Hi all I hope your well i’m in need of Help to stop our beautiful 9 month old boy pulling he’s general a good boy, but he’s really started to pull we’ve tried to follow the tips given but he still wants to pull a lot of the time from the first time out he’s been on a collar and back clip harness but recently it doesn’t seem to matter what we do he still wants to pull any advice very much appreciated Cheers
Hi @Paul Glassbrook I'm not sure what you have tried. If he pulls, then change direction 180 degrees, when he is near you say Yes and give treat. If he then pulls, change direction once again.Keep doing that even if it means you don't walk past your front garden. Do it consistently. Do it even if walking the dog to the car. if he pulls, change direction. Mark and Reward when next to your side. Second, enrol in an postive reinforcement obedience class. It will take sometime because he has been rewarded for pulling for months.
Hi our trainer told us to change our labs harness for a front clipping one as this meant she couldn't comfortably pull. This really helped along with the tips Michael ABrooks has posted. Good luck
If the pulling is relentless, we have had success with having Captain sit or lay for a short period. While walking, he will sometimes become very energetic and pull without any sense of discipline. We recall him, reward for the recall, give a sit or down command, reward for the behavior, and then let him stay there for a short period before releasing him so we can continue our walk. This is something we do if the directions given by @Michael A Brooks are ineffective and we are becoming dizzy from the turns.
Hi @Anthony Abrao If your modification works, then go for it. Training plans should be modified to suit the dog. I can see the sense in what your are doing. If the dog is above threshold, then training will be unproductive. You're doing the recall and stay in particular to calm your dog before continuing with the loose lead walking. Excellent. Nevertheless think about the value of your reinforcers for loose lead walking. Perhaps the treats for that exercise have to be sky-high in value for that specific exercise. Offer clear markers of what you regard as desirable behaviour. It is my experience that handlers frequently forget the importance of conditioned reinforcers when loose lead walking. Be generous. It's not an easy exercise for many dogs. For one thing we walk too slowly. And we humans like to walk in straight lines.
we have Kyko on a back fastening harness, he is currently 1 week away from finishing his classes, as I cockily thought he didn't need them. On the first class we covered loose lead walking, Kyko was already not bad but I was inconsistent with him & made excuses for him, like oh but he's in a new place, or it's windy things like that. We were told to stand still when he started pulling, and if he came back to heel position good boy treat & carry on. If he still wasn't coming into a heel position then to turn round and walk in the other direction. It didn't take the little monkey long to realise that if he pulled forward he would get a piece of chicken for coming back & he started pulling & self correcting himself. With a bit of modification we have it cracked now, if the lead starts to go tight walk backwards, as soon as he makes eye contact with you reward with a good boy then when walking nice food reward. We have to give him significantly less food now 5 weeks later & generally just say far enough & he comes back to heel position. When he's pulling to get to a scent or something else he wants it's a quick turn around in the opposite direction. When calm then he can go to the scent as reward. Sorry long winded answer, hope it makes sense
All harnesses are not alike. Try a Freedom harness and use it with the double-attaching leash it comes with (front and back).
@Michael A Brooks Thanks for the feedback! I want to make sure i understand you completely, though. Considering the re-enforcers. You're stating that the rewards we use during this training event may not have a high enough value for the demand of the difficult task. Right? In my instance, if Captain is not responding to the commands i am focusing on, then i should reconsider the reward i am providing. Maybe i typically give him one training treat when he behaves desirably, and when we are working on new or challenging behaviors i should try giving multiple pieces or a completely different reward such as a game of tug of war, some exciting petting, etc. Am i understanding you correctly? Hoping that i do grasp the concept, i will ask about the "conditioned re-enforcers" you mentioned. This one is simple. I dont understand. Can you explain a little more?
@Anthony Abrao A conditioned reinforcer is the word Yes (the verbal equivalent of a click). The dog has been classically conditioned to form the certain belief that when she hears the word "Yes" a treat will always follow. In doing so, it allows the trainer to mark the very instance the dog performs a certain behaviour. The dog learns that if she repeats the specific behaviour the trainer will say Yes and she will be rewarded with a treat. Why do we need the marker word Yes? Why not give the dog a treat without saying anything? Just giving a treat is too ill-defined. There would be a gap in time between the dog performing the desired behaviour and the distribution of the treat. I would have to put my hand in my treat bag to get the treat, then move my hand over to the dog's muzzle. As a result the dog could not be expected to really understand why it was being rewarded. Was it the behaviour she did 0.5 second or the behaviour 0.75 seconds in the past. If our timing is good, and we say Yes at the precise moment we observe the desired behaviour, then the dog forms a belief over a series of repetitions that if she repeats a specific behaviour, she will ultimately receive a treat. Yes try varying the quality of the rewards for the tasks the dog finds difficult. You are competing with the environmental reinforcers (smells of other creatures, a child running away, a bird flying nearby etc). So your rewards have to be at least as good, preferably better that the smells emanating from the grass surrounding a lamp-post. I often carry a range of treats. I have separate compartments in my treat bag. I found that my dog likes variety. What will work well for a few days, does not excite her on the third day. You might find Pippa's post to be of some interest. https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/new-study-on-food-in-training.26817/ Note not all dogs in the experiment sought variety. You have to experiment, observe and be prepared to try different reinforcers. You have to find what motivates YOUR dog, for specific tasks in particular environments. It's part of what makes dog training interesting, at least to me. I like to try to listen and read my dog's attempt to communicate with me.
I have done the loose lead walking and turning Willow is really good now on the lead we have been training to walk on the lead since she first went on one. It's constancy you have to keep at it every time they go out. She still pulls sometimes I just stop walking she will pull when we continue then I stop and keep doing this until she walks nicely again. She looks up at me as though to say what up. At first I took her out just to lead walk round the block doing loose lead and turning in different directions this helped a lot. If there are people or other dogs the only thing that gets her attention back to me is if I throw a treat on the floor and tell her to find it its instant attention off whatever else is going on even rolling in poop.
I have to say I have taken really constructive advice from Jo Laurens and Michael Brooks.....and it works. The Freedom harness was worth every penny for our 9mth old Bear. He pulled relentlessly and as I am quite little, was so anxious about taking him out incase he pulled me over. He is still strong to walk but I am in control now and the change was seen as soon as we put the harness on. Thanks Jo. I will also stop if he starts to get away from me, he will sit every time I stop and we wait until he has calmed. He now looks to me for rewards when we encounter distractions. I have even turned round and walked away from other owners who insist on their dog greeting Bear. I shout out 'sorry, training' and walk away. Most people know us now and do not allow their dogs to approach. I remain vigilant on walks and allow him off lead for recall training (not going so well but we'll get there) but leash as soon as I see another dog. He still a work in progress and I'm hoping to join an outdoor training session with a highly recommended trainer soon. As Willow's mum said, be consistent, persistent and reward when he does well. Good luck and do let us know how you get on with Captain. x
