The Art of the Calm Walk
5 cards · about a minute
Leave calm
The walk begins at the door: a dog who spins at the lead and bolts through the gate has set the tone for the next hour before you have taken a step.
Set the pace
Walk briskly, faster than your dog’s natural amble, when your pace sets the tempo the dog has to match you, and that alone changes who is leading.
Position matters
A dog out in front believes they are responsible for whatever is ahead and stays on alert; beside or slightly behind, they can finally stop scanning.
The lead is a line
Hold a short lead at your hip with relaxed hands: tension travels down it straight into your dog, and so does slack.
Earn the sniff
After each stretch of structured walking, give five minutes of loose lead to sniff, the nose is not the enemy of the walk, it is the reward inside it.
On this site
This deck is about the calm walk, which has a page of its own with the full detail behind these 5 cards.
Read about the calm walk