Bordeaux pulling
you or a Mastiff or a Canicorsoor one of the big breeds, the
giant breeds, effectively, andthe fight breeds and the breeds
that would be there to reallyguard and scare, the difference
is they will hurt, like whenthey pull you over.
(08:17):
They can take you.
And when you think about likesomeone, like your weight, even
though you're in a bakery youactually are very, very slim and
I have to say, enviably so,because I look at your cakes and
want to eat all of them,especially the almond one is my
favorite of Alice's.
I'm like, don't bring it nearme.
I love Bakewell.
I love almond anything.
Actually I love almond floorcleaner.
I love almond sprays, I lovealmond wood cleaner.
(08:38):
I just love a bit of almond.
But yeah, for me the thing thatI find really, really
interesting here is that thosedogs that are little get away
with it, but actually they onlyget away with it because the
pain point isn't necessarilythere for the owner.
The pain point's there for theowner when you're talking a big
breed because it starts to hurtand actually, when it hurts,
it's also quite dangerous attimes when that dog does lunge
or fling or throw or like dashor whatever they might do.
(09:02):
So if I think about with my dogand probably my stronger dogs,
mango or tokyo, in the past, Iwould say one of the things they
didn't learn was they didn'tlearn to pull me.
So what they practice, theybecome, or what they rehearse,
they become.
And no, we're not going toallow them to rehearse it.
So a couple of my top tipswould be if you're going to go
somewhere and you don't want towork on lead walking, then drive
(09:23):
there and just let them out.
Don't actually put them in asituation where you're going to
put them on lead and allow themto do it, because if you allow
them to do it, then really whatyou're saying is it's allowed
and you're starting to rehearseit and become it.
And it's the same as me with,like eating chocolate.
We eat chocolate once and oneevening and then the next
evening we grab some more andthe next evening it's a habit
and suddenly it's our ritual andsuddenly it's our routine.
Actually, it comes to eighto'clock and we're craving the
(09:44):
chocolate.
It will be no different for yourdog.
You get them on lead.
They're used to pulling in thatplace and then you ask them not
to.
When expectation and realitydon't meet, you get frustration.
When you get frustration,that's when you get the dogs.
It's not only towing on thelead, but they're also towing
and maybe running up the leadand trying to bite the lead,
like you get dogs who are reallyquite frustrated by the fact
they can't or screaming orwhining or, and suddenly you got
(10:05):
like a sled dog going on.
Actually, all these things areworth us considering and for me,
management and rehearsal are so, so, so vital.
So when we talk about the 10days to stop pulling course, if
you get to join £27, it's alistener bonus go and get it.
It's a really cool opportunity.
It's slashed down from 97.
The cool thing for me there isthat we talk about management
(10:27):
and managing rehearsal and wetalk about one of the things we
might do to stop it.
Now I know you've conditioned ahead collar, for example, alice,
and you conditioned a headcollar.
Why?
Because Bonnie's too darn bigto be able to hold sometimes on
a collar and lead and sometimesyou actually just want to manage
the situation and walk andthere's trainers.
There are trainers out therewho say management is a bad
thing, you should never manage.
I say that management is a goodthing on the whole, as long as
(10:49):
it's kind to dogs and trainedappropriately.
The reason I think managementis a good thing is it's also
you're training the dog what youwant and you're showing the dog
what they want, so you're notallowing them to go wrong, and I
think there's a space for notallowing a dog to go wrong.
What do you think and and tellus a little bit about?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
sometimes you'll use a head collar and why yeah,
absolutely, and and you'reabsolutely right in that it's
how you train something likethat that makes all the
difference.
So what you said before aboutyou know, if your dog's getting
kind of frustrated, the leadthey may be biting up the lead
or something maybe drivesomewhere where you can let them
off or, you know, just actuallybe in a secure environment.
This might be your living room,it might be a garden, it might
be a secure dog field, whereverwhere you know just actually be
(11:25):
in a secure environment.
This might be your living room,it might be your garden, it
might be a secure dog field,wherever where you can actually
just go.
You know what?
No lead, we're not even goingto bring the lead into the
picture.
What we're going to practice isthat proximity, that value for
being next to me, thatengagement with me, and the
playing games together in thatclose proximity, such as Magic
(11:54):
Hand, would be a kind of primeexample.
I mean that me and bonnie havedone a lot of and we played lots
of magic hands, yeah, in theliving room, in the backyard, at
the secure dog field, in placeswhere we didn't even need to
have a lead or a head collar oranything.
She could just run around nakedand be having fun by my side.
And then when you then add thatwalking clobber back in, whether
it's a flat collar, a headcollar, whatever it is that's
appropriate for your dog orwhatever it is you're training
(12:15):
and shaping for them, you've gotthat to a point then where
they're not putting pressure onit.
So you've got that safety net,you've got that control for when
you are out in public and theydo need to be on a lead.
But for Bonnie, with trainingthe head collar that way, it
means that we can be walkingalong and there's no pressure
(12:37):
going on that head collar at all.
But it means that should adistraction that you know happen
, that is going to be just, youknow that sort of pushes her out
of her comfort zone orsomething like that.
It just means that actually Ican hold her safely and you know
no one's getting into trouble,nobody's getting hurt.
It's just there as a kind of asthe backstop, but it has not
(13:00):
been trained by her being, youknow, yanked around on anything
or putting any frustration in asituation.
We've played the games andthat's what's laid the
foundation for good heel work oryou know, sort of good sort of
loose lead, walking um ratherthan the equipment.
The equipment is just kind ofthere as a necessity in public.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
It's not what's actually creating the behavior
and I really love the idea thatI feel that I can set them up
for success.
How do you feel in thatsituation?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
oh, definitely, I mean, that's that's kind of the
aim of the game, isn't it?
With whatever we're training isis like lay the foundation, so
that we are teaching them how toget it right.
You know, and, and just sayingthis is what we're after.
This is the picture we want,because Because I think you know
for most dogs, certainly forBonnie is that she wants to get
it right.
You know she wants to, to getthe right answer.
(13:55):
You know she, whether, whetherI'm teaching her a new trick or
you know, or whatever it mightbe, she wants to understand what
it is I want from her and stuff, and she wants to get it right.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I think, you know, if we are just sort of
communicating that in a fun andin a kind way, um, and allowing
them to like, say, setting themup for success and allowing them
to get it right, um, then thenyou kind of you can, you can,
you know, if you get it right,then you can kind of almost stop
a problem before it starts nowa lot of people would say that
(14:26):
when you've got a husband andwife duo or partnership and one
person is better at walking thedog than the others for example,
chris is better at walkingBonnie because he's a little bit
heavier than you are, soeffectively might be able to do
it better a lot of people willsay, go with that and just do it
because it's easier, so let'sgo with that.
How did you feel about the ideaof not being able to walk your
(14:47):
own big dog?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
oh, just so frustrated and and kind of and
and sort of that, andincompetent, actually, just kind
of feeling like out of my depthor feeling reliant on the sort
of skills or attributes ofsomebody else, and that is just
not how I do life, um.
So you know, I needed to find away that was gonna that was
(15:11):
gonna work for me.
Where you know it, it wasn't.
It wasn't coming down to, youknow, force or muscle or just
sort of, you know, being biggeror stronger.
You know whatever, it was gonnabe completely about teamwork
between me and Bonnie.
It was going to be completelyabout a kind of a mutual desire
to to sort of move together andand have a nice time together.
(15:36):
And I mean, I just thinkactually that's, that's the sort
of desirable option.
Doesn't matter how much muscleyou've got.
I think actually you askanybody would you like to have
to manage your dog pulling onyou and having to sort of
tolerate that, or would you likeyour dog just to sort of enjoy
being at your side and not pull?
I think I think you'd be daftnot to choose the latter.
(15:57):
So, um, yeah, I think I think,just because you know, uh,
having the upper hand withmuscle was just never going to
be an option for me, kind oflike you know, meant I was going
to pour all of my efforts intogames-based training and into
teaching Bonnie those skills andthose, those uh, you know,
setting her up for successthrough games, um.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
But I kind of think, well, it's just the desirable
option anyway so how does leadwalking look for you and your
very big dog now?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
oh, absolutely feel like Lara Croft, like Bonnie
comes up to, uh, up to thebakery with me, just kind of
comes up to work with mesometimes.
So we'll kind of, and it's juston an industrial estate.
She kind of chills out in thevan whilst I'm working and stuff
which is safe to do so in thenorth of England and early in
the mornings, um but, um, uh.
But you know, when we go outfor a walk around, you know, and
(16:45):
it's in an urban environment,there's not that many other dog
walkers and stuff that we tendto see.
But you know, yeah, we just,we're just, you know, cracking
on doesn't matter, she's not,she's not reacting to things,
she's not dragging me down thestreet, you know, we're just
having a pretty, pretty fun,chill time.
She gets to sniff around andyeah, and it's all good.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
When you saw her at the beginning and when you
realised what a dog you'd takenon and I definitely know that
lots of people would consideryou outdogged by her when you
started there Yourself included,I'm sure when you saw where she
was and you see where she isnow, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I am really chuffed with her, like I'm really proud
of how far she's come on and how, you know, and I guess, yeah, I
get to kind of blow my owntrumpet I'm proud of kind of the
effort I've put in with her andthat we have made that
transformation and like she'snot a finished product.
There's more that I can teachher, there's more we can squeeze
out of life and that, you know,there's there's more we can
learn.
But we've got a lot of theessentials, you know, looking
(17:47):
pretty good now and and so, yeah, like I'm absolutely fair, I
felt like a proper fool kind of,you know, early on, thinking am
I going to be able to managethis dog?
Are we gonna?
Is this a relationship that canlast?
Is this, are we going to beable to keep her?
You know, is that, you know,was definitely some of the
questions that we were askingearly on?
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I think that's a really valid question are we
going to be able to keep her?
I actually think that thatwould come across most people's
sort of thought process.
This is a dog who's beenrehomed.
She in the past has had aserious incident with another
dog.
She's a large dog and sheoutweighs me.
We were homed as a gentle giant.
We've got a home and she's notsimply that.
(18:27):
She's actually got somecomplexities going on and she's
definitely got some history thatwe weren't aware of and
possibly the rescue centreweren't aware of and possibly
the rescue centre were.
I think there's a placesometimes that we can choose to
ignore certain things in theinterest of trying to get a dog
home, but actually it's relyingon the tolerance and skill of
the new owner, and lots ofrescue centres I'm going to say
(18:50):
this out loud because I thinkthis is true in my history is
that they're not equipped forthe dogs that they're handed
with, and so there are manycentres out there who are doing
the very best that they can withthe tools that they've got and,
like you said, when they knowbetter, they do better, but
sometimes they simply don't know.
What would you say, alice?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah, I think so.
I think I think there's a hugespectrum with the rescue and
rehoming centres in terms of,yeah, just like the knowledge
and the capacity and the typesof observations they're able to
make.
It was going to vary hugelywith rescue dogs or with any dog
(19:27):
you know, to sort of actuallyget on board with some
games-based training from dayone and kind of get off on the
right track.
Then I think that there's, youknow, hopefully a lot fewer dogs
being returned to rescuecentres, just getting the right
knowledge out there.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I've spoken to some fantastic rescue centres and one
of the main things that theywant to tackle all of them in
fact is keeping dogs and ownerstogether.
They want to help make thatpartnership.
I'm speaking to some fantasticpeople here.
In fact, I'd love you toconnect to them.
Alice Michelle will know whothey are.
They are speaking to somefantastic owners here and
they're so desperate to help.
(20:06):
They've made it their passion,passion, their mission to help
rescue dogs and what gorgeouspeople they are.
And I mean my passion, mymission to help motivate and
inspire owners all over theworld.
But these guys, they're dealingwith limited resources, limited
money, limited time, limitedaccess, and I'm going to put it
out there that any rescuecenters, that listening, any
(20:26):
people that are out there, ifyou want to get a hold of one of
our 10-day courses or one ofour £27 Sex and the Squirrel
courses, and it's for yourrescue centre, or anybody who
works in a rescue centre, oranyone who's recently taken on a
rescue dog and needs a hand andneeds some help, I'm going to
give free access to thosecourses.
So if we can give free accessto those rescue centres, the
(20:47):
people that are working with thedogs day in day out, the people
that are handling these dogs,who are potentially not equipped
for these dogs yet, and that'snot because they don't want to
be, it's because they haven'teither got the facilities or
resources or financials to beable to support that.
I want to give those out, sothat is, email the ask team or
get in touch with us over atAbsol Dogs, and I know we can
(21:09):
give away those digitalresources and we even have some
physical resources If someonewants to pop by the centre.
I'm very happy to give awayphysical resources too, because
for me, if we can help thesepeople that are helping, keep
these teams together.
I know, alice, that dogs likeyour, bonnie, would be put to
sleep in so many hands, and I'mnot saying that lightly.
(21:29):
I do not want to see a dog putto sleep, but I know that she is
too big and too unmanageable atthe state that you had her in,
and whether the rescue centredidn't know what they were
taking on or didn't know whatthey were homing, I know that in
most hands that dog would neverhave made it, and I'm so proud
that she has, and I'm so proudthat you've got a good handle on
it, and I also don't say thislightly I wouldn't struggle to
(21:51):
meet you on a walk and be ableto know that you either had her
on lead appropriately or we'regoing to move at an appropriate
distance, or I would keep holdof my dogs to the point that
they wouldn't be going over andgreeting anyway and I would feel
safe to meet you.
And that for me is massive,because one of my big
insecurities is I own six kilodogs and so when you own six
kilo dogs and they meet 40 pluskilo dogs on a walk, you do fear
(22:14):
for them, because mine arehappy, busy, fast, little dogs
who can annoy the hell out ofother dogs because they're so
fast and busy.
And so, no, I don't want tomeet, um, a dog that could just
take.
And the thing is, with a doglike Bonnie, it takes one bite
right and so she pulls and shemight even it might even be a
play bite right, like there canbe a playful bite with a dog who
doesn't have bite inhibitionsorted, and so these could be
(22:36):
bites where and I have seen,sadly, dogs killed.
I've seen a dog killed at a bigevent, a papillon, by another
larger dog.
I have a friend who had achihuahua, her nan's chihuahua,
her nan's chihuahua and theyinappropriately left two
terriers at home with nan'schihuahua and they came home to
a dead dog.
So as much as I'd love the ideathat we just talk fluffy, pink
and rainbows, let's be reallyclear here.
(22:56):
I've I've seen seriousincidents with dogs and I know
that bonnie has had a dog dogincident.
These are things that happenwhen a dog pulls or takes off or
is inappropriately off lead oris towed to the park and has got
themselves worked up in anestate and is then let off lead
and does go and do somethinginappropriate.
And we've all had moments wherewe've made an inappropriate
decision or we've done somethingthat we think I could have done
(23:18):
that better, or you know what.
Let's help dogs, let's help dogowners.
Those rescue resources are outthere.
I'm offering any rescue centrethat gets in touch rescue
resources for your rescue centreand I'm also offering any new
owner with a rescue dog rescueresources, because I just feel
like we could do better byrescues, rescue dogs and the
resources we have.
(23:38):
What do you think, alice?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I think that's brilliant, because I think this
is it.
I think when you're getting arescue dog you could probably
use an analogy it's like ofgetting a second-hand car with
no service history.
There's gonna be maybe one ortwo surprises, maybe not, but
there might be.
And actually, if you've got theright resources, if you've got
the right style of training andthe right style of learning from
(24:01):
day one, you've got a much,much higher chance of success.
Um, you know, yeah, there weredefinitely occasions where we
were not at all convinced thatwe were going to prevail with,
you know, keeping Bonnie andhaving a sort of safe and happy
relationship with her um, but wehave managed it because we have
found the right learning, we'vefound the right training and
(24:21):
we've, you know, we've put thework in and stuff and, um, you
know, we've, we've prioritizedthat um, but it's completely
possible.
You know, even even, like yousay, in quite extreme sort of
situations, I say, yeah, I don't.
Uh, bonnie was not an easy dogto take on.
She did have a serious incidentprior um to have been taken
(24:42):
into rescue, um, and and and.
Yet, you know, here we are.
We can kind of be a sort offairly socially acceptable
member of the community.
Now you know what, alice, Ithink.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I would walk with you over and over, and this is why
I want to share the Game Changerway and I think it's.
I don't think it.
I know it is the best way youcan train a dog, and so this
episode we have tackled big dogson lead.
But let's be really clear itdoesn't really matter whether
it's a big dog on lead or asmall dog on lead.
(25:14):
Actually, all dogs on lead canwork with this.
Now, alice, if anyone was toask you, should they take on the
10 days to stop a dog pulling?
Or maybe they should take ongames club or pro dog trainer
club, what are you going to tellthem?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
yeah, yeah, do it.
I mean, yeah, if you can justsort of manage to get a hold of
the mini course, then get a holdof that, because there's going
to be some really goodcollection of games that's going
to really help you with thatspecific struggle.
But, genuinely, if you can jumpin and even just kind of give
it a try with games club or pdcclub, then you're going to get
those mini courses plus accessto an enormous library of games
(25:54):
which are going to help withloose lead walking or any other
dog training struggle that youcan think of, and the community
that goes with it.
So you know it can.
It can be a lonely space, can't?
If you've got a dog trainingstruggle and you feel, like
everyone else that you see on awalk is that the dogs are
walking really nicely or theyjust seem to be having just a
(26:15):
wonderful time and you're theone walking an absolute monster.
It can be a lonely place to be.
So actually having access to acommunity of other people who
understand your struggle, havemaybe lived it, have maybe
overcome it, you know, or whomaybe can team up with you and
kind of you can sort of keepeach other going and keep each
other motivated.
That's as much of a gamechanger as the games that you
(26:38):
teach your dog like being havingthat support and having that
knowledge sharing is is huge.
So yeah, if you, if you, canjump in and I'll see you there.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yes, alice, I love it .
Now, alice, I know we've gotmore to share, but that was this
episode of the Sexiest Girlpodcast.
Are you game for joining me forsharing some more of Bonnie's
adventures?
Absolutely, I love this.
And what I love most for youguys as listeners is you get to
hear real life stories, reallife owners, real life dogs, and
not just the pretty fluffy ones, actually the ones who've
(27:11):
actually had some fairly seriousbehavioral struggles to
overcome, and they haven't justovercome them, they've smashed
them out of the park.
So I'll see you next week.
Make sure you join us and,beyond everything else, please
ensure you share this podcast.
If you haven't already reviewedit, get doing that too.
Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel
podcast.
I'm Lauren Langman.
I'm one of the world's leadingdog trainers and it's my mission
to help owners become theirdog's top priority.
In each episode, you'lldiscover how to gain trust and
communicate with your dog likenever before, creating
unbreakable bonds that make youthe most exciting part of their
world.
Big dogs on lead alice, I knowthat your dog's big enough to
(00:33):
pull you over.
What breed are you walking andhow is this even possible?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
so, yes, bonnie is my uh 40d kilo mega mastiff mixed.
So, yes, she's more thancapable of pulling me over and
has in the past, and so walkingon lead has been a team effort
and I'm happy to say that we arenow in a space where we can go
(01:01):
out together walking nicely as ateam, but there's been a lot of
games between now and where westarted and when you think about
this one, I know that I've seena very big dog on lead.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I saw a dog to bordeaux at crufts tow its owner
over and its owner was probablyin there, I'd know 90 kilos and
this dog probably in its 60, 70kilos and towed this man over.
I mean towed when it put bruteforce in.
It was on a flat collar.
It towed and a lot of peoplewould say games are not going to
work for a big breed andthey're certainly not going to
(01:35):
work for getting a dog to walknicely on a lead when they're
that bigger breed or they'rethat type of dog.
What would you say?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
exactly the opposite.
So I I can completely understandthat there would be that
assumption that actually a bigdog needs firm handling, you
know, needs asserting who's bossand all the rest of it, and I
can understand why that would bea very human assumption to make
(02:06):
and that was never going towork for me because I barely
outweigh Bonnie Muscle, wasnever going to be a part of our
relationship or, you know, sortof me being sort of dominant or
kind of any of those kind ofthings.
That just it's just it's not me,it's not how I comport myself
(02:30):
in any other any other aspect ofmy life.
And so for me it was alwaysgoing to be about actually
building a relationship withthis dog, having teamwork with
this dog, having her want towork with me, want to move with
me, me and for us to have thatawareness of each other and
cooperation.
And it's just so much morepleasant to be able to build
(02:58):
that and to be able to playgames with my dog and build
those skills and build thatteamwork dog and build those
skills and build that teamwork.
I'd I'd choose that anyway overany kind of more kind of rough
and ready kind of methods.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Um, so yeah, games all the way so I am all in on
that and for me, I know I'm allin, but have you had any before
you started playing games orbefore you kind of really got on
board?
Have you had any scary momentsor moments where potentially she
has pulled you or you've reallyfelt the brute force of a dog
that's really towing in theopposite direction?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think, um, like a kind of acouple of times where, um, we
were just kind of learning thatshe was really not very
comfortable when sort of inclose proximity to dogs.
She didn't know, and I gotpulled over in the park a couple
of times, a bit painful, a bitembarrassing, a bit scary for
(03:56):
other people in the environment,and so we, we definitely kind
of put a stop to me solo walking, uh, whilst we couldn't
guarantee that we could do thatsafely and we didn't have the
skills as a team to be able todo that, um, and yeah, I mean I,
she's never hospitalized me,but definitely, um, you know
(04:20):
it's, I'd say it's come close.
So definitely, definitely, haskind of um ended up with kind of
really nasty bruises all downmy arm and kind of, you know,
quite a bit of pain on oneoccasion, um.
So, yeah, it's definitely notsomething to be taken lightly.
Um, um, but um, you know, allof these, all these struggles,
(04:42):
can be sort of broken down intowell, actually, which skills is
the dog lacking and how do weactually teach those skills to a
point where now she can walk ona really nice loose lead?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So if we think about where a lot of people are with a
big breed pulling and we thinkabout where we want to be, which
is great dog walking outsideand I'm not looking for
professional heel work, but Iwould absolutely love a dog
walking with me and love a doghanging out with me If we think
about it like that, what skillsare missing or what concepts are
lacking?
(05:13):
When we think about here atGames Club and Pro Dog Trainer
and all of what we do withAbsolute Dogs the 10 days to
stop pulling opportunity thateveryone's got here today £27,
you're a listener, we want youto come join us.
It's lifetime access.
Or if you're in Games Club, youget all of the 10-day courses
anyway.
Or if you're in PDT Club, youget everything, including real
cool live coaching.
(05:33):
When we're thinking about that,what concepts are lacking?
Because we're concept trainers,we train in concepts.
What concepts was Bonnie lackingwhich enabled her to pull so
strong, but not necessarily tofocus or to connect or to walk
nicely on a lead and, most ofall, to choose to walk with you?
Because I think we have toacknowledge that big dogs,
horses, whatever else it is theychoose to walk with you.
(05:55):
So when I'm walking with one ofmy ponies on a, on a leader,
let's say on a, on a, um, a leadrope, and when I'm walking on a
lead rope, I know they'rechoosing to walk with me.
If they wanted to pull me over,they can pull me over.
If they want to take off withyou, they can take off with you.
There's a choice, right.
And what are those concepts,alice?
Or what was missing that wasstopping Bonnie connecting and
(06:16):
walking correctly with you.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
So I think, yeah, I think the most obvious one you
think of when it comes to looselead walking is proximity.
Does the dog see value in thespace that's right next to you?
Does the dog see value thatshould I say more value in the
space next to you than the spaceout there past the end of the
(06:38):
lead?
And you know it's, it's so easyto actually show the dog that
actually the next to you iswhere the best deal is going to
happen.
But that's where all the funhappens, that's where all the
rewards come from.
So you know that's that wouldbe the first concept that that
really you would think abouttackling when it comes to losing
(07:01):
the game.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
And it's so, so, so, so, so, very true, isn't it?
If the dog doesn't value thespace next to you, then no,
they're not going to beloose-leash walking, right, they
need to value the space next toyou, like that's really really
king and really really important.
And for me, if I think aboutloose-leash walking, the other
thing and I think this is partof our Stop Pulling or our 10
Days courses for me the otherthing was what do they rehearse
(07:23):
on a day-to-day basis?
So when I'm trying to stop adog pulling, whether it's a big
dog, whether it's a small dog,the only reason it's more
difficult when it's a big dog isthey actually can hurt, they
actually can pull you over, theyactually can take you to the
floor.
Chihuahua is never likely to sooften.
We tolerate a chihuahua pullingmore than we'll tolerate a dog
de bordeaux pulling.
Or, um, your dog bonnie, who'sa german shepherd, um, cross
(07:44):
with a mastastiff yeah, allsorts of stuff, mastiff.
Do you know which type ofMastiff?
Neapolitan, or bull.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
There's a bit of Neapolitan in there.
There's Canicorso in there anda little sprinkle of Boxer.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yes a bit of all.
Canicorso was the breed I wasthinking and my brain went to
Mastiff.
But for me, when you're talkinglike a dog's Bordeaux pulling
you or a Mastiff or a Canicorsoor one of the big breeds, the
giant breeds, effectively, andthe fight breeds and the breeds
that would be there to reallyguard and scare, the difference
is they will hurt, like whenthey pull you over.
(08:17):
They can take you.
And when you think about likesomeone, like your weight, even
though you're in a bakery youactually are very, very slim and
I have to say, enviably so,because I look at your cakes and
want to eat all of them,especially the almond one is my
favorite of Alice's.
I'm like, don't bring it nearme.
I love Bakewell.
I love almond anything.
Actually I love almond floorcleaner.
I love almond sprays, I lovealmond wood cleaner.
(08:38):
I just love a bit of almond.
But yeah, for me the thing thatI find really, really
interesting here is that thosedogs that are little get away
with it, but actually they onlyget away with it because the
pain point isn't necessarilythere for the owner.
The pain point's there for theowner when you're talking a big
breed because it starts to hurtand actually, when it hurts,
it's also quite dangerous attimes when that dog does lunge
or fling or throw or like dashor whatever they might do.
(09:02):
So if I think about with my dogand probably my stronger dogs,
mango or tokyo, in the past, Iwould say one of the things they
didn't learn was they didn'tlearn to pull me.
So what they practice, theybecome, or what they rehearse,
they become.
And no, we're not going toallow them to rehearse it.
So a couple of my top tipswould be if you're going to go
somewhere and you don't want towork on lead walking, then drive
(09:23):
there and just let them out.
Don't actually put them in asituation where you're going to
put them on lead and allow themto do it, because if you allow
them to do it, then really whatyou're saying is it's allowed
and you're starting to rehearseit and become it.
And it's the same as me with,like eating chocolate.
We eat chocolate once and oneevening and then the next
evening we grab some more andthe next evening it's a habit
and suddenly it's our ritual andsuddenly it's our routine.
Actually, it comes to eighto'clock and we're craving the
(09:44):
chocolate.
It will be no different for yourdog.
You get them on lead.
They're used to pulling in thatplace and then you ask them not
to.
When expectation and realitydon't meet, you get frustration.
When you get frustration,that's when you get the dogs.
It's not only towing on thelead, but they're also towing
and maybe running up the leadand trying to bite the lead,
like you get dogs who are reallyquite frustrated by the fact
they can't or screaming orwhining or, and suddenly you got
(10:05):
like a sled dog going on.
Actually, all these things areworth us considering and for me,
management and rehearsal are so, so, so vital.
So when we talk about the 10days to stop pulling course, if
you get to join £27, it's alistener bonus go and get it.
It's a really cool opportunity.
It's slashed down from 97.
The cool thing for me there isthat we talk about management
(10:27):
and managing rehearsal and wetalk about one of the things we
might do to stop it.
Now I know you've conditioned ahead collar, for example, alice,
and you conditioned a headcollar.
Why?
Because Bonnie's too darn bigto be able to hold sometimes on
a collar and lead and sometimesyou actually just want to manage
the situation and walk andthere's trainers.
There are trainers out therewho say management is a bad
thing, you should never manage.
I say that management is a goodthing on the whole, as long as
(10:49):
it's kind to dogs and trainedappropriately.
The reason I think managementis a good thing is it's also
you're training the dog what youwant and you're showing the dog
what they want, so you're notallowing them to go wrong, and I
think there's a space for notallowing a dog to go wrong.
What do you think and and tellus a little bit about?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
sometimes you'll use a head collar and why yeah,
absolutely, and and you'reabsolutely right in that it's
how you train something likethat that makes all the
difference.
So what you said before aboutyou know, if your dog's getting
kind of frustrated, the leadthey may be biting up the lead
or something maybe drivesomewhere where you can let them
off or, you know, just actuallybe in a secure environment.
This might be your living room,it might be a garden, it might
be a secure dog field, whereverwhere you know just actually be
(11:25):
in a secure environment.
This might be your living room,it might be your garden, it
might be a secure dog field,wherever where you can actually
just go.
You know what?
No lead, we're not even goingto bring the lead into the
picture.
What we're going to practice isthat proximity, that value for
being next to me, thatengagement with me, and the
playing games together in thatclose proximity, such as Magic
(11:54):
Hand, would be a kind of primeexample.
I mean that me and bonnie havedone a lot of and we played lots
of magic hands, yeah, in theliving room, in the backyard, at
the secure dog field, in placeswhere we didn't even need to
have a lead or a head collar oranything.
She could just run around nakedand be having fun by my side.
And then when you then add thatwalking clobber back in, whether
it's a flat collar, a headcollar, whatever it is that's
appropriate for your dog orwhatever it is you're training
(12:15):
and shaping for them, you've gotthat to a point then where
they're not putting pressure onit.
So you've got that safety net,you've got that control for when
you are out in public and theydo need to be on a lead.
But for Bonnie, with trainingthe head collar that way, it
means that we can be walkingalong and there's no pressure
(12:37):
going on that head collar at all.
But it means that should adistraction that you know happen
, that is going to be just, youknow that sort of pushes her out
of her comfort zone orsomething like that.
It just means that actually Ican hold her safely and you know
no one's getting into trouble,nobody's getting hurt.
It's just there as a kind of asthe backstop, but it has not
(13:00):
been trained by her being, youknow, yanked around on anything
or putting any frustration in asituation.
We've played the games andthat's what's laid the
foundation for good heel work oryou know, sort of good sort of
loose lead, walking um ratherthan the equipment.
The equipment is just kind ofthere as a necessity in public.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
It's not what's actually creating the behavior
and I really love the idea thatI feel that I can set them up
for success.
How do you feel in thatsituation?
Speaker 2 (13:32):
oh, definitely, I mean, that's that's kind of the
aim of the game, isn't it?
With whatever we're training isis like lay the foundation, so
that we are teaching them how toget it right.
You know, and, and just sayingthis is what we're after.
This is the picture we want,because Because I think you know
for most dogs, certainly forBonnie is that she wants to get
it right.
You know she wants to, to getthe right answer.
(13:55):
You know she, whether, whetherI'm teaching her a new trick or
you know, or whatever it mightbe, she wants to understand what
it is I want from her and stuff, and she wants to get it right.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I think, you know, if we are just sort of
communicating that in a fun andin a kind way, um, and allowing
them to like, say, setting themup for success and allowing them
to get it right, um, then thenyou kind of you can, you can,
you know, if you get it right,then you can kind of almost stop
a problem before it starts nowa lot of people would say that
(14:26):
when you've got a husband andwife duo or partnership and one
person is better at walking thedog than the others for example,
chris is better at walkingBonnie because he's a little bit
heavier than you are, soeffectively might be able to do
it better a lot of people willsay, go with that and just do it
because it's easier, so let'sgo with that.
How did you feel about the ideaof not being able to walk your
(14:47):
own big dog?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
oh, just so frustrated and and kind of and
and sort of that, andincompetent, actually, just kind
of feeling like out of my depthor feeling reliant on the sort
of skills or attributes ofsomebody else, and that is just
not how I do life, um.
So you know, I needed to find away that was gonna that was
(15:11):
gonna work for me.
Where you know it, it wasn't.
It wasn't coming down to, youknow, force or muscle or just
sort of, you know, being biggeror stronger.
You know whatever, it was gonnabe completely about teamwork
between me and Bonnie.
It was going to be completelyabout a kind of a mutual desire
to to sort of move together andand have a nice time together.
(15:36):
And I mean, I just thinkactually that's, that's the sort
of desirable option.
Doesn't matter how much muscleyou've got.
I think actually you askanybody would you like to have
to manage your dog pulling onyou and having to sort of
tolerate that, or would you likeyour dog just to sort of enjoy
being at your side and not pull?
I think I think you'd be daftnot to choose the latter.
(15:57):
So, um, yeah, I think I think,just because you know, uh,
having the upper hand withmuscle was just never going to
be an option for me, kind oflike you know, meant I was going
to pour all of my efforts intogames-based training and into
teaching Bonnie those skills andthose, those uh, you know,
setting her up for successthrough games, um.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
But I kind of think, well, it's just the desirable
option anyway so how does leadwalking look for you and your
very big dog now?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
oh, absolutely feel like Lara Croft, like Bonnie
comes up to, uh, up to thebakery with me, just kind of
comes up to work with mesometimes.
So we'll kind of, and it's juston an industrial estate.
She kind of chills out in thevan whilst I'm working and stuff
which is safe to do so in thenorth of England and early in
the mornings, um but, um, uh.
But you know, when we go outfor a walk around, you know, and
(16:45):
it's in an urban environment,there's not that many other dog
walkers and stuff that we tendto see.
But you know, yeah, we just,we're just, you know, cracking
on doesn't matter, she's not,she's not reacting to things,
she's not dragging me down thestreet, you know, we're just
having a pretty, pretty fun,chill time.
She gets to sniff around andyeah, and it's all good.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
When you saw her at the beginning and when you
realised what a dog you'd takenon and I definitely know that
lots of people would consideryou outdogged by her when you
started there Yourself included,I'm sure when you saw where she
was and you see where she isnow, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
I am really chuffed with her, like I'm really proud
of how far she's come on and how, you know, and I guess, yeah, I
get to kind of blow my owntrumpet I'm proud of kind of the
effort I've put in with her andthat we have made that
transformation and like she'snot a finished product.
There's more that I can teachher, there's more we can squeeze
out of life and that, you know,there's there's more we can
learn.
But we've got a lot of theessentials, you know, looking
(17:47):
pretty good now and and so, yeah, like I'm absolutely fair, I
felt like a proper fool kind of,you know, early on, thinking am
I going to be able to managethis dog?
Are we gonna?
Is this a relationship that canlast?
Is this, are we going to beable to keep her?
You know, is that, you know,was definitely some of the
questions that we were askingearly on?
Speaker 1 (18:05):
I think that's a really valid question are we
going to be able to keep her?
I actually think that thatwould come across most people's
sort of thought process.
This is a dog who's beenrehomed.
She in the past has had aserious incident with another
dog.
She's a large dog and sheoutweighs me.
We were homed as a gentle giant.
We've got a home and she's notsimply that.
(18:27):
She's actually got somecomplexities going on and she's
definitely got some history thatwe weren't aware of and
possibly the rescue centreweren't aware of and possibly
the rescue centre were.
I think there's a placesometimes that we can choose to
ignore certain things in theinterest of trying to get a dog
home, but actually it's relyingon the tolerance and skill of
the new owner, and lots ofrescue centres I'm going to say
(18:50):
this out loud because I thinkthis is true in my history is
that they're not equipped forthe dogs that they're handed
with, and so there are manycentres out there who are doing
the very best that they can withthe tools that they've got and,
like you said, when they knowbetter, they do better, but
sometimes they simply don't know.
What would you say, alice?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah, I think so.
I think I think there's a hugespectrum with the rescue and
rehoming centres in terms of,yeah, just like the knowledge
and the capacity and the typesof observations they're able to
make.
It was going to vary hugelywith rescue dogs or with any dog
(19:27):
you know, to sort of actuallyget on board with some
games-based training from dayone and kind of get off on the
right track.
Then I think that there's, youknow, hopefully a lot fewer dogs
being returned to rescuecentres, just getting the right
knowledge out there.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I've spoken to some fantastic rescue centres and one
of the main things that theywant to tackle all of them in
fact is keeping dogs and ownerstogether.
They want to help make thatpartnership.
I'm speaking to some fantasticpeople here.
In fact, I'd love you toconnect to them.
Alice Michelle will know whothey are.
They are speaking to somefantastic owners here and
they're so desperate to help.
(20:06):
They've made it their passion,passion, their mission to help
rescue dogs and what gorgeouspeople they are.
And I mean my passion, mymission to help motivate and
inspire owners all over theworld.
But these guys, they're dealingwith limited resources, limited
money, limited time, limitedaccess, and I'm going to put it
out there that any rescuecenters, that listening, any
(20:26):
people that are out there, ifyou want to get a hold of one of
our 10-day courses or one ofour £27 Sex and the Squirrel
courses, and it's for yourrescue centre, or anybody who
works in a rescue centre, oranyone who's recently taken on a
rescue dog and needs a hand andneeds some help, I'm going to
give free access to thosecourses.
So if we can give free accessto those rescue centres, the
(20:47):
people that are working with thedogs day in day out, the people
that are handling these dogs,who are potentially not equipped
for these dogs yet, and that'snot because they don't want to
be, it's because they haven'teither got the facilities or
resources or financials to beable to support that.
I want to give those out, sothat is, email the ask team or
get in touch with us over atAbsol Dogs, and I know we can
(21:09):
give away those digitalresources and we even have some
physical resources If someonewants to pop by the centre.
I'm very happy to give awayphysical resources too, because
for me, if we can help thesepeople that are helping, keep
these teams together.
I know, alice, that dogs likeyour, bonnie, would be put to
sleep in so many hands, and I'mnot saying that lightly.
(21:29):
I do not want to see a dog putto sleep, but I know that she is
too big and too unmanageable atthe state that you had her in,
and whether the rescue centredidn't know what they were
taking on or didn't know whatthey were homing, I know that in
most hands that dog would neverhave made it, and I'm so proud
that she has, and I'm so proudthat you've got a good handle on
it, and I also don't say thislightly I wouldn't struggle to
(21:51):
meet you on a walk and be ableto know that you either had her
on lead appropriately or we'regoing to move at an appropriate
distance, or I would keep holdof my dogs to the point that
they wouldn't be going over andgreeting anyway and I would feel
safe to meet you.
And that for me is massive,because one of my big
insecurities is I own six kilodogs and so when you own six
kilo dogs and they meet 40 pluskilo dogs on a walk, you do fear
(22:14):
for them, because mine arehappy, busy, fast, little dogs
who can annoy the hell out ofother dogs because they're so
fast and busy.
And so, no, I don't want tomeet, um, a dog that could just
take.
And the thing is, with a doglike Bonnie, it takes one bite
right and so she pulls and shemight even it might even be a
play bite right, like there canbe a playful bite with a dog who
doesn't have bite inhibitionsorted, and so these could be
(22:36):
bites where and I have seen,sadly, dogs killed.
I've seen a dog killed at a bigevent, a papillon, by another
larger dog.
I have a friend who had achihuahua, her nan's chihuahua,
her nan's chihuahua and theyinappropriately left two
terriers at home with nan'schihuahua and they came home to
a dead dog.
So as much as I'd love the ideathat we just talk fluffy, pink
and rainbows, let's be reallyclear here.
(22:56):
I've I've seen seriousincidents with dogs and I know
that bonnie has had a dog dogincident.
These are things that happenwhen a dog pulls or takes off or
is inappropriately off lead oris towed to the park and has got
themselves worked up in anestate and is then let off lead
and does go and do somethinginappropriate.
And we've all had moments wherewe've made an inappropriate
decision or we've done somethingthat we think I could have done
(23:18):
that better, or you know what.
Let's help dogs, let's help dogowners.
Those rescue resources are outthere.
I'm offering any rescue centrethat gets in touch rescue
resources for your rescue centreand I'm also offering any new
owner with a rescue dog rescueresources, because I just feel
like we could do better byrescues, rescue dogs and the
resources we have.
(23:38):
What do you think, alice?
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I think that's brilliant, because I think this
is it.
I think when you're getting arescue dog you could probably
use an analogy it's like ofgetting a second-hand car with
no service history.
There's gonna be maybe one ortwo surprises, maybe not, but
there might be.
And actually, if you've got theright resources, if you've got
the right style of training andthe right style of learning from
(24:01):
day one, you've got a much,much higher chance of success.
Um, you know, yeah, there weredefinitely occasions where we
were not at all convinced thatwe were going to prevail with,
you know, keeping Bonnie andhaving a sort of safe and happy
relationship with her um, but wehave managed it because we have
found the right learning, we'vefound the right training and
(24:21):
we've, you know, we've put thework in and stuff and, um, you
know, we've, we've prioritizedthat um, but it's completely
possible.
You know, even even, like yousay, in quite extreme sort of
situations, I say, yeah, I don't.
Uh, bonnie was not an easy dogto take on.
She did have a serious incidentprior um to have been taken
(24:42):
into rescue, um, and and and.
Yet, you know, here we are.
We can kind of be a sort offairly socially acceptable
member of the community.
Now you know what, alice, Ithink.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
I would walk with you over and over, and this is why
I want to share the Game Changerway and I think it's.
I don't think it.
I know it is the best way youcan train a dog, and so this
episode we have tackled big dogson lead.
But let's be really clear itdoesn't really matter whether
it's a big dog on lead or asmall dog on lead.
(25:14):
Actually, all dogs on lead canwork with this.
Now, alice, if anyone was toask you, should they take on the
10 days to stop a dog pulling?
Or maybe they should take ongames club or pro dog trainer
club, what are you going to tellthem?
Speaker 2 (25:29):
yeah, yeah, do it.
I mean, yeah, if you can justsort of manage to get a hold of
the mini course, then get a holdof that, because there's going
to be some really goodcollection of games that's going
to really help you with thatspecific struggle.
But, genuinely, if you can jumpin and even just kind of give
it a try with games club or pdcclub, then you're going to get
those mini courses plus accessto an enormous library of games
(25:54):
which are going to help withloose lead walking or any other
dog training struggle that youcan think of, and the community
that goes with it.
So you know it can.
It can be a lonely space, can't?
If you've got a dog trainingstruggle and you feel, like
everyone else that you see on awalk is that the dogs are
walking really nicely or theyjust seem to be having just a
(26:15):
wonderful time and you're theone walking an absolute monster.
It can be a lonely place to be.
So actually having access to acommunity of other people who
understand your struggle, havemaybe lived it, have maybe
overcome it, you know, or whomaybe can team up with you and
kind of you can sort of keepeach other going and keep each
other motivated.
That's as much of a gamechanger as the games that you
(26:38):
teach your dog like being havingthat support and having that
knowledge sharing is is huge.
So yeah, if you, if you, canjump in and I'll see you there.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yes, alice, I love it .
Now, alice, I know we've gotmore to share, but that was this
episode of the Sexiest Girlpodcast.
Are you game for joining me forsharing some more of Bonnie's
adventures?
Absolutely, I love this.
And what I love most for youguys as listeners is you get to
hear real life stories, reallife owners, real life dogs, and
not just the pretty fluffy ones, actually the ones who've
(27:11):
actually had some fairly seriousbehavioral struggles to
overcome, and they haven't justovercome them, they've smashed
them out of the park.
So I'll see you next week.
Make sure you join us and,beyond everything else, please
ensure you share this podcast.
If you haven't already reviewedit, get doing that too.
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