What Do Others Do

[Borderpower]

mine normally do what they want, unless I'm pressed for time :p

Edited October 15, 2008 by Borderpower

[Nekhbet]

Luke W I give my Maliniois a 'leave it' command which turns off her drive to search. That way she wont obsessively sniff things, the odd sniff is OK but if she picks up a scent she wants to follow it hard :p so if I see she gets into it I say 'pusti' and she leaves it. She only gets a physical correction if she ignores the command.

[Luke W]

Luke W I give my Maliniois a 'leave it' command which turns off her drive to search. That way she wont obsessively sniff things, the odd sniff is OK but if she picks up a scent she wants to follow it hard :p so if I see she gets into it I say 'pusti' and she leaves it. She only gets a physical correction if she ignores the command.

Thanks Nekhbet.

I need to generalise my 'leave it' command a bit.

At the moment (my cue is 'off' by the way), I only use it for a food refusal self contgrol type exercise.

To satisfy my curiosity...exactly what does the 'leave it' (or 'pusti') command mean to the dog? I kind of know what it means to us (stop doing the thing I want you to stop doing :p )...but exactly what's the criteria the dog should be using? Stop sniffing? Don't eat it? Stop moving in that direction?

[SkySoaringMagpie]

Re walking at their own pace, I don't let them pull - but one has a heart complaint and another has elbow and hip dysplasia so I think it's wise to let those two set their own pace.

I let them sniff as long as they are polite about it - I figure that the walk is primarily for their benefit mentally speaking, and they may as well use their brain a bit. Sniffing is a useful environmental reward too, means I don't really have to bother with food treats. Perhaps it would be different if I had dogs obsessed with sniffing - mine aren't, they just enjoy it.

I also use running on leash as an environmental reward.

I don't care about pissing and shitting - I carry bags and because I have entire dogs I prefer to reinforce pissing outside whenever I get the opportunity. Basically I'm of the "let them have an appropriate outlet and they know what to do to get what they want" school of thought.

I do do some work, I call them in to a heel position when sharing the path with oncoming walkers and joggers for example and make them sit before crossing roads - the standard stuff. Generally I think walks are a great opportunity to train good manners. If I heeled them the whole way though, it wouldn't be a walk, it would be a long heeling exercise.

[J...]

Most of my dog's walking is done off-lead. It's a country farm track with the occasional vehicle so she must come back to me and sit at my feet until the vehicle is past. There is also a blind corner where I require her to walk at an informal heel until I release her. Food and bait wrappers (popular fishing spot) I tell her to leave them or recall her back. Obviously harassing the stock is out of the question too. Other than that I leave her to run.

If I do walk her down the street, which is maybe once a month, she's on a loose lead, and I ask her to do an autosit at each road crossing.

[Sam&Saki]

I set the pace but let Saki be ahead or behind or sniffing along or whatever, as long as she keeps up and also doesn't pull me :p

I do get her to heel close when other people or dogs are approaching / passing though, and to only greet other people or dogs if I tell her it's ok.

Am admittedly a bit of a laissez-fair owner :p

She never toilets outside her particular toilet place in our own yard thankfully x

[gsdog2]

We live on over an acre so there's plenty of room for them to roam around all day long.

When we go for a walk I don't use a check chain (just a flat collar) and I clip the lead to my belt - they walk at my pace without any problems.

I won't let them toilet when we walk because I don't want to carry a full poo bag :p . They're trained to go at home before we leave :p .

I don't allow sniffing either - I want to go for a half hour "walk".

[Nekhbet]

luke I think I bastardised the command a little. It is my 'aus' command for her but it also works to shut down her drive. I see when she really gets into a scent, see's a cat running, hears a squeaky toy her drive starts up. If I say 'pusti' you see her drive diminish because she knows there is no chance of fulfillment. She has been taught from a young age. Sometimes the cat taunts her, bites her tail and she is about to chase - if I say 'pusti' then she wont launch but walks over and see's what he's up to. When she was learning some correction was involved but that can really stuff the rest of the drive - you can end up with a mouthy dog or one who wont grip an object properly because you have a hard correction. Redirecting to give a leave it command is quite useful - when she was a puppy we used 2 rags, I let her catch one and then waved the other saying 'pusti' which meant you let go and behave, and the game starts again. So the term is not a complete shut down, more a tone down if you get what I mean.

When I teach clients dogs leave it type commands it depends on the dog. Some dogs do need a correction especially chasers, lungers etc and you find they self correct BUT something needs to be provided instead. So a tug, ball on string even food and massive praise when the dog leaves something of its own accord or you see it prefers to comply with your command instead of its previous distraction.

she's taught in yugoslav so she has a command to pick up an object, she can also bring it over 'daj me' (give it to me) and she puts it into my hand. If she munches the object or is too excited and doesnt want to let go, start a game of tug of war etc I tell her 'pusti' and she settles her grip on it.

[dee lee]

luke I think I bastardised the command a little. It is my 'aus' command for her but it also works to shut down her drive. I see when she really gets into a scent, see's a cat running, hears a squeaky toy her drive starts up. If I say 'pusti' you see her drive diminish because she knows there is no chance of fulfillment. She has been taught from a young age. Sometimes the cat taunts her, bites her tail and she is about to chase - if I say 'pusti' then she wont launch but walks over and see's what he's up to. When she was learning some correction was involved but that can really stuff the rest of the drive - you can end up with a mouthy dog or one who wont grip an object properly because you have a hard correction. Redirecting to give a leave it command is quite useful - when she was a puppy we used 2 rags, I let her catch one and then waved the other saying 'pusti' which meant you let go and behave, and the game starts again. So the term is not a complete shut down, more a tone down if you get what I mean.

When I teach clients dogs leave it type commands it depends on the dog. Some dogs do need a correction especially chasers, lungers etc and you find they self correct BUT something needs to be provided instead. So a tug, ball on string even food and massive praise when the dog leaves something of its own accord or you see it prefers to comply with your command instead of its previous distraction.

she's taught in yugoslav so she has a command to pick up an object, she can also bring it over 'daj me' (give it to me) and she puts it into my hand. If she munches the object or is too excited and doesnt want to let go, start a game of tug of war etc I tell her 'pusti' and she settles her grip on it.

Oh my god. I know nothing.

Nekhbet yet again you have shown me how much there is to learn...

[TerraNik]

I set the pace but Jedi can toilet if he needs to. He toilets on command too, so if we're in a hurry I will tell him to go before we start. Usually I'm not in a hurry though. He rarely sniffs, but when he does he tell him to 'leave it' once I'm sick of standing there. I don't care where he walks though - in front, behind, next to me - doesn't matter, unless there is another dog coming and then he has to get into heel.

[Nekhbet]

invoice is in the mail Deelee

[dee lee]

invoice is in the mail Deelee :p

I know, how about I mail Evie to you instead? Please, pretty please?

[corvus]

If I let Kivi set the pace we'd be running half the time. If I let Penny set the pace, we'd take an hour to walk around the block. We mostly let them do what they like as it's their time, but they've got to stay off the road unless we tell them we're crossing and no pulling. Penny doesn't actually know a heel command, but we are teaching Kivi "hang about" which is supposed to be like a loose heel just to keep him close. He's pretty good with it but we're still using treats. Penny is a bit arthritic and resists being hustled along, so most of the time she gets to go close to her own pace.

[Nekhbet]

I know, how about I mail Evie to you instead? Please, pretty please? embarrass.gif laugh.gif

awesome boarding AND training ... I'll make a fortune

if you ever take a holiday to Vic give me a bell and I'll teach you a few secrets of the trade

[dee lee]

I know, how about I mail Evie to you instead? Please, pretty please? embarrass.gif laugh.gif

awesome boarding AND training ... I'll make a fortune :rolleyes:

if you ever take a holiday to Vic give me a bell and I'll teach you a few secrets of the trade

I'll save my pennies!!

[boxerbob]

Curious as to what others do when walking their dogs.

Do you let them walk at their own pace. ? No, I set the pace but incorporate regular stops for sits and stays to keep her thinking and watching me

Let them Stop, Sniff, Squat and or lift their leg when they want. I try to discourage sniffing but of couse let her stop to wee. She usually does the "other" at home.

Or Heal them and control the walk all the way. Control the walk with heal most of the way....Or a bit of both ?? .... but do stop on ocassions to pat/praise and drink if we pass a park with water

As we all know it is good to get your dog out of the backyard daily but would they enjoy it as much if you have them healing all the way.? She loves it... she "prances" all the way with her tail wagging wildly. We try to go a different way each time so it's something new for both of us. Good questions

Ash..

[B-Q]

I finally got Buster pretty good at loose leash walking. So it needs to be loose always, now I'm teaching him a more "formal" heel for when I need it and he's improving, so we'll do short bursts of it. Sometimes he can stop and sniff, particularily if he's in a situation where he would normally be a bit nervous or on edge, I like him to relax and smell the roses so I encourage that.

[Rascalmyshadow]

I used to let my dogs walk loose lead but it became not fun and too hard to control if I had anymore than two with me, not to mention they are quite a high prey driven breed.. I also have two very nervous dogs and one of them is a little untrustwothy with strangers.

Now they are kept in heel every second they are on the leash but they always get a good run off lead which gives them plenty of time to sniff, pee etc.

I have noticed a huge difference in they're behaviour, the two nervous ones are now much more confident and happy and I can relax knowing I have complete control.

[percyk]

we heel MOSTLY all the way to the park then they can sniff freely

we toilet them before we go as much as possible - since we walk on suburban streets it's a lot nicer not having to carry a full poo bag and i dont put it in other people's bins as i have seen others doooooo - that is grosserama for those poor people who may not even have a dog!

there are some favourite spots for them to sniff about 20 mins down the way - we really only have one sniffer though so it's not too bothersome to control but we do let this sniffer have a turn there - it's his hotmail spot !