Walking On A Lead.

[justlovedogz]

Hi, I have a 5 month old Blenheim Cav, Smudgie. His training is going pretty well except for walking on a lead. He is only small but a lot of our walk he spends on his hind legs, pulling me down the street. Sounds silly but true. I've tried saying his name and pulling gently on the lead over and over again (as advised), I tried tiring him out before a walk, changing directions often so he has to concentrate more. All no good :D .

All suggestions welcome.

[Nekhbet]

at this age it would be best to at least have a session or two with a good trainer to put you on the right track. He should not be hopping about on lead at this age

[sheena]

At this age, every time you take him for a walk it has to be training with no letting off. Good idea to get a Gentle Leader Easy Walk harness which attaches at the chest for the times when you have to walk him somewhere. When he pulls on the harness, it gently turns him back in towards you.

[justlovedogz]

Thanks guys for your help, much apreciated. I have spoken to the trainers at puppy kindy, they thought his snout might be a bit short for a gentle leader. I will ask them if they provide 1 on 1 training sessions. He is so good otherwise, with toilet training going very well and loves his training. We'll keep perservering.

[Nekhbet]

it comes down to technique. All very well buying no pull paraphenalia but one good session with a trainer teaching focus and calming techniques goes a lot further then spending money on equipment at times.

In the mean time practice in the backyard. Give the dog the whole leash, and no tension! Call him to you, reward for being near you. Then start walking around, if he pulls then quickly change direction and give him a couple of little pops on the leash while calling him to follow you. When he's behaving heaps and heaps of praise! If he does it in the backyard then try the front yard, praise heavily for giving you natural focus. If he lunges off just give him little pops with the leash, not drags. If he rushes off towards something quickly walk away from it and call him to follow you. He cannot get to things he finds very attractive (except for you of course!) until he settles and doesnt put tension on the leash. Remember to pop pop pop as soon as you feel any pressure at all, not when he's already pulling. Corrections and rewards have to be given as soon as a behaviour is shown, dogs think in snapshots - if you give a pop or change direction when he's been pulling for a while he wont know exactly what its for. If it happens as soon as there is tension he will think ahaaa I get the pop for pulling! And being near mum with no pressure on the leash is really really great! Find his favourite food, make tiny little squares and give them to him when he's being super good as a bonus reward. But no grumbling or growling at him, you ONLY speak to praise him or call him to follow you. Less is more with verbalisation. I would rather you do this every day with him and reform his leash habits to good ones then take him for a walk and get dragged along. DO it in increments, progress from front yard to your street, then further etc. A dog wont die without being taken for a walk if he gets a good work out mentally.

[corvus]

You want him to walk on a loose leash beside you, right? Then reward the hell out of him when he's doing that. If he's pulling, put on the brakes and go nowhere until he stops pulling. If you make it a good choice for him to pay attention to the tension on his leash and to your voice, then you're 90% of the way there. If you were him, what would make you pay attention to the human on the other end of your leash? What would make you decide to go back to them when you really want to know what's just ahead of you in the opposite direction to the human?

[sheena]

Thanks guys for your help, much apreciated. I have spoken to the trainers at puppy kindy, they thought his snout might be a bit short for a gentle leader. I will ask them if they provide 1 on 1 training sessions. He is so good otherwise, with toilet training going very well and loves his training. We'll keep perservering.

I am talking about the Gentle Leader BODY Harness, not the head halter. You will get it on line for about $20 & it is really good. Head halters are not recommended as they can injure your pup. & I'm not saying it takes the place of good training, just that you can use it if you want to take him for a walk, outside of training. Because it's attached to the front (chest) every time he reaches the end of the lead he is automatically & gently turned back in towards you.

Edited July 27, 2010 by sheena

[aussielover]

I've been working really hard with my puppy 's loose leash walking and she has really come along way, only to be told yesterday by guide dogs that she should work on pulling on the leash a bit more

[beagie]

Hi, I have a 5 month old Blenheim Cav, Smudgie. His training is going pretty well except for walking on a lead. He is only small but a lot of our walk he spends on his hind legs, pulling me down the street. Sounds silly but true. I've tried saying his name and pulling gently on the lead over and over again (as advised), I tried tiring him out before a walk, changing directions often so he has to concentrate more. All no good .

All suggestions welcome.

I am surprised no one has mentioned focus, before I try anything with or without a lead I teach focus, the word I use is watch, you start with food in both hands

get the dog to hold eye contact while you put your hands out to the sides behind you etc. the minute the dog looks you in the eye click and treat or use a bridging

word like yes, and treat you must be very fast to catch that look as the dog will invariabley be looking at where the treats are, once they understand watch, then

when you are walking and you get distractions it is watch and treat for longer and longer distances walked. I have done this with my Beagle pup who is now

just six months he has great focus, as he now understands the word watch, he gets treated less as they need to be stopped eventualy, but I do give a big

reward for more and more distance, I have three dogs on the lead at once, the other two are old dogs and walk ahead on loose leads as they have always

done the Beagle I have beside me, so I can work on him as other dogs or people aproach. It is also a good way of getting that head up if you intend to trial Beagie

[Nekhbet]

I am surprised no one has mentioned focus

If he does it in the backyard then try the front yard, praise heavily for giving you natural focus.[/quote]

I did. But I prefer to teach it in a combined manner then use a word like 'watch'. When I train I find dogs will happily give natural focus when on lead just most owners cannot seem to reward them for it, the human brain wants to make it separate issue. If I want a dog to stop focussing on something else I prefer a 'leave' command which I train to mean a total system calm down. A dog is allowed to look at the environment or other dogs it's just not allowed to get excited about it.

[bedazzledx2]

I teach my dogs to focus but only for competition style heelwork. I think it depends on what you want. My view of loose leash walking is that the dog can be at the end of a loose lead and not have to pay attention to me other than peripherally.

Its a definate teach just like any other activity you do with your dog. Sadly a lot of people see it as a correction based exercise and that is so unfair to the dog who doesn't know any better. My view is you either manage it (harness, halti etc) or teach it.

To teach it you must separate it from your dogs exercise for the day. For that it would be better to drive to the park and throw the ball for a while. That way you are not giving mixed signals by allowing pulling one day because you are in a hurry and insisting on not pulling the next. Give yourself time and treat it like an exercise that will get better and better as you train it.

Initially I would be usisng food as a reward (not a lure or bribe). Say for example you want to go down the driveway and around the block for your walk on a loose lead. That is your goal. Baby steps! For today your goal is to get to the end of the driveway on a loose lead. To start with have some nice treats that are not crumbly or hard...cheese is great. Have them in an easily accessable pocket or bum bag. I don't use a clicker for this as its such a general type of activity and I find the clicker to be too precise. Attach the lead to his fixed collar..no correction collars please...and give him a treat while he is close and not doing anything. The lead is there only to prevent him from taking off...it serves no other purpose and you won't use it to control him at all. Take two steps and he should still be watching you because you just gave him a yummy treat. Give him another. Take another two or three steps. If he is still not pulling give him another treat. You can say good boy! if you like but don't give any type of command or cue.

If he starts to pull say nothing and stop. He should stop in confusion and look at you...good...give him another treat. Don't call him to you or wave a treat in front of his face...it must be his decision to stop and look or move towards you. Take another few steps and if he is still not pulling then give him a treat on the fly if you can. Some greedy dogs like mine can eat without missing a beat...others need to stop and chew...whatever works for your dog. If he insists on pulling even at this early stage, stop and like the old adage says....make like a tree! You must allow him to be responsible for the lead going loose and for you both to progress. If you correct or even go in the other direction you have just taken it on, and being a dog, he will let you!

You may get the beginnings of lovely heelwork which to the uniniated looks like competition stuff. It only looks that way but you could build on that if you wanted. The problem with that is the question what do you want? I teach heelwork somewhat differently and I like to be very very precise and give the dog the finished picture right from the beginning. For loose leash walking I do not ask for any particular position from the dog....somewhere around and in front of my left side will do. My body language is very relaxed and I don't want any sits until I ask for them.

For LLW I don't put a cue (or command) on it until it is a trained behaviour. When I do its a "lets go" (or you could do a Barbara Woodhouse and say "Walkies!...but I wouldn't ) If you cue a behaviour before its taught and before the dog has full understanding, you have the risk of him ignoring it, or you correcting it and it can become a poisoned cue and you'll have to think of a new one.

I hope that helps and if you have any questions just ask

Edited July 31, 2010 by bedazzledx2

[justlovedogz]

I teach my dogs to focus but only for competition style heelwork. I think it depends on what you want. My view of loose leash walking is that the dog can be at the end of a loose lead and not have to pay attention to me other than peripherally.

Its a definate teach just like any other activity you do with your dog. Sadly a lot of people see it as a correction based exercise and that is so unfair to the dog who doesn't know any better. My view is you either manage it (harness, halti etc) or teach it.

To teach it you must separate it from your dogs exercise for the day. For that it would be better to drive to the park and throw the ball for a while. That way you are not giving mixed signals by allowing pulling one day because you are in a hurry and insisting on not pulling the next. Give yourself time and treat it like an exercise that will get better and better as you train it.

Initially I would be usisng food as a reward (not a lure or bribe). Say for example you want to go down the driveway and around the block for your walk on a loose lead. That is your goal. Baby steps! For today your goal is to get to the end of the driveway on a loose lead. To start with have some nice treats that are not crumbly or hard...cheese is great. Have them in an easily accessable pocket or bum bag. I don't use a clicker for this as its such a general type of activity and I find the clicker to be too precise. Attach the lead to his fixed collar..no correction collars please...and give him a treat while he is close and not doing anything. The lead is there only to prevent him from taking off...it serves no other purpose and you won't use it to control him at all. Take two steps and he should still be watching you because you just gave him a yummy treat. Give him another. Take another two or three steps. If he is still not pulling give him another treat. You can say good boy! if you like but don't give any type of command or cue.

If he starts to pull say nothing and stop. He should stop in confusion and look at you...good...give him another treat. Don't call him to you or wave a treat in front of his face...it must be his decision to stop and look or move towards you. Take another few steps and if he is still not pulling then give him a treat on the fly if you can. Some greedy dogs like mine can eat without missing a beat...others need to stop and chew...whatever works for your dog. If he insists on pulling even at this early stage, stop and like the old adage says....make like a tree! You must allow him to be responsible for the lead going loose and for you both to progress. If you correct or even go in the other direction you have just taken it on, and being a dog, he will let you!

You may get the beginnings of lovely heelwork which to the uniniated looks like competition stuff. It only looks that way but you could build on that if you wanted. The problem with that is the question what do you want? I teach heelwork somewhat differently and I like to be very very precise and give the dog the finished picture right from the beginning. For loose leash walking I do not ask for any particular position from the dog....somewhere around and in front of my left side will do. My body language is very relaxed and I don't want any sits until I ask for them.

For LLW I don't put a cue (or command) on it until it is a trained behaviour. When I do its a "lets go" (or you could do a Barbara Woodhouse and say "Walkies!...but I wouldn't ) If you cue a behaviour before its taught and before the dog has full understanding, you have the risk of him ignoring it, or you correcting it and it can become a poisoned cue and you'll have to think of a new one.

I hope that helps and if you have any questions just ask

Thanks for your help. I'll try it out today. Yesterday at puppy kindy it was a bit if a disaster, he's just so happy and excited to see everyone. But I must say he is pretty good at "come" and I had to use it last night. I let him out to go to the toilet and at the bottom of the stairs was a CANE TOAD 'Eeeeeeck' ( I didn't think they were out a this time of year) I screamed!!!!!!!! 'COME' and ran back up the stairs. Thank God he followed me. I watched him for hours just to be sure he was OK. Whew

I'll let you know how we go today. Thanks