Ok kinda is 10 month old on the 2nd of next month. Slowly over the past 3 monthes my lovely dog who heeled nicely next to me and payed attention to me now forges ahead to the point of pulling and ignores me. I have a real hard time getting his attention! He used to be food motivated but no more. Not even cooked chicken does it now! And he isn't toy motivated! I have tried to use a halti but getting it on him is a big issue. He puts his tail between his legs and wags it and then lies on his back. It takes a lot of treats and coaxing to get it on. When we leave the house though he immediately forges ahead and im constantly pulling/telling him to come back to heel. I am at a loss as to what to do? Shall I scrap the heel work and just train a loose leash? How shall I go about training loose leash? What do I do?
Re: Leash issues! HELP! Hi there! Nice to see you. Unfortunately I don't really have much expertise on this as Lilly's heel isnt that great, but.......I did get her a simple harness to use with the long lead and do find that she doesn't pull nearly as badly with the ring on he back. It also has a front ring but not tried that as no need. I don't know if that would be better than a Halti? I guess though that working on heel with a loose lead or no lead would be tbe gold standard.
Re: Leash issues! HELP! This article helped me, I clicker trained for loose leash, might help... (My boy is young, though, for all I know he'll do the same as yours when he is a teenager!) http://www.thelabradorsite.com/?p=1166
Re: Leash issues! HELP! Newpuppymom,don't despair......I'm flat out today so no time to reply properly but i will tonight,just want to say I had a nightmare with pulling.....I've persevered and persevered...I haven't wanted to say anything in case it was fluke rather than norm...but glory be I am getting a lot of loose lead walking now......my flash point was probably 8/9 month stage but I never had a good foundation,he'd pulled me from the word go and I didn't know what I was doing......so it just got worse and worse Do not despair.....I'm a long way from how I would like to be but it can get so much better xxx
Re: Leash issues! HELP! Hi there How and where have you trained your heel work so far? On lead or off, home, garden, fields etc? Does he pull on the way home from his walk too? Have you tried lots of direction changes? The article(s) Julie put up should give you some ideas, let us know how you get on
Re: Leash issues! HELP! Oh Moderstors....help!ive just typed out the most massive reply to NPM and I previewed it and then I got thrown out and I can't find it.....does it show up anywhere that you can view it.....I've totally lost the will!!!! :'(n :'( :'(
Re: Leash issues! HELP! Sorry Angela , I`ve done a search and cant see it anywhere , deep breaths , calm and relax
Re: Leash issues! HELP! Thanks for looking Kate.....it was a thin thread of hope....probably a good thing ,NPM might have lost the will when she saw the length of it!! Will mentally review, edit and summarise and send revised reply tomorrow NPM ,I was where you are and things are so much better...I need to make a note of my posts as this comes up quite often ....even if I can't help practically you can see that training and Pippas articles do help as I have emerged into the light ;D ..things are a lot better xxx
Re: Leash issues! HELP! Thanks for all the replys and esp the link posted! I found it very helpful! Now I think I have cracked it! My dog is now walking loose leash and he is walking to heel 60%+ most of the time. The key to success is keeping his attention! Now how do you keep a dogs attention who is supposedly not food/toy related? Lamp post imitation! I recommend this! First things first I have found as soon as I picked my lead up (WHINES). Put the lead straight back down and sit down again. Keep doin it till he stops whining. Put lead on. (if he whines take it off and sit down and try again in few minutes). When you have the lead on without any whining or over excitement practise heel in the home. When you have that down and he isn't running to the door open the door and ask him to sit on the welcome matt, you walk out first then tell him he can walk through. This is the fun part Stand still as post outside your door till he looks at your face. Say good boy and immediately move forward! As soon as he plows ahead STOP! Wait! He MUST look up at your face before you move again. If he struggles to keep his attention, jingle the lead, whistle or something to get this attention (may take a while). As soon as he looks up at your face, say good boy and move forward again. Again when he moves from the heel position, stop till he looks up at your face. I find by constantly doing this he will then keep focuse on you and LISTEN to you asking him to heel. Before it was like talking to a wall! Before he would anticipate everything I did and not pay attention still! Walking in circles, walking backwards. Stopping and starting etc. He learnt that he didn't need to pay attention to me to get what he wanted! Also started coming back home if he charged ahead and refused to listen to me.
Re: Leash issues! HELP! Computer was unresponsive so had to post without finishing it. So he has now learnt that refusing to listen makes us come back home. This is happening less and less ;D And stopping and waiting till he looks up has got us loose leash walking and heeling a lot better. SOOOO simply yet so affective! And I find he is more food motivated now because his focuse is on me again! I REALLY recommend any one struggling to try this approach. It doesn't matter what lead/halti/harness you use it as your working with his focusing on you! IT WORKS! I was loosing the will to live! THANKS GUYS! Try it with your dexter. May take 2-3 walks for him to pick it up but kinda offers me looking at my face when we stop now about 70% of the time now. He knows that's what gets us moving again! ;D
Re: Leash issues! HELP! That is super news NPM, very well done!!! And regarding the timing out - I go back to the previous page, copy my post, then go forward again, log back in, and paste the post into the reply...
Re: Leash issues! HELP! Thanks Karen...it was totally gone the other night ( I couldn't get back to copy it ) but ill try that if it happens again. Im really sorry NPM for not coming back and re writing ( im a bad forum friend!)im so glad you are seeing an improvement,it can make you really miserable.I've got improvement with the clicker and consistency.....but he has still to be corrected and he he seems to naturally wants to pull if I drop my vigilance with him.his focus is better since I've started my last round of obedience classes .......ironically I got told off the other night for pulling HIM into position!!!!ha ha ha ha ha ha!i nearly fell on the floor!the trainer was right though....she has told me to keep the thumb of my hand holding the lead hooked in a pocket to remind me not to force him into position...... We keep working,ill try being a lampost too......he'll probably do a wee on me!! X
