Share your suggestions for a chance to win treats for your dog

If your canine is hyper when going to new places, there is hope!

The essential is lots of exercise, lots of patience and to slowly bring your canine to much more and much more places over time.

I lucked out with my canine Ace because for the most part I can bring him anywhere and he is relatively calm.

I like taking him to coffee shops and restaurants, canine friendly bars and outdoor events. In the San Diego area, there are a lot of opportunities to do these things.

But, some dogs are a little much more challenging in public places.

I thought I’d share my suggestions for helping a canine stay calm and behaved in public, but I want to hear from you, too.

5 suggestions to keep your canine calm when out in public

1. lots of exercise beforehand!

If you want your canine to be calmer out in public, try exercising her a lot more. If you’re currently walking her for 30 minutes a day, start walking her for an hour. Not just the morning before you take her somewhere, but every day that you possibly can.

A lot of dogs just have so much pent-up energy from weeks or months of not enough exercise. Their owners don’t even realize it, but if the dogs just got much more exercise, they’d naturally be a lot calmer when out and about.

2. use a collar that makes your canine simpler to handle.

This is another issue that puzzles me, along with a lack of exercise. Why do people insist on using regular collars when their dogs pull so much? Do they think they’ll be judged for using a prong collar? Are they hesitant to spend $15 on a gentle Leader or a no-pull harness?

The gentle Leader is my default collar because it minimizes my dog’s pulling much more than anything else I’ve tried.

My canine is well behaved and I am a good trainer, but I still like to use certain collars to reduce his pulling when we’re out in public. It makes the experience much more unwinding and enjoyable, and it implies my canine gets to label along much more often.

And ditch the retractable leash for now. OK, maybe for good.

3. carry highly valued treats.

Another suggestion that seems obvious, right? but few people actually bring treats.

And not just any treats! Oh no, dry canine biscuits just won’t cut it for many dogs. You ought to find something your canine is prepared to work for.

4. lots of practice over weeks and months.

We all want our dogs to behave perfectly best away, but it’s not fair to bring them to a busy outdoor restaurant and expect them to behave if we haven’t taken them to quieter places to practice first.

A good place to start is a quiet park with picnic tables. just sit down with your canine and maybe a coffee, and work on keeping your canine in a “stay” with mild distractions. If it’s not going well, you can always leave.

Another option, once your canine has had much more practice, is a coffee shop with outdoor seating during a quieter time or maybe a casual, fast-food type place as long as it’s not too busy.

I try to sit on an end as far away from all the commotion as possible. I also like to keep my body between my canine and the most likely source of distraction. If I expect people to be walking by on one side, I have him lie down and stay on the other side, preferably under the table or against a wall or other barrier. then I give him treats to encourage calm behavior and focus.

If your canine is having a hard time, you can always take your coffee and go.

5. practice lots of basic obedience.

People are always emailing me to ask how they can get their canine to stop barking at other dogs or how they can stop their canine from freaking out in public.

It often comes down to basic obedience.

If your canine will listen to you and stay when told, then you are ahead of 99 percent of other canine owners. another good command to work on is “watch me” where you reward your canine for eye contact. If you practice those two things every day in various environments, I bet you’ll see some visible progress.

Every time you work with your dog, you are reinforcing a positive relationship, which only helps your canine pay attention to you in much more challenging environments.

Ace with green Bark Gummies canine treats

How does your canine behave while you’re out in public? Naughty or calm or somewhere in between?

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