Hi, I've just joined the forum as a last resort. I have a 7 month lab pup called Baxter, he's quite well behaved inside the house but when I put the lead on him he pulls like a husky on speed. Since I got him (11 weeks old then) I've practiced the treat based loose lead walking ...no improvement. I asked a behaviour specialist to come and help me last weekend, she said he was the worst she had ever seen. I'm using the clicker and treat ...works in my garden but as soon as we go outside the dog changes personality. He now jumps up and tugs at the lead as he knows this stops me....he can be quite frantic at this and it hurts!. I use liver as tasty treat. Oh yes and I also did the Dogs Trust puppy course.
Hi @Janice McClelland and welcome. What training protocols did the behaviourist suggest are put in place? There are several ways of approaching your pulling problem but it would help to know the current advice first - if only to save repetition
Hi, firstly the Dogs Trust said to say the marker word "Yes" when the dog wasn't pulling and then reward with a tasty treat. This I was doing until last Saturday when the behaviourist called. She watched me and said I was doing everything right but despite the odd time when the lead was loose and me giving the reward we're not making progress. Then she came back with a clicker which replaced the "Yes" word. The clicker does get his attention a little better but when stimulated outside there's very little loose lead to reward and when I do get a decent period of it and click reward, click reward this very quickly turns into a pulling match again. Janice
Sorry, few more questions just want to be sure of what is happening. 1. Have you clicker trained before? If not, how did the behaviourist 'charge' the clicker? 2. Did the behaviourist explain the rationale of changing from a marker word to the clicker? 3 How many steps are you walking with a loose lead before rewarding? I'm also a little worried about when you are marking behaviour and rewarding as you say you get better attention with the clicker. The clicker should be marking a good behaviour so when the dog hears it he says 'whoopee! Treat coming' not to gain his attention.
Hi thank you so much for taking an interest. So to answer your questions: 1. No I haven't clicker trained before. I'm not sure what you mean by charge the clicker? 2. She decided to change to clicker in an effort to get into the dog's mind I think, I had been using the yes word for 3 months and it wasn't having the desire effect 3. As soon as Baxter walks on a loose lead I click, then reward.....I would say every about every 5 secs click reward. He doesn't hold the loose lead very long so I don't get the chance to click and reward. I don't use the clicker for attention, I click when he walks well or looks up at me during walk. Hope this helps you I'm happy to answer any question if it helps your answer. Thanks Janice
Hi @Janice McClelland, welcome to the forum. I am sure @Jojo83 and others will be along to further explain but in the mean time I could suggest you have a look at a trainer called kikopupon youtube. She has many videos but definitely has one for explaining how to charge the clicker, as it is very important. Without it your dog (and you) won't understand what an incredible tool the clicker is. I found this:
I must also add that I am an absolute clicker fangirl I love the options it has added to my training with Harley and we have been able to work serious and many fun things together. The oppurtunities are endless.
Thank you for posting this for me. I've watched it and think I have loaded the clicker (without knowing this is the phrase used!!). Are there any videos showing the clicker being used for loose lead walking? Janice
I haven't watched this one myself but from the video's I have watched on Kikopup's channel she always uses a clicker.
Are you able to drive anywhere to let Baxter off lead? I found this was the easiest way -let the pup have a run around, then do a little bit of lead walking, then another off lead run/play, then lead walking again.
This is just a thought. Homer used to go crazy at his agility sessions because they insisted on high value treats. All he wanted was the treat and he could focus on what he needed to do to get it, he then would get frustrated and jump up at me. Lower value treats work better for my dog for training sessions.
Ok, I don't want to upset anyone here so please do not read into my remarks, please! Is the goal to get the dog to walk on the leash and that is it? If so, it seems to me that this "clicker" business might be a bit of overkill. Murphy over there weighs 100 lbs. Yup, he can pull. Really pull. We started using a harness with a front chest ring. It has worked great. The front chest ring on the one we use can slide a few inches either way which turned him when he pulled. We rarely use the chest harness nowadays. He got in the habit of not pulling by using that harness.
We did exactly the same with Tatze. We had the same result too, she rarely needs her harness now - I just put it on if there’s a chance we may see a cat (she would bolt after a cat ) My pups have to have only a flat collar, no harness allowed. It takes ages to teach loose lead walking on a flat collar, but you get there with lots and lots of practice and patience. .
We also used a harness with front and rear attachment points. In time, we used the rear attachment on its own, only using the front attachment when needed. Now we usually walk on a flat collar.
Hi Clare, I did use a harness on Baxter during is Dogs Trust training, it was slightly better with the harness but one morning out of the blue he went mad when I tried to put the harness on him, running around the kitchen, hiding under the table and looking petrified??? I tried to use food to encourage him no luck. This was a really stressful situation. I subsequently did purchase the front ring harness but as he causes such an uproar when I try to get it on him I haven't actually got the chance to try it. Any hints on how to get him to be receptive to putting harness on? Janice
It is called the Easy Walk, it is sold here in the US by Pet Smart. I think what makes it work so well is that the front ring can slide from side to side, so as soon as the dog starts pulling it moves the force over to his side. If anyone buys one, it pays to let them fit it at the store.
What worked for us ( Duggan could pull us over at 36kg ) was the stop method. Every time he pulled I stopped. That’s it. Then he would throw a little protest but eventually backed a half step and sat. Then he got a yes and treat( at the right moment, im not rewarding the sit. He just defaults into that). Then we started walking again, albeit at first we didn’t get two steps, but over time he gradually increased the distance before he’d start pulling again. He wanted to go forward and realized very quickly that pulling interfered with what he wanted. Having said that we walk two ways. One type of walk is for him and one type of walk for is for covering some distance. When it’s his walk I let him go in whatever direction he wants as long as he doesn’t pull. On our distance walks we keep pace and I try to keep his nose out of the grass and ditches and he’s happy to cruise along. With time we added direction. I applied slight pressure and made a turn and he followed my lead. Now he generally just follows along instinctively without any direction. And I’m still working on maintaining this. He still wants to pull. And if I let up at all he’s back to pulling again.
