One of the tools I consider essential for good training is a long line. The longer, the better.
Even though these lines are widely popular and are sold almost everywhere, people rarely understand how to actually use them.
One part of this confusion is the length of this leash – most people are used to wrapping the leash around their hand (another issue on which I will write one day). However, wrapping a 30-foot leash around one’s wrist is not an easy task, and neither is trying to fold it and hold on to it.
After I explain that a person needs to hold on to the workable length of the line while letting the rest of it drag, another problem pops up: dogs’ feet get tangled. Surprisingly, this is the issue that most pet owners find particularly annoying because, in their minds, it debilitates their dog. That is, whenever a dog gets tangled, the owner drops everything and jumps to help and to get it untangled. Sometimes, it reaches the point where we cannot train because a particularly wiggly dog keeps getting tangled consistently while its owner keeps attempting to free this dog up.
The thing is, the dog needs to learn how to get itself untangled, and you need to let them do it. As soon as this dog starts moving, it will likely walk out of the tangle they created, and the problem will be solved rather quickly and without your intervention. However, if you keep insisting that a tangled leash is something extraordinarily dangerous, you will create a behaviour where a dog will freeze, panic, and maybe even throw a fit whenever it feels that its feet are restrained by something.
Why am I even bringing this up? Because this is yet another example that reveals how overbearing and unnecessarily intrusive contemporary culture has become. On the one hand, we try to make sure that our dogs have everything they need: the best food, the cleanest water, the most durable toys. On the other hand, we completely stripe them off the ability to be who they are, that is, smart, resourceful, and confident animals. Instead, by tending to every single problem that we perceive as demanding human intervention, we create weak, shy, insecure animals who come to believe that a tangled leash signifies the end of their world as they know it.
A tangled leash is simply that: a leash that became tangled around a dog’s feet. Do not immediately jump to help and do not make a big deal out of it. Let this dog figure out how to solve the problem, and next time they will not struggle with it. Moreover, as they navigate the skill of getting out of leash tangles, they will also learn how to avoid being tangled in the first place, thus gaining more confidence and, ultimately, becoming a little bit happier and prouder about themselves.