Old Trainer: Help! My dog won’t behave during walks

Dear Old Trainer: Shocker, our 14-month old Lab/Huskie mix is great in every way except one. He gets so excited when we walk he’s a wild dog on the leash. He may be calm for a minute, but then it’s right back to pulling and jumping and raising cane. What’s going on and how do I stop him?

Marla, Wichita, Kansas

Old Trainer: Shocker, like all young dogs, especially young male dogs who have not been trained, has one interest — having fun.

John Prine was talking about a reckless girlfriend when he wrote “Speed of The Sound of Loneliness,” but his line, “you’re out there running just to be on the run,” is the perfect description of how a young dog feels.

Shocker’s so excited at the idea of a walk with you his mind is firing at warp speed, something like this:

1. I’m king of the world! Time to explode out of this house like a rocket and...

2. Hey, kids on bikes, they need me running full speed beside them...

3. No, first I’ll jump six feet in the air and spin like a helicopter...

4. Now I’m going to run so hard I jerk the leash out of the boss’s hand...

5. Ha, ha, it took her a block to catch me, now I’m going to leap up and kiss her...

6. Wow, what a jump! Left mud paw prints on both her shoulders...

7. Hey, the nice old couple that pets me. I’ll bark like an attack dog and scare them.

8. Look, a bird, I’ll chase him for a mile without looking down even once...

9. Hey, is that a mud hole? I’m going to splatter mud high as the sky...

10. All right! A dead squirrel carcass to roll in. Might even eat it...

11. She’s relaxed so it’s time to circle her three times and wrap the leash around her legs...

Doing whatever he wants is a habit for Shocker now and he’ll keep doing it until you train him not to.

You break the habit the same way you break all bad habits — interrupt his thought process the instant he starts to lose focus.

It’s natural for a dog to bounce around when he knows it’s walk time, so burn off some of his energy first by throwing a ball in the back yard.

Then start training before you ever leave the house by making him sit and look at you while you attach his leash (always use an expandable leash, of course). As you walk, stop him the instant he pulls too hard, say “easy,” and make him sit.

Watch him closely while you walk and you’ll learn to read his body language and anticipate when he is about to act up. As soon as you see it, say “easy,” and make him sit if he keeps pulling.

Brag on him and pet him when he does it right. The love part is always as important as the discipline in breaking a bad habit.

If you stick with it, Shocker will realize getting affection from the person he loves most is more fun than running wild.

That’s the foundation of canine psychology — members of the pack are happy to obey the wishes of the leader as soon as they know who the leader is and what the leader wants them to do.

This story was originally published May 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM.