Dog Walking Shouldn’t be an Adventure in Endurance
Give your dog the opportunity to train herself
This article is inspired by Annie, My Growing Marvel by Joellyn Rose Keener, Author of Deaf and Determined. Joellyn writes that Annie has grown from a 15-pound bundle of joy to such a size that walks with her have become “an adventure in endurance.”
Being dragged around the neighborhood by Annie would be hard on me. I think it must be harder on Joellyn, who is deaf, partially blind, and also suffers from cervical stenosis (think pinched nerves) and osteoarthritis (with joint pain and stiffness). So, let’s see if I can suggest something to make Joellyn’s walks with Annie more adventurous and less dangerous.
I should start with my qualifications. I’m a dog breeder and trainer from way back — 50 years back, in fact. Back then, I had two Womandogs, Lucha and Avanzar, pit bulls, mother and daughter. I bred each of them every two years to a fine young Mandog from down the street aways. I sold their puppies as family pets and family protection.
I sold them not at six weeks — imagine if someone had come along and taken your baby from you at age 5 and expected him, without mothering, to grow up happy and capable — but at three to four months. By then, they knew sit, stay, come, wait, pee outside, walk nicely on the…
