To walk my dog this way?

[Frequency]

This is going to be long so apologies in advance but I need to clarify a few things because I know what MN is like and I don't want people reading things that are not there.

Firstly, I have 100% control of my dog at all times. It might not always look like I do, but I do. If I don't want to walk at a certain speed, we don't walk at that speed. We don't cross a road if I don't want to cross it. He is trained to come to my side and sit or lay down when told, however, I cannot get him to stop pulling so he is not trained to walk nicely at my side. If I stop and tell him to come sit he will come to my side but if we're walking and he's not wearing his head collar, he is pulling.

I've lost a lot of weight recently but have hit a plateau so I've been looking into ways to increase exercise and my fitness. I used to enjoy running but would feel too guilty going for a long run and leaving the dog at home and I don't think running in his head collar would be comfortable for him, so I considered cani-cross.

After lots of practice in our secure, enclosed garden, I have found a combination of leads and harnesses that allow him to pull or drag me but still give me total control.

We've now taken to the street with our jogging. We're not in full cani-cross mode yet, he is still learning left, right, and halt so I am controlling the speed, even though, to an onlooker, it appears as though I am being dragged along behind him. I can also instantly change the tension on his lead so I am leading him by the front clip and he can no longer pull.

Anyway... to get to the point I was focused on the pavement in front of us and what was coming towards us, not what was on the other side of the road so I did not notice a fellow dog walker come towards us on the other side before the dog did. He spotted them and tried to pull across the road at which point I stopped, changed the tension, and brought him to my opposite side. About half a second after we stopped my dog picked up a scent and lost interest in the other dog walker so I let him pick up speed again and we started jogging. All was fine, no drama but the other dog walker froze.

At first, it confused me. I completely accept that it looked as though we were out of control until I noticed him, but why stop and freeze? Then it occurred to me that he might have been frightened and didn't know what else to do. The last thing I want to do is scare people who just want a quiet stroll with or without their dogs, so now I am unsure if I am BU practicing cani-cross where there are other people, unfortunately, the other option I have is not to continue our training as I don't have access to any private spaces except the garden and even once we are fully trained and running it will still look like I cannot control my dog and being dragged along behind him to people who are not aware of the sport.

So AIBU to continue?

Probably just need to run on a trail? Can’t blame people for not having seen this kind of ‘walking’ in suburbia.

It could have been. It just worried me. I'm more than aware that he is a big scary looking dog, if you don't know him, and you only have to read MN on any given night to know that even walking with a large breed in public could be considered criminal
I don't want to frighten people, that is my only concern. I am 100% certain I have control and he cannot pull me in front of a car or jump on a dear old lady.

Can't you find a large park to practice in before you graduate to the beach?

We were on our way to the park. I could use his head collar until we get to the park but even the park is relatively urban eg there are people there who might be worried I don't have control and they're about to be savaged by my dog.

I used to jog with my now sadly passed Ddog, no lead needed (although I did always take one out looped over me). However, we spent a long time practicing together in fields, and she had perfect recall, and would retreat to sit next to my heels if sighted another person, dog, horse, bike (we progressed to a cycle/walk track.

If Ddog already has the urge to pull you vs walking to heel then it's not a good starting point. The dog needs to be concentrating on you/interpretive to what you are going to do, and wanting to 'please you'.

You need to wait until you get to an open space IMO, canicross shouldn't be practiced on a pavement or next to a road.
Even if you have total control of your dog (which nobody does because a dog isn't a robot) you still can't control what other pedestrians or road users do.

Just to say, the other dog owner may not have been frightened at all. If my dog sees another dog on the opposite side of the road, he usually stops, sits down and stares and I can't get him moving for a little while!

That is something to consider. I could go back to practicing walking without pulling in his harness and stick to jogging with him at my side.

It will take us a while but it's too muddy to be jogging through parks atm anyway, hence the fast pavement walking. And it is too dark on the beach to start there by the time I finish work. My plan was to be ready for actual running by spring.

It does sound safest to just have a brisk walk to the park, then switch to jogging once there - you'll need to keep your wits about you if it's "urban" and busy - at least people will be expecting runners and dogs in the park.

You sound bonkers and I hope I don't come across you when I'm walking my dog

Or when driving down a road where you are being pulled along by your dog.

The stopping by the other owner could have been anything. However, if I think a dog is about to lunge to mine, I would probably stop to figure out my next move to protect my dog, because id not want it coming up behind us. Maybe it was that.
But I'd definitely not be practicing this on pavements/roads, wait until you're a bit more experienced.

So long as you have full control of him, I'm not sure that it matters what people think. You are doing something unusual, so there are bound to be people who are a little taken aback. Presumably you don't mind that so I'm not sure I really understand your anxiety about this particular situation.

It all sounds a little bit odd.

I love my canix set-up for exactly your reasons. it's more secure than holding a lead! If you are in a busy area a 1m line not 2m would be better. And imo it's good manners to slow to a walk when passing other dogs as a strange dog approaching at a run is intimidating for both owners and dogs and more likely to provoke a reaction. Ditto people if they are close enough the dog could swerve and touch them.

Be careful, I have a canicross setup with my 18kg springer and if she sees a cat I struggle to keep my footing at 55kg. Dogs are deceptively strong in the chest once they add in a little burst when you think they're already pulling at their all, a dog as big as yours could take you off your feet if it pleased when you're already running.

We have a bigger dog and I get so annoyed by small to middle sized dog owners (not all of them!!) looking at us in absolute terror even though my dog is completely under control and obedient. It just gets to the point where you feel unfairly judged and I cannot be bothered by it. I try and justify it by thinking they might have had a bad experience but it's very common. Dog owners should have a basic understanding of dog behaviour and if they did they would see that ours is absolutely no threat and displays a submissive personality.

That is partly what it is. I am hyper-aware of scaring people because we usually do scare people, even when he is walking nicely at my side in his head collar people cross the road to avoid us or pick up their smaller dogs.

I don't give a fuck if people think I am crazy or whatever. I do give a fuck if I am unnecessarily adding to people's fear, even if that fear is unfounded.

Opinions seem to be mixed as to whether I am causing people to be more scared of us than normal, so I think I'll go back to the head collar for walks and train him to jog at my side on his harness in the garden rather than have him pulling.

What a palaver!
Dogs shouldn't be running on the lead on hard surfaces like pavements. Especially larger one. Absolutely not good for their joints.
If you must run with your dog, find a trail, woodland, fields etc. I also think dogs should actually run off the lead and have the freedom to follow at their own speed and stop now and then or slow down if they need to.
Running in some sort of tandem really is not for the benefit of the dog.
I know it is very popular but I view it as a forced activity as far as dogs are concerned.

Can't you drive somewhere more suitable? I drive my dogs all over the place because it's more exciting than the urban streets.

I don't drive, and it is dark when I get home from work. We do walk in different places all the time, including lots of wildlife parks and "country-ish" walks to local villages plus he gets plenty of off-leash time on a weekend and in the garden.

I could never let him off lead in a forest or similar because he would catch a scent and he would not hear me calling him back but he's allowed off at the beach and enclosed fields where the smells are less novel and his recall is good.

Is the answer to just train your dog not to pull?
Use the reversing direction technique. It worked in about 20mins with the most stubborn dog I ever had, but needs reenforcing from time to time. No big harnesses or convoluted collars, just a nicely behaved dog?

Canicross - proper canicross, with dog pulling in a harness ahead of the handler and connected by bungee lead and belt - is not suitable for pavements or any area where you’re likely to encounter other people and need quick close control. There’s a reason it was banned from parkrun (and I say that as someone who canicrosses). Finding a suitable location does sometimes mean running in the mud and in the dark.

I'm sorry OP but I think the first step is for you to reconsider your belief you have total control of your dog, because from what you are saying, you really don't.

Just another point of view, my dog gets excited when other dogs run past him so I would stop until you had passed too as mine would like to watch!

I might have been overthinking what the other dog's owner was doing. I'm probably too conscious of how much we can unintentionally scare people just because he is a bigger dog and people don't recognise his breed. From a distance, he could pass for one of the typical "aggressive" breeds. He was, not long ago, mistaken for an XL bully by a nice, but somewhat clueless, lady who was concerned I would get into trouble for walking him without a muzzle (he looks nothing like an XL bully)

To try and explain what we were doing, we were not running. He was walking fast, a few inches in front of me and to my left and I was jogging/fast walking behind him. He has a full-body utility-type harness with various clips and handles. He had two halti leads, that I hold in my hands, they were not bungee canicross leads and he was not strapped to my waist.

If there is tension on the lead clipped to his back he can and does pull. If I drop the second/shorter loop on that lead and keep hold of the front one the tension moves to the front and he cannot pull. It simply spins him to face me. I'm also heavier than him, so if I stop he stops (although I can see if I was running the momentum would give me less control which is why we are not running yet)

He didn't get onto the road, he attempted to cross in front of me to try and cross the road but I changed the tension before he made it to the curb and he stopped.

Atm all I am trying to do is train him left, right, halt while he is pulling, and therefore not paying as much attention to me as he does in his head collar. The park is literally at the end of our street, hence not using the head collar to get there. I got so caught up in explaining that he was not a bad "MN" dog that you read about on AIBU all the time I forgot to explain what we were actually doing

Regardless, I think I have decided it is a bad idea because I only really have populated areas to run in. I'll stick to walking him in his head collar and find another sport to pursue.