Park Pals Support Walks

Rules Of Conduct:

To ensure the safety of all training walk participants and to make the training walks a successful experience for every dog and person involved, we ask that you review the following rules of conduct prior to joining your first walk. 

Please be respectful of the other dog owners. It's possible you may not like the way other dog owners handle their dogs. The way they train, relate or respond to their dog may be very different from the way you train. If the way another dog owner is training is negatively affecting the group walk experience, allow the trainer who is running the walk time to speak with the owner before saying anything to the other dog owner on your own. 

Give other dogs distance. We ask that you avoid getting closer then 50 feet to the nearest dog participating in the walk unless directed by the trainer as part of a structured training game.  You may see friends (or friends' dogs) during walks. Please avoid on-leash meet and greets during the structured walk time. At the least, this can be a distraction to the other dogs on the walk, and, at the worst, it can trigger reactive behavior. Some dogs may be more social then others. Please avoid dog introductions without instructor permission.

Consider turning your phone off. Okay, this one is not a hard and fast rule but it is recommended that you spend the walking time with your full focus on your dog and the activity at hand. These walks can be a wonderful practice opportunity for you and your dog but it's recommended that you give your dog as much attention as you are asking to receive from him or her. If your attention is split, your dog will notice, your response time will diminish, and your dog may have more chances to fixate on other dogs without guidance. 

Know when to take a break. We recommend you take a break during the walk if you find your dog has stopped taking food, stopped listening to basic (practiced cues) or you are in a bad mood. There is no harm in giving your dog some space and time to regain focus. You can walk farther from the group and return when your dog seems ready.

Rules about bringing other people:

If you come with a partner please choose one of you as the primary handler. Your training walk experience will be more successful if you only have one communicator for your dog at a time. Your partner can assist in physically restraining the dog (if needed) but choose one person at a time to be the trainer (leash handler, reward giver and command cue-er).

No children. Sorry about this one. Kids can be great dog trainers, but unfortunately, there may be other dogs participating in the training walks who are triggered by children. We recommend not bringing any children under the age of thirteen. 

One dog per handler. If have multiple dogs in your home we recommend you only bring the one dog who is the main focus of your reactive training plan. If another family member would like to participate in the walk and handle another family dog, they are welcome to.

Questions: 

 The attending trainer will come around and speak individually with walking participants throughout the walk but please save additional questions until the end. We'll leave an additional 5 - 10 minutes at the end of the walk for questions. 

If you have questions about the above rules or any aspect of the Park Pals Support Walks please feel free to contact us anytime.