Dog-human relationship: Kate Kitchenham gives tips for a relaxed city life

With a raffle for the workshop with Kate Kitchenham

Kleinheubach. Dogs have been part of the cityscape for centuries – they not only infect us with their joy of life, but through them we can always discover new things and experience things that we would otherwise never have had the opportunity to see. But before we start our exciting city adventure, it is important to use a lot of sensitivity and patience to get dogs used to the many sensory impressions and often exciting urban situations. TV-famous dog behavior expert and bestselling author Kate Kitchenham knows how this can be achieved.

Green Petfood has been campaigning for years for pet food to become an important part of the green lifestyle. To draw even more attention to the topic, Green Petfood is now cooperating with the well-known dog behavior expert Kate Kitchenham. For Green Petfood she has put together important tips for a relaxed life with a dog in the city.

1. Take the time to specifically get your dog used to the rules for going to restaurants. For training to be successful, your dog should have had enough exercise beforehand. So that he doesn't get too stimulated, we should practice with him at busy times, for example in the morning on a weekday. Find a table in a quiet corner and place your dog on a blanket you brought with you. Place one foot on the leash so that his radius is small and limited and you notice immediately when he wants to get up. If this happens, put it down again and politely repeat the same word, for example “break”, “rest” or “not now”. So over time he learns that nothing exciting will happen and he can relax.
2. Stay calm and collected in stressful situations. If we find ourselves in a stressful situation with a lot of sensory stimuli with our dog, we should remain calm and move past the situation in a positive mood so that we don't increase his fear. Dogs have fine sensors and notice immediately when we are stressed.
3. Pet and praise your dog in stressful situations. If he doesn't calm down, find a quiet corner and pat him firmly from front to back and complement this with words of praise about what a great dog he is. Stroking releases the happiness hormone oxytocin, which acts as an antagonist to the stress hormone cortisol. It makes the dog feel better.
4. Never fearfully flee a stressful situation with your dog. We should never leave a situation with a bad experience, such as running away and rushing home. In this way we signal to him that his fear is justified and that the city is a dangerous place. This will increase his excitement every time.
5. Train your dog's reaction speed so that you can stop him from moving. Dogs should react to us quickly and reliably, even at a distance – for safe free running. If the recall is secure, you can begin to train the dog's reaction speed so that you can stop him from moving if things get dangerous. This is a great skill to be able to enjoy even more relaxation in everyday life. This means, among other things, that we can set the dog down or put it down at a distance so that we can then proceed at confusing intersections and check that no bike or jogger has collided with our dog. The ability to suddenly stop while moving can be wonderfully trained in fun games like “on the side”. We can get our dog used to the signal word “stop” or by trilling the whistle to react and stop immediately. Then we should reward him with a fun game, such as throwing him a toy and then playing a racing game together. Studies have shown that by alternating between playing and stopping from moving, dogs quickly learn to associate certain actions with words or sounds and then react to them more and more quickly.
6. Avoid situations in the city where it is extremely loud and crowded. Even the most experienced city dog ​​should be spared from open-air cinemas, demonstrations, Christmas and fairs or city festivals. Only we humans find that funny. We only have a limited view of what our dog is experiencing down at our feet or who is petting him without asking. Crowds of people, screaming passengers, colorful flashing lights and, in winter, the cold while standing at the mulled wine stand are no fun for dogs. Here it makes much more sense to be able to enjoy the trip without a dog – by organizing good care or by spending a lot of time and patience teaching him to stay alone in a relaxed manner.

Exclusive workshop
with Kate Kitchenham and Green Petfood
In addition to the tips, Kate Kitchenham is giving a workshop exclusively for Green Petfood on the topic of “Urban Adventures with Dogs”, which will take place in spring 2025. Any dog ​​owner can register to participate by email urban adventure@green-pet​food​.de apply and answer the following question: “Which skills would you like to strengthen in your dog?” Kate Kitchenham will select the participants from all submissions.