Lola sniffs a patch of moss on a rock, then pauses to stare down some kind of Doodle mix walking towards her on the path.
Hackles rise up for a moment, then both pooches circle each other, sniff a greeting and follow their respective humans on separate ways.
It’s a pretty typical Bowen Island canine interaction.
Nothing to bark about right?
Except that every once in a while, dogs get into scuffles with each other, with wild life and yes, even humans.
And since Bowen Island is mostly off-leash — apart from Crippen Park and some areas in the cove — I asked dog trainer Scott James from the Bowen Island Dog Ranch for some tips on taking your furry friend for an unleashed walk.
“The main issue with dogs is they don’t speak English or Spanish or German,” says James, pausing: “They speak dog.”
This means communicating with them is about learning to understand body language and it requires a good deal of training for both humans, and dogs.
Different breeds have different responses to stimulus too, he said, like dogs with “high prey drive,” prone to chasing things.
Taking a dog for a walk off leash is a gamble.
“If your dog won’t come when it’s called, then you’re playing with dice letting it off leash,” says James.
And he says, as a trainer, he doesn't recommend taking a dog for an off-leash walk unless they come back when called — all the time.
He calls this “recall.”
“No one is going to want to hear this,” he says, chuckling. “I guess the gentle way of saying this is to try to teach your dog to have a really high recall before letting them off leash. I guess that’s the simple answer.”
In other words, my 14-year-old Chihuahua, Lola, should probably stay on her leash. Besides, off-leash she’s prone to things like spontaneous naps on the trail or deciding it’s time to just sit and watch other dogs do dog things.
