Pointers For Beginners On Long Leash Training

[kami]

Hi there,

Was wondering if anyone would have any pointers on long lead training?

Annie the kelpie is doing very well on a short lead, so over the last few weeks we have begun working on the long lead to see if we can progress to the point where one day she can run free in a safe fashion.

There are a number of issues I have identified for me and Annie so far:

The bad:

- Annie is far too focused on other dogs. Off leash dogs run up to her, and once they start playing, I might as well be talking to the wind. I take annie away at this point (sometimes i take too long to do so imho) to another party of the field, but essentially she loses all interest in training and just wants to play, and has difficulty refocusing.

- Annie has an amazing capacity to hover on her back paws, which she uses to scope out whatever is happening in the distance. Whilst quirky, for my liking this is too similar to jumping up. She also will jump up at the end of the long leash when she is excited, at which point we firmly move in the opposite direction.

- she still pulls too much for my liking (but only on long leash?) She has become very good at heeling to 'heel' on the short leash and often heels spontaneously.

The good

-she is getting much better at following me on the long leash, and is starting to heel on the long leash.

- her recall is good - excepting dog situations as above. Recall is also a hazy when people keep making a fuss of her (apparently annie has the eyes that just say pat me - to everyone - which gets super tiring. I dont know how to say no to pats to people?

- her drop stay and return is improving- she invariably comes back to me on long lead.

Example is, annie sees an old man gardening when we come to street corner on short leash. Normally she sits spontaneously or with a little gentle reminder. Annie refuses to sit, old man stops gardening comes over, Annie runs over to old man, politely sits for pats from old man. I say thats enough, then ask annie to sit at street corner. Annie takes much longer than usual to sit. Old man consoles Annie over fence for leaving. Grrr.

Do other people have these frustrating poorly timed situations occur? How do you handle them? I am tempted to get Annie a jacket saying leave me alone, I need space just so she doesnt think it is ok to go beg pats from every john dick and harry that wants to pat her (and interrupt training!

Any how that is my dog related vent for the day. Its back to underdog for Annie and I, as I suspect we may be biting off more than we can chew at this stage.

Positive news, Annie has all her paperwork and we start obedience training this week at moorabbin.

[Tassie]

Hi Kami ... not sure how long you mean. I love the long line (not retractable) for use in situations where the dog can have lots of freedom, but you still have control, plus the opportunity to practise recalls. (Starting with her further away from distractions .. reward as she comes in, quite often adding the extra reward of letting her go off on the long line again to play. I would think if she's ignoring you,. then the distraction level is too high, distractions are too close .. so move further off again, and then rinse and repeat. You don't want her practising mistakes.) or this you could use a flat thin lead .. like a tracking lead .. between 5 and 10 metres long.

Walking on public roads, at least here, the lead cannot legally be longer than 2 metres, and IMHO, that's the max you would use in the streets. You can easily shorten that up just looping it into your hand, when you need closer control.

FWIW, for the most part, I only ask for loose lead walking out on the streets .. partly cos I'm walking 2 dogs. Heeling for me is a very specific performance behaviour, with very particular criteria .. I would usually not ask for the out walking on the street.

You haven't said how old Annie is ... I'm assuming she's quite a youngster. So your big priority at present is creating a great relationship with her, so that she sees you as the best thing in her world. This is a great foundation behaviour for all the performance sports.

Have fun at Moorabbin. :)

[kami]

Annie is two years old, and I admittedly.have only had her for two months. I wanted to make sure we put lots of time and effort into her so we have good foundations for the future. bought a ten metre long leash to use when training at the oval so we can practice sit, stays, and getting Annie used to coming back consistently in environments that are less familiar than my house/relatives houses (which she does effortlessly).

I am probably not using the term heel correctly. Annie started pulling on the lead about a month ago, and we started stepping back, and saying heel and treating her when she returned to our left side. I figured heel essentially meant get your butt back over here :) she loose lead walks well now, has gone from being a shadow behind us to walking out confidently but not pulling (mostly). She has gone from being a tail between her legs to wagging tail as we walk. we try, and get her to heel on the lead as we figured that way we could progress it to off the lead.

I think moorabbin should hopefully clear some stuff up for us, with basic obedience and where we are at. We do lots of positive reinforcements with treats (pats or food) paired with a yes.

I think you are absolutely right about the distractions, she just cant focus when there are other dogs around, I feel this behaviour is worse because other dog owners keep coming up to us with their dogs, so Annie feels the point of the park is to meet other dogs, not work. We are taking the rest of the week off long line work, and will go back to basics for the moment until the big day on Sunday :)

I am a little concerned that annie is too reactive (but in a happy, wants to just be all over the other dogs kinda way). She intensely stares down any dog she sees until she gets close enough to play.

Thanks for your good advice tassie, i possibly am trying to do a little too much too quickly.

Fingers x for our first class on Sunday

susie

[Tassie]

Sounds like you're doing a super job with Annie, kami. And that it's mostly 'neutralising' the other dog distractions that you'll need to be working on now. The basic principle is that wherever possible, make it possible for the dog to succeed .. so that may mean working at a greater distance from other dogs, and using really high value treats and making the rewarding process exciting (I tell my puppy class students .. if you don't sound like an idiot, you're not really trying :laugh: .)

Be prepared for the fact that she may well lose her brain when she sees the other dogs at dog club .. but same deal .. set her up for success. Don't feel embarrassed about asking your instructor for suggestions as to what will help your girl.

Looking forward to updates on the adventures of Annie. She sounds like a lovely girl, and very lucky to have found a great home.

[kami]

Well, apparently loads of walks on the lead, lots of obedience work around the house, and Annie is a front runner on day one. I'm sure that doesn't predict success, but it was lovely seeing how engaged she was. The trainer was very pleased with how much we/she already knew, and while initially I found it a challenge having Annie pulling on the lead when surrounded by 50 dogs, I have some good strategies for next time :) she could sit, was nicely on lead in class, picked up watch me nicely, and came on recall to handler on lead every time :)

Amusingly, she was intensely focused - because she is on steroids, and I wouldn't put the kitchen sink past her ATM! She was mostly well behaved - but it did make me laugh at her 'focus' which was largely driven by a voracious appetite. Lucky us for week 1 dog class. Now to maintain that for week 2....

Anyhows, dog obedience was so much fun.

Susie, Annie and Huw.

[Tassie]

Sounds like you and Annie had a great first day at school. So pleased for you. (And an appetite on steroids is always a good thing when you want focus. :laugh: