Woods Wise Words # 4: The Longe Line is CRITICAL

Longe line work is a critical basic component of your dog’s training. It is the safest and easiest way to help your dog learn how to follow you and pay attention to what you are doing and where you are going.

Historically, humans have always moved around and about in their environment and while doing so have had a dog at their heel, so to speak.  Up until 50 years ago all of us walked to the store, to work, to school, to the park and unless we lived in a large city we cared for a yard and garden.  When a young pup was acquired everyone just “assumed” that pup would follow along behind one or another human in the new family. This then became the pup’s introduction into learning good manners and a platform of information he would then use for the rest of his life.

Times change and sadly, not necessarily for the better when it comes to our health and the health of our dogs.  In our current society, very few people walk any further than from the front door to the car door.  More and more signs go up saying, “No Dogs Allowed”. People tend to be gone from their homes for up to 12 hours each day and when they are home, they confine themselves to indoor activities.

What happens to that new eight to ten week old puppy?  It is an infant and certainly cannot be expected to stay both clean and dry for 10 to 12 hours of daylight, run outside for maybe a five minute “walk” and return to the inside again where it very well may be an additional eight or more hours of time spent where? Locked in a tiny bathroom, behind a gate in the kitchen or confined to a crate for long hours of isolation and solitary confinement.

When these baby puppies start to grow the changes are fast, very fast.  From three months of age to about six months of age these babies can grow as much as 10 pounds and three or four inches per week.  That’s right.  I said per week and that is exactly what the growth pattern for the giant breeds happens to be with the large breeds not so far behind. During this rapid physical growth period the brain is also growing and avidly grabbing up every single scrap of new material it can possibly reach. When kept in isolation the brain never gets a chance to grow and develop normally.

To keep the new and rapidly changing puppy safe while allowing the necessary exploring (learning social behavior patterns) we use first a soft puppy collar and later a chain slip collar.  The other pieces of safety and training equipment will be attached to the collar.  Those other pieces of equipment are a six-foot length of 550 cord, a six foot leather leash and a 15 foot long cotton canvas web longe line.

From 8 weeks to 10 weeks the string is all that is needed.  It serves as a safety line and helps set the foundation for the leash and the longe line.  From 10 weeks on that longe line is your sanity line, your pup’s life line and the means of instructing your new responsibility in the basic life skills needed to survive in the modern human world.

By the time a pup is old enough to start more formal training the longe line becomes the first tool in teaching your young dog to pay attention to you, to continue following you, and to begin accepting responsibility for her own behavior and the consequences of choices.  It is very important to teach a pup, young dog and when necessary even older dogs there are things that fall in the “To Do” category and there are things that fall in the “Not To Do” category.  Both lists are not just necessary, they are critical in the care, and training of a mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy dog.

Please don’t steal half of the material your dog needs to learn how to survive in this modern and rather hostile world.  Learn to use your longe line and learn to use it well.  You will thank yourself.  Your dog will thank you and all the people and dogs you meet during your dog’s lifetime will thank you.

Longe lines are the first layer of a social foundation.  Make that foundation strong.