Lessons from Langston: Mastering the Walk

Last week I promised to post an interview I did with Todd Langston, a dog behaviorist. I finally got it transcribed over the weekend, and I’m so excited to share it with y’all. We talked about everything from how to greet a new dog to how to use an e-collar a.k.a. shock collar. Please absorb every word. It’s valuable, free, and important for the well being of your freaks.

Todd uses the same philosophical approach as the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, meaning he speaks dog. He dropped so many pearls of wisdom in our forty-five minute conversation that I decided to publish his answers in several posts called Lessons from Langston.

Since summer is here, the first part is about the benefits of walking your dog…my favorite subject.

Why is walking your dog and doing it correctly so important?

“I’m glad that you’re saying that because if you really were going to put your time, effort, and energy onto what people call training, my opinion is that learning to master the walk will benefit you more than ANY…THING…ELSE. More than any single thing. It will benefit you more than any of it. As far as getting the dog to be more relaxed, getting the dog to be more well behaved, getting the dog to follow you, all of that comes through the leash.

I’m fortunate. I actually get to teach workshops with Cesar [Millan a.k.a the Dog Whisperer]. And that’s what it always comes down to is mastering the walk. A dog that pulls you is in control of what you’re doing. He’s in control of movement, he’s in control of everything. But [being on a leash] is also why a lot of dogs become aggressive because they can’t run away and have to stay connected to something they don’t trust. Most humans don’t realize that their dog doesn’t trust them. The leash exposes all of this.

Now you take the dog to a dog park and take off the leash. The dog can move in and out of social interactions the way he sees fit and not based on the human, then their personality is totally different. That’s why a lot of people call their dogs leash aggressive. A leash aggressive dog is a dog that doesn’t trust his human.

A dog only has four choices, fight, flight, avoid, and accept. And the dog will normally choose to run away or avoid situations that it’s uncomfortable with, but on a leash it can’t. So the dog goes into a fight state and that’s just because the human gets nervous, yanks on the leash, doesn’t know what to do, and the dog’s like “f-you, man.”

Walking a dog is important for every reason, all reasons, exercise, mental and physical well-being, everything. Learning to walk a dog and doing it a lot will give you a greater pay-off than anything.”

(To find out how to master the walk, click here. Coming up: Meet Todd’s own pack, Mr. Pickles, Almondine, and Hercules plus Todd shares exactly what the “whisperer” in Dog Whisperer means…)