Dog and jogger

Joggers, cyclists or walkers, along with dog encounters, are always a major topic.

A human-dog team that operates on equal footing always resolves such situations in a way that builds trust, not erodes it. What exactly does that mean? Let me try to explain.

Our highest-level version, which you can achieve, works like this:

Imagine you have your dog off-leash. He's running about 20-30 meters ahead of you. Now a jogger is running up behind you, but you haven't noticed him yet. Because your dog has much better hearing than you, he notices him much sooner. As soon as he sees him, he runs back to you, signaling that something is approaching. Now you see the jogger, so you put your dog on his leash and continue walking. The jogger overtakes you, greets you, and perhaps even thanks you. In that moment, you have created a trust-building situation for everyone: the jogger, your dog, and yourself.

Now, the version that you actually experience non-stop.

The dog is trained to respond to commands and recall!

The same situation again: your dog is 20-30 meters in front of you. He's only interested in sniffing and jumping around, and you only call him when you want something from him.

Nobody notices the jogger approaching from behind. The jogger overtakes you. Unsure of what to expect from your dog further ahead, he says to you, somewhat uncertainly, that the dog needs to be on a leash. You're startled; where did he suddenly come from? Because he jumps directly at your dog, you almost frantically call out to him. Your shouting draws the dog's attention to the jogger, and because you continue calling out, clearly uncertain, the dog reacts with similar uncertainty. Perhaps he runs hesitantly past the jogger, or perhaps he barks at him, or even jumps on him.

At this point, the jogger will probably shout, "I'm going to report you! You can't control that dog at all!" Naturally, you won't let that slide. You'll likely either yell back or go home feeling completely dejected.

Now, numerous trust-eroding situations have arisen. The jogger certainly won't trust you when they encounter each other again. And you won't trust him either. But what's much worse, a trust-eroding situation has also developed between you and your dog, which will only make everything worse.

The same thing can happen in forward motion, with the same result: either eroding or building trust.

 

It applies to every living being, i.e., cats/wildlife, etc.; only trust-based training will give you and your dog the right security!

Distracting the dog erodes trust; if you could trust the dog and he could trust you, you wouldn't need to distract him in difficult situations.