Hi all, This is my first post on here and I do apologise if this has been posted about before (guessing it has). We have a 9 month old male golden lab. At home he is a dream dog, house trained, very calmly behaved, doesn’t chew, great with my little boy the list goes on..... HOWEVER.....on a walk he is a different dog. I have tried countless times to control him with many different methods. But his pulling on a lead is uncontrollable when he’s out. I’ve tried stopping and walking slowly etc. A large part of the issue is I can’t reward him for doing the right thing as he never does it for long enough for me to do it and for him to realise it was what I wanted him to do. Also recently he’s struggled with crowds, just today we had him in a very busy village with lots of dogs, people etc. He’s either pulling, barking at other dogs, jumping up at people or jumping on the road. He used to be fine with all of the above, however in the last 2 months we have a got a dog walker. I think she’s nervous of him and the fact he’s someone else dog. And I think the nerves have maby rubbed off on the dog. As before he would only ever sniff other dogs, now like I said he barks and lunges at them. Can anyone please suggest anything we could try? I love him to bits but it’s not enjoyable taking him out at the min. Any help much appreciated.
I had to practise indoors a lot with my dog. Walking around my tiny kitchen, treat for lead on, treat every step he didn't bite me or the lead (pulling wasn't our biggest problem). Then we ventured out onto the paved area outside my house - not even the garden as that was too exciting! I'm lucky that we live in the countryside and have space for him to exercise off lead safely as well - I could only manage short lead training sessions with him. I also bought a Perfect Fit harness which helped enormously with the pulling.
The dog walks well at home. Is a basket case when walking in the street near people. Perfectly normal, So what you have to do is build up to the latter. The jump is too large for the dog. Find a street with few if any people. Drive there if you need to. Practise loose lead walking. Try a hard surface where there is not much in the way of scents. Ideally after a heavy rain. If you get two steps of walking without pulling then jackpot. Next find a place where there is only one person sitting in the distance. Hard surface. Few scents to contend with. Mark and treat. Then find an area where say 3 people are walking slowly in the distance. Then three people jogging slowly in the distance. The idea is to gradually increase the level of distractions--movement and noise increases the level of the distraction. Just how you have to manage the training scenarios is part of the art of dog training. Find ways for the dog to succeed. So don't go from level 0 to 100 in one step. I don't think there is a dog alive, that can listen if you ramp up the distractions so quickly. Would you have been able to learn to drive if I taught you in a quiet suburb, and then said your next lesson is in London at peak hour when the traffic lights have failed and the police are all at a meeting.
Thank you all for your replies and advice. Scooby, I will have a look into the clicker training, but think I will go without the collar. Ruth, that’s sounds similar to where we live, we have the space to let him run off the lead safely. Did you separate the 2? Eg: if two walks a day, have one walk with trying to train on the lead and the second walk just letting him off so he gets a run? I think Michael you are correct, where I walk him daily it’s a quite spot where we see 3-4 people mostly with dogs, and he’s for the most part ok with the other dogs, just pulls the lead. So will try build up to the v.busy areas again. We’ve had him in busy places before, but he was smaller then and not as strong so couldn’t dictate too much on the direction of travel!! We had him in the Lake District today, off the lead with my girlfriends parents dog and in the water etc, he had a ball and for 99% of the time very well behaved, he’s never any trouble when he’s off the lead.
Just wondering if anyone could offer advice on the rewarding part? Like I alluded to in my previous post, he never walks loose lead for any amount of time for me to reward him on it. Is it literally just a case of stopping flow of walk when he begins to pull? Apologies about basic questions but I’ve tried this numerous times and I’m yet to see an improvement on it. Just feels like I’m doing something fundamentally wrong. Thanks
You could try some obedience classes...training near distractions. That’s how we solved this normal, age appropriate labby behaviour
I think start really small- smaller than you think. Treat him for one step with a loose lead. Then two, then three, then maybe 5 seconds etc etc. When my dog pulls I stop and say his name and praise/reward when he comes back towards me and the lead goes slack. Progress is sloooooow and non linear, so don't be disheartened. As Edp says, it is normal labby behaviour. They are excitable and curious and that's why we love them. Good luck!
I didn't formally separate the training from the exercise but when he was really bad we just didn't walk in places where he absolutely had to be on lead (sheep, roads etc). With regards to rewarding, have you seen the game Magic Hand? Basically you drop tiny treats through your fingers at random times for your dog to catch. You can play it on or off lead, walking or standing still but it really focuses attention on you (or at least your hand) and not pulling forward.
If dogs people or joggers are coming towards Willow I get her to the side tell her to sit with a treat tell her to stay then treat her. She is learning not to jump and dive at anyone passing us. She is getting really good but I need to reinforce this every time anyone is aproaching. They often want a cuddle so I get her to sit while they stroke her.
So I tried today rewarding him for every step he took on without pulling. He wasn’t perfect by any means but there was a noticeable improvement. I watched some videos online and tried to make myself “more interesting”. Done this via treats and constantly rewarding for not pulling. Looked a bit stupid to others, but I don’t care at this point! Every time he pulled I asked to sit and stepped back 4-5 steps, which also helped. Thank you all for your input.
We met a dog walker yesterday who was struggling with a strong golden retriever. Willow sat calmly watching the dog. I showed the dog walker how I train Willow by turning and calling her to me. The other dog stopped pulling straight away and sat calmly chewing a stick.
Hi @WillowA She was impressed, I told her to look on youtube for lots of tips. The owners work all day and he is kept in a cage the walker only takes him out round the block about 15 mins. My hubby saw the owner being pulled down the road. I advised the walker to talk to the owner about a no pull harness. They also use a small thin flexi lead she is wrapping round her hand and is cutting into her hand that is not up to the dogs weight so could snap. All good advice. Youtube for tips? Naaaahhhhhh. The Labrador Forum! Shame the owners do not employ a walker for more than 15 minutes.
It looks like it's a quick let out for toileting rather than the walk it's self. The owners then take it out in the evening not sure if it's getting enough stimulaton being locked away so long and it's only about 9 months old.
Hi all, Thanks for the replies and advice. Thought I would give an update, so Bailey is definitely improving. On my walks with him on our usual route with somewhat limited new things or excitement he’s walking nearly perfectly, and is very receptive etc. We have now also made a commitment that we are going to have a day out for him on the weekend (beach, forest etc) to get him socialised better. This is however where the problem still lies. I know when in these places he’s a lot more excitable, which I know is normal. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do differently when in these environments? Like I say, on our usual walk there’s definitely signs of improvement, but it’s like he forgets everything he’s learnt when we’re anywhere but the usual walk. Thanks
Walk around in large circles of say 3 to 4 metres. Elsa Blomster, a Swedish dog trainer, calls it dull heelwork. https://www.retrievingforalloccasions.com/dull-heelwork/ Other suggestions in the link. You have to teach your dog to relax. Sit on the grass in a new area and just watch the world. Talk quietly. Stroke the fur. Then off for a bit of walking. Then have another calm session.
