Chooey Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Hello all. It's my first time posting here :laugh: My problem is my 6 month old Chihuahua who has refused to be lead trained. He has happily worn several different collars with no problems. I have let him run around with a small lead running behind him, which he doesn't exactly like but he will at least move around. The problem is, as soon as I pick up the lead he turns over on to his back, legs in the air and wont budge an inch. I have tried treats, toys and calling him, but nothing will make him turn over (It's kind of funny to see). I have been told not to pull on him which I haven't in case of making him worse, I have tried ever so gently but he still does the legs in the air like he just doesn't care!! Any help would be very very appreciated. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chequeredblackdog Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Have you tried attaching a short light lead and just leaving it on him? (supervised of course) and just let him do his own thing? put the lead on and ignore him. More experienced people might have other/ better ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chooey Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 Thanks I have tried both a short light and long light lead, but he won't budge for either if I pick them up. He will move around slowly if I don't pick it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chequeredblackdog Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Then maybe try leaving it on for longer periods of time, don't try to pick it up, just ignore the lead and carry on as usual. I suppose the idea would be to try an de-sensitize him to the lead. Is he wary of the lead if it isn't attached to him? Has he had any bad experiences with a lead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chooey Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 I have only left it on while I am outside, so, it would be a good idea to leave it on longer as you suggest. He hasn't had any bad experiences with the lead, it is only a thin light nylon lead. He isn't aware of it if it is not on him. I got him at 10 weeks and now he is 6 months I thought he might be better as he is older. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretel Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Is he food motivated? I'd be aiming to have lots of good things happening while he is on lead. Clip the lead on, don't make any fuss about it or pick it up. Call him for his dinner. Gradually introduce more good things happening while the lead is attached. Play games, do some training - not training picking up the lead though - things like sit and drop and come. When he is happily managing all this let him get used to you picking up the lead and walking with you. Maybe get his dinner ready, have someone else put it down a little way away from you and walk beside him holding the leash. It will take him a while to get used to it but he's not going to improve unless you do some training with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chooey Posted April 9, 2012 Author Share Posted April 9, 2012 Thanks for your help. He does love his chicken, but when I tried that he still wouldn't roll over for me. I bought some new treats today so they might be helpful as well. I will try all you have suggested and see how we go. Certainly sounds like it should work, fingers crossed. All ideas are very appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily3875 Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Sounds like he is displaying fearfulness to the lead when you pick it up. Do you talk to him in a sweet voice for reassurance when he rolls over? That would be one of the problems. By giving him the reassurance while he is fearful and submissive, you are in fact encouraging him to do it. Do this long enough and you have basically trained him to roll over when you pick the lead up. Id be picking the lead up and holding it quietly till he gets up. Once he is up, reward. If he submits again, ignore him. Wait till he gets up again and reward him. Don't try to coax him up with treats, just let him do it in his own time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 (edited) I've just gone through this with a 7 month old foster boy. The only treat I could motivate him with was lamb puffs. What I did was get him to first look at me using the lamb puffs, then when he was ok with that I used the lure of the lamb pufs to get him walk to heel without the leash on. We did this loads just wandering around the backyard with his eye on those lamb puffs. I also had to get him to sniff the leash quite a bit until he saw it was no threat. Next while he was focussed on the food I clipped the leash on. It took a few goes because of his fear. I had to leave the leash draped up over my should rather than hanging, so really we were just continuing the walk to heel with the leash clipped on but not in use. After a few days of this I tried straightening up and holding the leash. When he started to stop and panic I would go back to the 'look at me' then 'heel' again - things he felt safe and familiar with. After two weeks of this every day we left the yard. He seized up a bit when I went to put the harness and leash on but then got caught up in the excitement of leaving the house with the other dogs. First walk he dropped and froze several times and I had to coax him back up with lamb puffs and 'look at me' then 'heel' again. By our third walk outside the yard but still with the other dogs he was first out of the front gate and didn't stop once. It was a slow process but it was important to be consistent and simply go back a step if things got too much for the dog. He is now in his forever home and still needed to walk with another dog for anxiety reasons last I heard. Hopefully he will transition to solo walking. One good thing about this approach was that I never had him pull on the lead - he was never in a rush to be too far away from those treats! Edited to add that you might want to try a harness for walking. I think they give the owner better control and are safer from escape and feel more comfortable for the dog too - I generally use Puppia soft harnesses that look like little crop top singlets. If I was an upset dog I could think of nothing worse than having something yanking on my neck. Edited April 10, 2012 by Puppy_Sniffer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzy82 Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 If you keep putting the leash down every time the puppy flips over on its back he has trained you to let go of the leash. I would put the leash on, grab it as normal, puppy flips, and you just wait him out. Just sit there for as long as it takes the puppy to get over it. As soon as the puppy flips back the right way, give a treat and remove the leash. Repeat twice a day, gradually increasing the criteria for when you take the leash off. To begin with, any sign that the dog is giving up trying to manipulate you. Then the dog has to actually stand up wearing the leash, then take a step or two, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiverStar-Aura Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 Wow! I've never heard of a dog doing this. With all my puppies, I just clip the lead to their collar/harness and away we go; they've all loved getting out and about. Maybe instead of attaching the lead to a collar, try a harness as it'll be attached to his back rather than close to his head. You could also try bits of hotdog or cheese to see if this gets him motivated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chooey Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 (edited) WOW so much help!! Thank you, I thought we had lost the battle. I now realise that yes I do talk to him in a sweet voice when he rolls over, so, yes I have made it worse as you pointed out. I have taken down all suggestions and will be giving it a good go with him. As he doesn't mind his collar at all, I will stick to that as the harness makes him roll in circles, he looks like a little crocodile doing the death spin lol I will be sure to let you know our progress. Lots of patience, time and lucky for him some treats when he behaves. A very big thank you for all your help and suggestions. Edited April 10, 2012 by Chooey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espinay2 Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 (edited) If you keep putting the leash down every time the puppy flips over on its back he has trained you to let go of the leash. I would put the leash on, grab it as normal, puppy flips, and you just wait him out. Just sit there for as long as it takes the puppy to get over it. As soon as the puppy flips back the right way, give a treat and remove the leash. Repeat twice a day, gradually increasing the criteria for when you take the leash off. To begin with, any sign that the dog is giving up trying to manipulate you. Then the dog has to actually stand up wearing the leash, then take a step or two, etc. This. I would just stand (or grab a chair and sit there) holding the lead. Ignore him and wait the blighter out. When he turns over the right way up, praise and reward. At the moment it sounds like he is manipulating you to get exactly what he wants. Any resistance/pulling/rolling/playing fish on the end of the lead just stand there and let the pup learn the limitations of the lead. Praise when upright and not pulling e.g. just standing there. Once you are at that point, as mentioned encourage the pup to take one step then reward etc. Edited April 10, 2012 by espinay2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chooey Posted April 10, 2012 Author Share Posted April 10, 2012 Wow! I've never heard of a dog doing this. With all my puppies, I just clip the lead to their collar/harness and away we go; they've all loved getting out and about. Maybe instead of attaching the lead to a collar, try a harness as it'll be attached to his back rather than close to his head. You could also try bits of hotdog or cheese to see if this gets him motivated. As he doesn't mind his collar I will continue with that. I did try a harness but that was even worse, he just rolled round and round. I would rather use a harness but maybe after we win the battle with a lead we can try the harness. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjelkier Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 If you keep putting the leash down every time the puppy flips over on its back he has trained you to let go of the leash. I would put the leash on, grab it as normal, puppy flips, and you just wait him out. Just sit there for as long as it takes the puppy to get over it. As soon as the puppy flips back the right way, give a treat and remove the leash. Repeat twice a day, gradually increasing the criteria for when you take the leash off. To begin with, any sign that the dog is giving up trying to manipulate you. Then the dog has to actually stand up wearing the leash, then take a step or two, etc. This. I would just stand (or grab a chair and sit there) holding the lead. Ignore him and wait the blighter out. When he turns over the right way up, praise and reward. At the moment it sounds like he is manipulating you to get exactly what he wants. Any resistance/pulling/rolling/playing fish on the end of the lead just stand there and let the pup learn the limitations of the lead. Praise when upright and not pulling e.g. just standing there. Once you are at that point, as mentioned encourage the pup to take one step then reward etc. ^^This. He's throwing the puppy version of a tantrum and you're giving in. Wait him out and then praise for good behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chooey Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Small success on day one.....he happily dragged a short lead around for the day........now for step two Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Keep at it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polgara's Shadow Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 (edited) Good work Is that the stubborn little monster in your siggy? He's adorable! Edited April 13, 2012 by Polgara's Shadow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chooey Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Good work Is that the stubborn little monster in your siggy? He's adorable! Yes, that is the little terror "Jimmy Choo" that's why he gets away with it because he is so cute BUT not any more, he WILL learn to lead if it is the last thing we do!!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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