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Originally Posted by lovemypryorkie  Wow!!!! I'm so grateful for all of the suggestions! He is the cutest little thing…weighs only 6 lbs. but from his barking, you'd think he was a great dane!! I will try all of the suggestions! He's my only dog and my 10 year old loves him…and I've gotta admit, so do I!!! I just wish he'd chill out!! Lol! I will definitely try obedience training. It's my first dog, so I'm new to this too! |
Couple more things that will help: give him a daily routine of activities. Try to make meals, bed time, waking time, short play sessions etc at about the same time each day. Structure is calming in general.
If you can give him activity in your home and yard, if you have one, to burn off some energy, then he won't be saving it all for walks.
Lastly, and this is one of the hardest, try to maintain a calm and confident attitude when you walk him. If you walk out the door full of anxiety that he is going to be a disaster on his walk, he will feed off of that negative energy. When he goes off barking, stay cool and in control of yourself. I know it seems embarrassing, but really most people are understanding. If you were talking on your phone and letting your dog have 50 feet of leash while acting like a lunatic, then you would get the side eye.
But if you have a short leash and appear to be trying to work with your dog, people will understand.