Four Times to Pick Up Your Small Dog and Why

Recently, I encountered four situations when I picked up the small dog I had with me. I thought sharing my reasons might be helpful, so here are the events and my thoughts:



1) Narrow Trail with Steep Drop Offs + Young Puppy + Family of Five on their Bikes

Because the trail makes it impossible to move too far away from whatever is coming at me and because the two children on bikes might be drawn to the adorable puppy I was walking like metal to a magnet, and because this young pup may have never seen one bike in her short life, never mind five - I picked her up.



Picking her up allows me to feel her body tension, her breathing and heart rate, as well as to easily shield her either by turning my body or by covering her eyes with my hand should she start to become stressed. 

I kept my hands, arms and voice relaxed as the family rode by.

Pup thought nothing of it. Perfect.

2) Narrow Trail with Steep Drop Offs + Young Puppy + Two Horses

This is the same as above plus one important addition: Safety of the Horses and their Riders. Because we’re on a raised rail trail with a steep drop off on either side, a frightened horse could get himself and his rider in real trouble in a nanosecond.



As with shy/tense dogs, “the smaller the space, the higher the stakes” applies around horses. The less room they have the more tense they tend to be.

If the pup were on the ground and suddenly squealed and spun away from the horses in fright, a horse could shy sideways.



Anytime you have horses coming your way, moving off to the side of the path and becoming stationary with your dog on a short leash is the safest option for all concerned.

3) Narrow Trail with Steep Drop Offs + Young Puppy + Straining, Excited Adult Dog

Right after the horses came a cattledog mix straining at the end of his retractable leash. The dog saw the puppy from some 20 feet away, and immediately started raking small trenches into the earth as he pulled hard to get closer. 



No thank you. 

Up came the puppy again as I turned, using my body to block the other dog’s view. With this one, I did not stand still but walked away from the situation quickly.

Overexcited adult dog + retractable leash is a recipe for a bad event. I never hang around to see what sort of madness and badness might happen.

4) Nighttime Walk, Large Dog Targeting My Dog

Working a little dog on leash in the local mall lawn area, I see a large dog silhouetted by the car headlines passing behind him. He is big, he is absolutely still, he is looking directly at the dog I have on leash. From across the grass I heard a female voice, “Be nice, Branson, be niiiice now. That’s another doooggy...”



Uh-oh. Big, intensely-focused dog + novice, pleading owner +my small sensitive client dog?

Danger!



Since I consider this a “countdown” situation, where the large dog might lunge forward at any additional movement (prey-like behavior) I scoop up my charge, and position myself so my dog is out of sight behind a tree. (Remove the target.)

Then I watch Branson.

He continues to stare in our direction for a good 20-30 seconds longer before deigning to move on at a slow, confident trot - his human trailing behind. 

I stay where I am until he is quite a ways away, as I have complete confidence in his ability to yank any leash out of his handler’s hands, should he decide that’s what he wants to do.

Usually, I would say to you that I rarely pick up any dog I am working with, preferring to use life’s distractions as training opportunities, but these events made me realize that both the safety of my dog and of others must be a reasonable expectation before doing that.

When that safety is in question, when one outcome possible is a bad one, do what you need to do to handle it. Train later, when you are confident you can both create and reward success.