My clients want me to drag their puppy - how do I approach this?
I've been regularly sitting a Havanese puppy who is 4 months old at this point. The park/lawn area of the apartment building my clients live in is popular for dog-walking but also for rabbits, and this dog likes to eat the rabbit poop hidden in the grass. Walks are sometimes a challenge with the pup because of his habits of trying to eat poop (and really just generally putting everything he finds in his mouth) and his charging. Of course he's still a puppy and is still learning, so I don't want to say, "This dog hasn't been properly leash-trained," especially when I'm not exactly an expert. Typically when he pulls I stand still and wait for the leash to slack, which can be a while if he's really focused on something.
Last night, though, I figured out that if I brought his bully stick I could easily lead him away from poop, distract him from people he wanted to charge at, etc, as well as get some outdoor play time in. I was happy with this because it seemed like both of us benefited from using the stick, but I asked the owners if they were okay with me using this method because, again, not an expert and I don't want to somehow mess up his training. The husband replied to me, "That or just use the leash to drag him away..." and I really wanted to reply that I don't think it's very safe to just drag a dog, especially as often as this one tries to eat rabbit poop, but I don't want to imply to my clients that I think they're bad owners or know less than I do, etc. This isn't the first time I've heard them suggest dragging him, and it's made me uncomfortable every time because as far as I've been taught, doing that can injure the dog. They're fine with me using my gentler method, but they're the ones walking him the majority of the time and I don't know if I should voice my concerns. Advice would be appreciated!