How do dogs pulling on their leash impact their overall health
Walking your dog shouldn't feel as if you're tugging them along, or they end up becoming a mop for the concrete. You want to make sure that it's the right balance of you leading and guiding them with the leash. They should be contently following you by your side and not your dogs pulling on their leash consistently.
Of course, dogs can be exploratory by nature, and with the proper type of training they can adhere to these urges but should be done after the proper type of dog training beforehand. Otherwise, we may provide the wrong signals to our pups.
When dogs pulling on their leash becomes an issue
Yet it can become an issue that leads to unnecessary injuries that can only get worse without proper training or care. Dog obedience starts early on with puppy classes and puppy training. If you wait too long, you can make it harder for future dog training to set in as fast.
Also, the problem when dogs get injured is that you may not notice it until later on when their excitement or adrenaline goes down. Dogs tend to hide or minimise their injuries (think when you accidentally step on their paw, they yelp and move on!). In turn. they will continue with normal actions that could exacerbate it.
Injury to the neck
The first area to get an injury will be neck related. If the dog is pulled too hard, even just once, it can cause severe whiplash to the dog or even cause a minor fracture to the surrounding bones.
It's also possible that the trachea and larynx could accidentally be bruised or crushed. The amount of damage that you can cause gets worse the longer the leash and the speed of pulling there is on that leash since it'll have more force.
You may think that everything is normal because you're simply tugging along a few times on the leash, and your dog eventually complies. However, even if it's trying to chase that squirrel, its concentration will be on that squirrel so intensely that your dog won't even realise that he’s choking! It's quite a scary thought, but a dog's neck is similar to ours, especially with how sensitive it is. Compared to our fearless canine companions, we just know to protect our necks and avoid damage. It's up to us as their guardians to protect them, well, from themselves!
Problems with the eyes and ears
The neck is just the beginning of the literal headache you may be causing your dog to have. When you pull on that leash, you're applying pressure. Yet that pressure doesn't just stay on the neck and cause damage there. It causes stress all the way to your dog's eyes, ears and head. You're effectively choking the dog and cutting off blood circulation to other parts of the body. It can expand existing conditions, such as being prone to ear infections or glaucoma.
These can effectively reduce your dog's original razor-sharp senses, if he or she had any, to begin with, and can also damage the surrounding organs.
Nervous damage and breathing issues
You may start noticing your dog licking its paws a lot more. This could be a sign of many things, from allergens to the nervous system having damage from pulling the leash. This causes those all too familiar tingling feelings we feel from time to time. However, your dog isn't aware of what's happening. Also, with such a constriction on the neck, there's the possibility of shortness of breath, wheezing, and even the chance of vomiting.
The thyroid can be affected
Something we don't often think about in general is Thyroids. Straining your dog by pulling on the leash will cause continuous damage and trauma to your dog's thyroid. It will produce an auto-immune response to combat this 'threat' eventually. But, unfortunately, all those white blood cells fighting off the inflammation will start to really wear and tear down the thyroid causing permanent damage as well.
Handlers are affected too from dogs pulling on their leash
Those that walk dogs poorly in the aforementioned way can also get injured themselves! Who would have thought that dog walking could be such a dangerous activity for everyone involves themselves? Yet if your dog, especially a bigger dog, is pulling at the leash, it could strain your arm and even cause back injuries with that sudden jolt to the system.
There's also the possibility that the dog tugs so unexpectedly or harshly they break free from its owner's grasp. You can then see them running off into the street, oncoming traffic, or other places your dog shouldn't be without you.
An embarrassment can also occur, as you're probably walking your dog in a public setting. When your dog doesn't walk properly or is pulling on the leash too much, every other dog out there seems to be the epitome of the perfectly trained dog. As a result, you may tend to feel self-conscious, while your dog, again, won't know the difference.
Get Puppy Classes asap to aid with your dogs pulling on their leash!
What you want to consider is that the alternatives are much worse. These are that eventually you may give up on your dog, and not want to walk your dog that often. Dog training is necessary, as quitting isn't a good solution, either. Both parties get many benefits from this bonding experience and exercise that the dog needs, and simply refusing it because your dog doesn't have proper training is unnecessary.
It's best to train a dog when they're still a puppy, and when possible, it’s a good idea to work with experts, as every dog can be different. They’ll know the most holistic approach to get your puppy to understand how walking properly equates to good behaviour. This also helps to give you a good foundation as an owner how to proceed forward.
You want to have your dog properly trained to behave with every aspect of walking. From walking with a loose leash to walking beside you and not in front of you (or trying to trip you with the leash itself). This continues with training your dog to know when to stop. Such as when you stop or if they don't feel you holding the leash any longer, and so on.
Always remember that taking the time and patience to continuously train your dog will be well worth the avoidable medical bills. Not to mention it will continue growing the relationship between the two of you. You'll also feel a great sense of accomplishment when your dog is properly trained and walking normally as well.
Make Us Your Go-To For Burnley Dog Training
Again, as we're your local Burnley dog training partner, we’re more then welcome to begin the puppy training for you. We can handle dog obedience in Burnley and have a focus on puppy training in Burnley.