Learning Painful Lessons

When working with animals, it’s a given you’re going to get hurt now and then. There will be the scratches, scrapes, bruises, and very occasionally bites. No matter how careful you are… stuff happens.

Most of the time these injuries are minor, and completely unintentional on the animal’s part. They sometimes get overly excited and forget how delicate we humans are. They don’t mean to hurt me; they’re just playing or trying to get my attention in their own way. On rare occasion, an animal will lash out with intent, but their intent is most often to get me to leave them alone, or they are redirecting their stress on me. That’s just information to me that the animal is really stressed, frightened, or maybe in pain. It’s also info to me that I wasn’t really paying attention to the animal and what he was saying to me, or about what was going on around us. Then it’s my job to figure out what to do to help him calm down. What I do depends on the animal and the situation. These are lessons learned with a little pain to help make them stick.

Then there are the lessons I learn the hard way, with a great deal of pain. I recently had a hard lesson, which resulted in scraped up hands, lots of bruises along the right side of my body, and cracked ribs. That was a week ago and I’m still in agony. I learned some important lessons, most of all to follow my own advice.

So I was walking a couple of clients. One is a very large (95 lbs), strong and powerful dog. The other is a toy breed. They are both out of control on walks, especially when they see another dog. Knowing this, I have always been on alert for other dogs along the walk, so I could change course before one of them starts to react. If one reacts, the other follows suit and then they both go over the top and try to get to the other dog. I’m pretty strong myself and I know how to use my core strength to maintain control, but they have pulled me a few feet before I could regain control of them.

Anyway, we were out walking and the little one pooped. While I was starting to lean over to pick it up, a couple came walking up the street with their Shih Tzu. I didn’t see them until it was too late. Suddenly the big guy lunged toward the other dog and he literally slammed me to the ground and dragged me into the street. It happened so fast; all I could think to do was to hold on to the dogs so they wouldn’t hurt anyone. It was a close call and very scary, because he got right up to them.

I don’t really understand their reaction to having a huge dog, dragging an adult behind him, barking and running at them. I would have stopped and backed away. These people just kept walking forward, right up to us and then, once we were up to them they stopped and started yelling at me. That didn’t help, it was just making the dogs more agitated. I apologized and asked if anyone was hurt, they said no. So I told them to just keep moving so I could get out of the middle of the street. Finally they went on their way, never once asking if I was OK…

So, I got the dogs settled down, got them and myself out of the street, and checked out my injuries. The backs of my hands were very scraped and bleeding from the asphalt and my right side was very painful.

By the time we got back to the house, I was feeling pretty sore. I cleaned my wounds and stopped the bleeding. We went to bed early that night, but I didn’t sleep well because of the pain. I haven’t slept well for a week now.

This experience did teach we a few lessons, which I won’t forget. Like I said, I learned to follow my own advice. I had recommended that the owner buy him and Easy Walk harness and stop using the prong collar. I refuse to walk a dog on a prong or choke collar for many reasons. For one thing, they don’t really work; dogs often learn to pull through the pain. They can cause throat and brain damage. The most import reason is they often make dogs more reactive. So, I was just walking him on his regular collar, I should have purchased an Easy Walk to use with him. I kept meaning to, but didn’t get around to it. I got one the next day. They’re not the only answer to walking a big, crazy dog, but they give you more leverage over the dog, without causing him pain.

I also decided to walk the dogs separately. Together, they feed off of each other’s reactions to everything along the way. Besides since neither of them have the first clue about how to walk on leash, they keep winding themselves around my legs. Again, I knew this and should have done it sooner, but I was trying to follow the owner’s instructions.

Another thing I’ve changed is that, for now, I only walk them up and down their own street. Once they get past a certain point, they get too aroused, and lose the doggie minds. I want to teach them how to loose leash walk, so we have to work where they can stay calm and focus on me. They get the same amount of exercise; we just don’t go as far. We practiced our new walking training a couple times, and it went pretty well. When we’re finished, they’re tired and relaxed, instead of over the top and crazy. As they learn how to walk well and control themselves, we’ll slowly venture further away. It takes time and practice to teach loose leash walking, since I only walk them occasionally, I’m hoping I’ll be able to get the owner to keep it up too. I explained the process and she didn’t seem to keen on it, we’ll see. She thinks they should take a walk around the neighborhood, but they can’t handle it yet, so I’m going to follow my own advice and do what I know is right. I should have done it long before.

Which brings me to another lesson learned, I always want to follow my clients wishes while I’m pet sitting for their pets. However there are times when I have to rely on my own knowledge and training, and I have to use my own best judgment. If I think a situation is dangerous, I will find a way to do something to keep the animals, the public, and myself safe, while still fulfilling my obligation to my client.

Lessons learned… the hard way.