Getting Big Dogs Over the Dog Walk
One of the most terrifying obstacles for big dogs is the dog walk. If you're a big dog owner, you know what I mean. You start your dog off by leading him up that narrow ramp and then, suddenly, your dog discovers -- much to his horror -- he has back feet! He freezes or scrambles, not having a clue where to put them or what to do with them.
It'd be almost comical, except you have a dog who is in a blind panic. A big dog in a blind panic. Not good.
Strange as it sounds, dogs don't think about their back feet. They're just sort of along for the ride, as it were, and until a dog is faced with the fact that he has two sets of paws behind the first set, he really has no control over them.
When you start agility, you can start getting your dog thinking about his back feet by walking him slowly through a ladder that has been laid down on its side. The idea is that by walking him through the rungs, he'll think about putting his back toes down where he isn't stubbing them. A better trick would be to get some cinder blocks and a plank about the same width as a dog walk plank and laying that across. Coax your dog onto the plank and get him used to that.
What if he doesn't want to get on the plank? Well, now you'll have to do something called backchaining. That is picking up your dog (yes, I KNOW he's heavy! Lift with your knees) and placing him on the last part of the plank and having him walk off. Once he's comfortable with getting off the plank, set him in the middle and have him walk across it. Then, finally get him to the start. The idea, of course, is to have him step confidently up onto the plank.
Once the plank is a nothing, start him on the dog walk. I bet he won't have quite the problems with it once he figures out his feet.
