So, Arnie is now 18 weeks old. I spend a lot of time doing recall, on leash manners and off leash keeping close to me training. I am interested in what everyone thinks of my techniques. I will describe it below and would like some feedback. On leash, I start walking and he's usually pretty good with a loose leash. When he pulls or gets distracted I stop and make him heel before walking again. I make plenty of random stops and just say "Arnie, sit", and when he sits I click and treat. Then I say "walk" and start off again and click and treat after a few metres. Every so often when he's doing a good job walking next to me I click and treat. Or when he looks up at me I click and treat. That's pretty much our on leash routine. Is there any way of improving or sharpening this up? He does well, but we went to the pet store this morning and there were other dogs and he lost his mind. Pulled and acted a fool. So off leash, I do this. I make him sit, take the leash off and say "walk", and he walks next to me and I click and treat. I then randomly change direction and he follows me and when he catches up I click and treat. And then change direction again. I do this with low distractions because when it ramps up I have to put him on the leash. Please critique.
It sounds good to me - those are good ways of getting a dog to walk alongside you. On lead, you might think about being a bit more precise about what you are clicking for - eg, 20 steps, or 40 steps gradually making it longer but also throwing in a few shorts ones. Otherwise, I'd drop the clicker and just say goodboy or whatever a give him a treat. I wouldn't click a dog for looking at me on lead unless it was part of a specific cue (eg look at me) because I don't want my dog walking along looking up. Some people do though. I'd think about adding a 'go sniff' cue, if you haven't done that already, so Arnie knows when it's ok to go and wander and have a sniff (on lead) and a bit of free time (off lead). Asking a dog to keep to a certain position for long periods is very tiring for the dog, so allowing an alternative of a loose lead gives the dog a break, and makes walks much more interesting for them.
Sounds good to me too. One thing that I would change is rather than saying "Arnie, sit" I would simply say "Sit". You really only need to add a name if you have multiple dogs and want to differentiate between them. And, like Julie, I would add a "Go sniff" cue.
Thanks for the validation guys, I really appreciate it. I would like some ideas on how to escalate distraction without going too far? I do think I am doing the right things, but where do I go from here?
Often on walks with Juno I just stop and wait for her to sit, without any cues, before moving on again. It's very handy to have a dog who will offer a sit when you just stop particularly if you stop to speak to someone
Yeah I do the same thing MaccieD. It works great. JulieT, we can do those basic obedience things. Sit stay down up and come as long as distractions aren't huge.
Yes, but with what distractions? Eg a smelly field, a dog at 100m, or nothing etc. You asked how you moved on, I'm not sure what you are moving on from. If you are at the stage of just a puppy being distracted by the environment, I'd say use access to the environment as the reward, and just keep rewarding for the puppy orientating to you, and reinforce your training by frequent breaks to sniff or other appropriate puppy stuff. If though you have no engagement around other dogs (or something) then you might want to try to find a set up where you can work behind a barrier with a strange dog the other side and just start rewarding the puppy engaging with you (also with frequent breaks etc). So the question 'what's next?' really depends on what you are working on now.
Ah I see what you mean. I have used my mums dog and set up a scenario where we walk past her. I rewarded for walking next to me and paying attention. I will try and set up more of these situations and make them easy at first and increase the difficulty. That makes sense. That also creates more work for me haha
That's definitely the right idea - arrange things in small steps, where you have control and your dog can cope and move forward only as fast as your dog is successful. It is tricky to do, but just so much more successful than over facing your puppy with a load of stuff it can't cope with yet.
Sounds like you and Arnie are doing great. Don't forget, when you up the distraction go back to the beginning with what you are doing. For example, if Arnie walks 20 steps with no distraction before getting a treat, start with one step when you up the distraction. Well done to you both
