My 6 month old lab did great using Total Recall for some basics, (really just to come when i call her). Now we are starting to take her on walks in places where she needs to be on leash, and she is pulling me around. Total Recall doesnt seem to say much about leash training or heeling. Anybody have a strategy or could share a few steps about how to accomplish this? Thanks!
I’ve just seen this video -first of three - and it’s an excellent tutorial in loose lead walking (called polite walking on this video). I can’t seem to embed it, but hope the link works. The key thing is not to try to get anywhere at first and start in an environment with low distractions.
There is an article in this section , its a pinned article called Walking you dog on a loose lead , you should find some helpful information there , glad that you have found Total Recall such a help x
I think I’m missing something about that video. Anyone can stand in front of a dog and click 33 tines in 82 seconds. How does that help anything? Sorry if I seem daft.
What don't you get? You're training just as you would anything else. Setting the dog up for success with very small increments of the behaviour in a low-distraction environment with a high rate of reinforcement and working gradually towards the final result of the dog moving with you on a loose leash. It's not how I trained LLW but it would certainly work. Most people just dive straight into expecting the dog to go for a long walk and that's why they get frustrated. In this video she's doing it the right way - allowing the dog to get reinforced for small movements whilst maintaining a loose leash.
If you watch all three videos in the short series, you can see how it develops. It is a bit long-winded because the process hasn’t been edited. But I think that helps to show how patient you have to be. The dog is conditioned very gradually to having a loose lead at all times. It’s not quite how I’ve done it with any of my dogs either - but not so very different. I’ve skipped the stage of feeding at a halt and fed on the move. I’ve changed direction very frequently, not waiting for the dog to pull to do this. When Molly was a pup a drove to off-lead places and just put the lead on for several short practices each time. I didn’t try to actually walk on lead intending to get anywhere until she had learnt how to do it.
I spent lots of time in my garden last year with my puppy just rewarding for staying to heel (without a lead) - just a few minutes every day over months. Combined with the loose lead training going nowhere with plenty of rewards. She is now 14 months and walks beautifully on a loose lead (occasionally going over threshold if another dog is barking as they go by ). As @Joy says it does require lots of patience but worth it.
