Jaci Dawn

I have owned a total of five dogs since I left home at age 17. Only one of two of those dogs were trained to walk on a leash, which is really sad. My first dog was a Dalmatian I called Mandy and she went everywhere with me on a leash. I was 22 and loved walking, But then I met Don and we fell in love and Mandy hated Don. So I had to give her away. I still miss Mandy.

I got Don a dog the first year we were married: a Springer/Brittany/Pointer mix we named Rosie. Rosie refused to learn how to walk on a leash, but she was a great dog in the woods, always running between Don & I, checking up on us. Later, when we had children, she stayed close to the babies. Unfortunately, Rosie was a “runner” and if she could escape, she was gone. Eventually, that bad habit (and several tons of steel) caught up to her and killed her.

Then we got Sadie, our first purebred dog: an English Pointer show dog. I will spare you my thoughts on Sadie’s intelligence because Sadie had no intelligence. She was a true “Latte dog.” And despite the few efforts on my part, Sadie also refused to walk well on a leash. She was Don’s dog and he promised to train her, but that never happened. She was good in the woods, though, and stayed close to people without a tether. Cancer took Sadie from us and I have to admit I cried a lot when we let her go.

Then Murphy. And Murphy is like Rosie on steroids. Don promised to train him, too – and he has: as a bird dog and a woodland dog. Murphy wears a shock collar in the woods, but he knows not to stray too far and he comes when Don calls. When Don Calls – I can’t stress that enough because Murphy basically ignores me. The only work I’ve done with Murphy has been to establish dominance – and he knows to not try to go out doors ahead of me, argue with me in the kitchen or jump on me. Most of the time. Having his little balls cut off help the dominance thing and he’s turned out to be pretty mellow. But he can’t walk on a leash. That’s 85# of male dog dominance UN-leashed.

Now I have my own dog again. Harvey still needs a lot of work, but the one thing I love about him is he is learning to walk on a leash! Can’t take him out in the woods because he runs off, but I can walk around town with him on a leash. He’s like a photo negative of Rosie, Sadie & Murphy: has to be tied up in the woods or on a leash while hiking, but he’s great as an in-town dog.

I do have to yank him back a few times when we first start out, but he quickly settles down. And he’s terrible about walking past a cat: I have to drag him to keep him from pointing and then attacking. But he’s learning.

Today I thought I’d try something new: I put him in the dog carrier & we drove over to the Oregon City Promenade. A few circles before we set out, but he started to settle down quickly. Next time, I will take my camera.

After the promenade, I went to Home Depot. I was very nervous about this part. Would I instantly regret it? Would he sit still when I checked out?

To my relief, Harvey was a gentleman in the store. Granted, he was a little overwhelmed by the noises, lights and people. He passed a little girl within inches and didn’t turn to look at her. She looked a little nervous (wise child!) but Harvey was well-behaved. Someone approached and asked to pet him and Harvey was sweet about that, too. Mostly, he stayed fairly close to me and didn’t pull on the leash at all. The only time I thought we might have a problem was when we turned a corner and there was a black lab with his owner – but I turned Harvey quickly and we went another way.

I am of the opinion and training that a dog on a leash should be on a short leash. The dog is not supposed to pull out ahead of you, but is supposed to walk by your left hip, at the “heel”. I refuse to purchase one of those retractable leashes because it teaches dogs bad manners on leashes – they can roam out as far as they want. I see very few people train their dogs this way – the dogs roam ahead, wander off to the side, and pull.

I’ve never been impressed with Don’s dog’s lack of leash training. It’s infuriating and takes all of the pleasure of walking a dog away. So I have been more than excited to see how Harvey behaves under the leash and at the “heel”. He’s not a perfect gentleman, but he’s learning.

And I foresee further trips to Home Depot in our future, just for the pleasure of being able to go somewhere with a well-behaved dog in public.