Willow walks perfect on a loose lead when I have a treat in my hand as soon as the treat has gone so has the attention on me. While I have the treat I have her full attention. How can I progress to loose lead walking when the treat has been given its like a que for her pull again. The only way she walks nice is on a short lead with me stopping when she pulls and I refuse to go any further until she walks nicely. She does walk nicely after a few times of us stopping and starting but not on a long lead it's like she if has the length of the lead she just pulls ahead.
Hi @willow do you mean heeling (dog's right front leg glued to your left leg) or loose lead walking (dog can walk on left, right, behind, in front of you JUST as long as she doesn't pull)?
Are you asking her to heel, and does she know what "heel" means? If you sit her facing you, and you say "heel" does she move into the heel position? If not, I would suspect that she is just confused. She knows to follow your treat, but doesn't necessarily understand the concept that you want her to walk next to you.
In the videos the dog walks at your side without pulling on a long lead Willow don't do this she walks and pulls walks and pulls. I say heel and she will heel as not pull then go straight back to pulling. When I stop and refuse to move only then she stops and thinks about why we aren't moving. She does this at the start of the walk so I think she is excited. She is also in season and eager to go and mark everywhere. The dogs are good here as they are all on leads and I take her away from any approaching dogs.
I like the idea that heel signals to come to our side whether during a walk, sit, lay, etc. I am going to begin incorporating this. I have been using "ready" for Captain to get into position during fetch, but heel is more universal for him to understand a single location i want him to be in. (sorry for going off topic)
Keep doing this in your training. When the dog turns its head or reorients its body, then mark and give a treat. Have the treats in your treat pouch not in your hand before you reinforce the behaviour. Over repetitions increase the criterion--the lead must change from taut to loose. When the lead becomes taut stop or change direction 180 degrees each and every time the lead without fail. It may take you some time to get to the car for example. Never allow the dog to be reinforced by pulling you somewhere. When the dog manages to stop pulling even if for a moment mark and treat. So you are rewarding attentiveness and then not pulling.
Thank you Michael I had the treat in my hand so will keep it in the pouch and use cheese as it's her favourite treat. If I tell her heel she stops pulling and walks by me for a few strides. Then eventually she will walk nicely. She is still a pup only 9 months and is calming down a bit. I use a collar as she hates the perfect fit harness she runs away as soon as she sees it so it must pinch her. I have adjusted it to fit she just doesn't get on with it.
When I say heel she stops pulling she doesn't know that heel means come back to my side we haven't covered this. The training I took her to was not the type dog shows do where they walk round and sit in front of you it was more relaxed walking on a loose lead type training.
Have a look at this series of videos - there are three of them and you need to watch them in order to get the complete training picture.
