[nagdu] walking faster

[Tracy Carcione]

Hi Hannah.
Echo walked veeeerrrrry slow when I first got her, but she improved after
a week or so, or I wouldn't have brought her home.  But, for quite a
while, she needed a good bit of cheerleading.  I made up a new
measurement, good girls per hour.  Sometimes we were up to a couple
hundred.
On the other hand, some dogs need a firm, stern hup-up, because they're
just goofing off.
I've also found that many dogs will speed up if I reach down while we're
walking and give a little pat on the side or butt.  It takes some practice
to not be awkward, but it works.

I have also, sometimes, if I'm sure the dog is just messing about, given a
bit of a tug on the leash in a forward direction, with a firm hup-up.  Ben
has a particular block where he wants to go slow as a turtle, and I've
sometimes done the leash tug there.
Oh, and another thing *not* to do is push forward on the harness, which is
kind of a natural reaction if you want to go faster.  But most guide dogs
have been taught to stop if there's no resistance on the harness, so
pushing forward is counterproductive.


So now you get to figure out which approach, the happy one, or the
no-nonsense one, works best for Princess, and in which situations.
HTH. Hope she's feeling better.
Tracy

> Hello all,
> I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Princess sometimes walks
> super slow, almost like at an ants pace. Just wondering if this is part of
> the bonding? I've done a lot of praising, and encouraging her to go
> faster,
> but nothing seems to work. It seems like she just wants to relax at home -
> lying in the sun and sleeping all day long. Is there anything, anything at
> all that I could do to get her to walk faster?
> All the best, Hannah and Princess
>
>
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