How can I overcome my fear of walking my dog?
How can I overcome my fear of walking my dog? Dogs Training Discussions
So I've got an 8 month old Beagle and he wears a harness when I take him out for a walk. He's always pulled quite a lot and the other day when I said goodbye to a friend that I bumped into that had a younger female dog he managed to wriggle out of his harness because he wanted to stay and play with the dog. I was terrified but I managed to crouch down and hold his collar in time and I carried him home the whole way, now ever since I'm too scared to take him out for walks. It's almost as though I don't want to be held responsible in case he got loose and ran away, today I was walking him and he saw a cat, of course he was pulling a lot and I felt sick to my stomach so I grabbed hold of him straight away and carried him home again. I had a word with my mum about it and she told me that I have to overcome my fear and just stop worrying (I very rarely walk the dog now because of it so my brother does it all the time, but he's refusing to now because he's got a lot of coursework to do) Please help me I need urgent help! I want to get one of those harnesses that have the chest plate on, they look a bit more secure and are there any certain tricks that you can do to help stop him from pulling? I've tried using treats and telling him to heel but it doesn't really work, I think it's because he's a hunting dog he gets really excited when he can smell new things like horses cows e.t.c. Any advice will help! :)Additional details: I'm 13 and I love my dog so if I were to lose him I will be absolutely devastated. And I think my family will be very upset with me so that's the main reason why I don't want to be held responsible!