Category: Common Problems ¤
  Author: Shirley Chong ¤
   Title: Side-Stepping the Puller ¤

A note about dogs that pull like freight trains. I never realized
that many people do not know how to minimize the impact of a pulling
dog--I do it as a routine, but never realized it was anything unusual. I
was told by an experienced large dog owner that it is, so for what it's
worth (not much), here's Shirley's Method for Reducing Strain:

   Always step off to the side when the dog pulls ahead. Position
yourself so that you are as close as possible to a perpendicular line to
the dog's line of travel. If you see that the dog's tail is pointed at
you, you're in trouble--that's bobsled time! Dogs can only pull
efficiently when their spines are in a straight line with what they are
pulling. If you step out of that straight line, even the strongest dog
has difficulty in pulling! Let's see if I can do some simple ASCII art:

D
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Handler (in trouble!)


D
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     Handler (able to hold dog)

M. Shirley Chong
The Well Mannered Dog