My son insisted I wake him up this morning to take Tess on her first 'proper' walk! It went so well. She walked on a loose lead most of the time, we took her off her lead a couple of times and made sure we walked in the opposite direction and changed direction a lot so she had to keep looking out for us. She did a couple of excellent recalls I did take some ham with me as well as her usual kibble treats! The poor little thing stung her paws on a stinging nettle so we tried to persuade her to walk through a shallow piece of stream but she didn't want much to do with that! She was heavily rewarded for walking nicely on the lead and I know I'll have to phase that out at some point. Couple of questions - obviously the big wide world is new to Tess from the ground and it's very smelly, in particular there's an alley leading up to an open area where lots of dogs walk and I struggled to even get her down there she was so busy sniffing. How do I deal with this? Obviously I don't mind her stopping to have the odd sniff but I can't go for a whole walk like that because I'd never get anywhere! We didn't meet anybody else today which I was quite pleased about, not because she's not sociable but because she gets SO excited when she sees somebody else (human or canine!). I think we need to do some work on her not saying hello to absolutely everybody and on having some self control (silly sausage was even crazy excited to go to the vets yesterday!!). As she gets a little older she gets a little more outgoing and bouncy when excited and of course she gets a lot bigger and heavier too. Anybody any advice on this? We have been very consistent with not allowing her to jump up at home but need to transfer it to the exciting big wide world now!
Re: First Walk! Very exciting! Lots of people do put harnesses and collars and leads on puppies and just head out for a walk - for some people, this works fine. But if the number of people on the forum (myself included) who later find out that they have a 25kg - 30kg dog that pulls, it's probably not recommended. What would be better would be to teach her to walk properly on a lead, then teach her to keep doing that when she can see a person or another dog, then in a super smelly place....and so on - so you build up to being able to walk down a smelly alley. In the meantime, drive her to her off-lead walks. If that's not practical, then you could have her on a harness when walking, and a collar when training, to help her tell the difference. If your dog hasn't yet learned to pull on a lead, then have a look at the lead walking resources to get you started here: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/clicker-training-heel/ But there is a long process of "proofing" that should follow the initial walking to heel steps, here: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/proofing-labrador-obedience/ Best of luck with it
Re: First Walk! Yep, done all that in the garden at home. She walks around the entire garden both on and off lead to heel as described here and she does it very well, we've practiced several times daily She is also doing it now we're able to venture out unless there's something very smelly and interesting - but more so when she sees another person, then she goes crazy wanting to get to them. I'm wondering whether I should have some very high value treats with me to get her attention on to me when somebody is walking past. I'm also going to take her to a fairly busy area and sit with her for a while, asking others not to come and stroke her, so she doesn't think everybody wants to come and give her a cuddle. I don't walk her far enough away from my house to go in the car!
Re: First Walk! Walking in the garden is not at all the same as walking outside. If you wanted to do it gradually, first start with the same street, or the same field (some dogs find that harder though) no interesting smells, no people etc. then another very quite street, and so on. Then introduce just one person at a distance she can cope with, and move closer so long as she doesn't react. Then one dog..... Or, yes, you could just hit the streets, take super high value treats, walk past a load of rubbish, dogs, and people and try to train like that - that's what most people do, for sure.
Re: First Walk! I'm literally walking up my road a bit, I couldn't really do any less, it's still interesting because she hasn't been there before until today - and I know it's also important to get her off the lead while she's young. To drive to the field would mean moving along a few parking spaces from my house but I do want to get her somewhere I can get her off the lead. I wonder if the fact that it's quiet (we are semi rural) is worse because the occasional person walking past (which I can't prevent) is more exciting. I realise that the garden is very different but I have to start proofing somewhere and I thought walking her just to the end of the road, quiet, not too many people or dogs (none this morning), very close to home was the way to go. I'm feeling quite deflated now, I'm trying my hardest to do the right thing, not trying to argue against your advice!
Re: First Walk! Also, I'm meant to be getting her out to all the places we carried her now she's on the floor for socialisation before she's 14 weeks - including busy town centres. I guess I'm finding some of the information a bit conflicting leaving me unsure what to do for the best.
Re: First Walk! That's ok, all advice is completely optional! ;D ;D ;D Why don't you try to put her on a harness when you are not training, and a collar and lead when you are? That will help a bit, for sure. But it is super difficult if you have to put your puppy on a lead and get from A to B while that puppy can't do that on a lead. If you are trying to walk her down a smelly alley, that she can't resist, you are going too fast. I say this because you said this: [quote author=zanacal link=topic=10365.msg152618#msg152618 date=1427553137] Couple of questions - obviously the big wide world is new to Tess from the ground and it's very smelly, in particular there's an alley leading up to an open area where lots of dogs walk and I struggled to even get her down there she was so busy sniffing ..... I think we need to do some work on her not saying hello to absolutely everybody and on having some self control [/quote] Most people take lead walking far too quickly, I certainly did, for entirely practical reasons like getting from A to B. But most (and I really do think it is most) people end up with a Labrador that pulls and then at around 7 months or so, when they weigh around 25kg, move to a management technique like a front fastening harness, and then a halti. Or, they settle down to re-train lead walking over several months, which is painful and time consuming. With my next pup, I'm just not going to do that. My dog is going to learn walk on his lead around distraction in "set ups" and by that I mean I'm going to train in a way that introduces distractions in a structured way, not just what we happen to meet on the street. And I'm going to drive him everywhere - to the fields, to the shopping centre, to waitrose, to puppy school, for socialisation. My dog grew up in central London, so I'm not so sure it's about being quiet, probably more about the personality of the dog - a bit shy, or desperate to go say hi.
Re: First Walk! She definitely falls in to the last category! I'm not sure she needs socialisation, more the opposite ;-) I could walk a different route and avoid the alley, though it will mean walking a little bit further down the road. I have a harness so I will certainly give that a go tomorrow. Today I was using a limited slip lead. I could also try walking in another direction if I see somebody coming so they are at a distance, but I know most people around here so it might seem very rude, it depends who it is! I will drive her to town for socialisation but she will need to go on a lead when she gets there - or her harness as you suggest. I would love to do this in a more structured way but I don't think I can make that work for our family - I have four children of my own and I'm a childminder, which does mean that she already trains around distractions in our garden, because I often practice our lead walking when the children are busy playing! I have walked her literally a few paces up and down our lane before today but she hadn't had her last injection so I didn't go far and she didn't meet anybody. I guess I thought today wasn't that much further but didn't consider some of the potential distractions. I will have a good think at how I can do things better. We have had dogs before, two German Shepherds, and they are one of the reasons I'm trying so hard not to make Tess a 'puller'!!
Re: First Walk! Yup, know the feeling....my first Labrador pulled on his lead all his life. I got Charlie, and thought "right, not this time, not this time". But, still ended up with a Labrador that pulled on his lead and an 8 month programme to correct it (to be fair to him, he was injured and bursting with energy, when he started pulling, but still...). But my NEXT pup...nope, going to get it right next time....;D ;D ;D
Re: First Walk! Pondering this over a glass of red wine I'm thinking that instead of taking her for one walk each day to the field, then off lead and back again, I take her just a short distance up or down our lane twice a day on her lead, not too far, probably crossing the lane and letting most people walk past without saying hello (I can call over my shoulder that we're training or something, hopefully they'll understand!). Separately I will try and think of somewhere to drive her for off lead practice - I guess a quiet place is best? I think I could take her to the area behind our local graveyard and not see anybody else! At her age (11 weeks) am I right in thinking that the physical exercise isn't that important - if I don't manage to get her off lead every single day for example and we just do our walks up and down the lane? It will be easier with the clocks going forwards and it being light in the evenings! I will also take her up to town and find somewhere quiet for us to sit and watch the world go by, again, without saying hello to everybody (I will try to be really interesting ). Does that sound like a sensible plan?
Re: First Walk! Yup, sounds very sensible. I think, if Barbara catches this, you'll find she is doing exactly the same with her spaniel pup.... A lot of exercise isn't important no, I think a bit of gentle exercise off lead on undulating surfaces is good for them though, but at 11 weeks, I would have though your garden would do...
Re: First Walk! Julie, can I just check I've understood correctly. I'll drive her to town (or wherever) so she experiences busy places and so we can watch the world go by together and for these trips she'll wear her harness. There will no doubt be short walks from the car to wherever we're going and I will insist on a loose lead but not use these walks to practice 'heel' as such. For our heel sessions I'll put her lead on and go up and down the lane outside our house, gradually increasing the area we cover and the level of distraction, if I can control that. Would you say no sniffing etc. during the heel sessions? What about when I have her on her harness walking from the car - because these are more likely to be areas she's not familiar with. This morning I decided to take her to town to sit on a bench together. We drove there and between leaving home and getting there it started blowing a gale. Well, the best I can say is that she's now experienced very windy and very wet weather. I could barely get her to move, even with roast beef in my pocket, and in the end I carried her back to the car!!
Re: First Walk! Whether you want no sniffing or not depends... If I had a dog that didn't spend much time on a lead, I'd ask for lead walking with no sniffing. My dog does spend a fair bit of time on lead though, and he was injured as a teenager and spent just forever on a lead. So, I do let him sniff on a loose lead. I think sniffing is part of "being a dog" and they need the opportunity to do it. If they got loads of that off lead though, it would be fine not to allow it on lead. I first trained loose lead, which just has a single criteria - we move forwards so long as the lead is loose, and that's it. He can sniff, pee, whatever. Then I trained heel, which isn't a very tight heel but it means at my side and head up, no sniffing or peeing - this is the same off lead or on lead, it means the same thing. Now I can switch between the two on lead ("go sniff" or "close"). I still switch leads though (collar and lead for loose lead, limited slip lead for heel), because he forgets and goes to sniff when at heel, so I try to make it really obvious to him which we are doing. That's been the disadvantage of allowing sniffing on lead, I think, it's just a bit harder for them to grasp there are two different types of lead walking. So you could try harness and longer lead means loose lead (and sniffing), and collar and lead means heel? If that suits you?
Re: First Walk! Thanks Julie, that makes sense. Actually, head up and not sniffing probably isn't even something I particularly need from her. She won't be worked and is only a pet dog, what I don't want is excessive sniffing which leads to us not getting anywhere! Perhaps by building up our lead work sessions slowly she will naturally want to do that less as time goes on. Right now it's all new to her! I will use the harness/lead to differentiate for now at least though
Re: First Walk! It might be easier with a bitch, my (male) dog just got worse and worse though and will now sniff for England if I let him, he hasn't grasped the concept of "just a bit of sniffing", and then it can get out of hand and he starts to want to tow me round because I'm just not getting to those sniffs fast enough - at that point, we walk "close". It might be a boy thing, or worse with boys... When he's relaxed, and ambling like we should, it's fine though. But I walk in London, through some very dirty streets, so sometimes just need a cue which is "head up, no sniffing now".
Re: First Walk! Thank you, I guess I will live and learn! I just drove her down the road, did a bit of off lead work with her and drove home again. She went completely nuts stood by the road so I was very glad she had her harness on!
Re: First Walk! Just to add to Julie's excellent (as always) advice, I just wanted to flag up this: [quote author=zanacal link=topic=10365.msg152618#msg152618 date=1427553137] She was heavily rewarded for walking nicely on the lead and I know I'll have to phase that out at some point. [/quote] Don't be in any kind of rush to phase out heavy rewarding for a nice walk. She's doing something to suit you, not herself, so essentially working for you, and work of any kind deserves payment, I'm sure you'll agree In difficult situations, I C&T almost constantly still, and my two are nearly 8 months old, so there's no rush for you to stop doing it anytime soon. I imagine when adolescence kicks in with a real vengeance, I'll have to pick up the rate even more. It's nothing to be ashamed about, don't worry!
Re: First Walk! Thank you, that's good to know I'm sat here feeling a bit cross with myself because we are taking Tess to visit two family members this week and I'm really reluctant and worried about taking her because she's right in the crocopup phase How can I take her in to somebody else's house when she's constantly moving towards people with her mouth open and/or jumping up?! I tried sitting with her on her lead today while she chomped on a chew and the kids played and it was a disaster, she jumped and strained all over the place (and I made a BIG mistake and had the lead around her neck, next time I'll use the harness). I think giving her a chew may have been a mistake too, perhaps I should have given her a constant stream of C&Ts for when she was sitting nicely? She does relax from time to time and then she's lovely to have around and in the evenings she just lays on her mat in the living room and sleeps - and of course she's a puppy so I don't expect her to do that all the time but I am worrying about these visits. What is best for her to chew besides Kongs when she feels the need - raw hide or something else?! I don't want to be giving her too many extra calories!
Re: First Walk! With the settle, I can only tell you what I do now, and what I'll do with my next pup, I didn't do this (unfortunately) when Charlie was a pup. You need to start in a place without any distractions (no kids playing in front of her) and build it up - settle or go on mat, you have to start both without any distractions. If I want Charlie to settle, I have a visual cue (which is my foot on the lead, whether I'm standing or sitting) and I ignore him. No treats, no attention, nothing. It means "nothing whatsoever is going to happen that is anything to do with you". When he settles, I get up and move and engage him in activity. I do this as much as possible - out on walks, in pets at home, talking to people on the street, in the pub, on park benches...I don't click and treat, and I don't feed him. At first, I'd move as soon as he settled, now I ask for a bit more. Inside, he has been trained to go on his mat and stay there. If it is super distracting, and I need him quiet, he'll get a kong or go in his pen, depends really. So, your puppy is going to visit some family - that's lovely. You haven't trained her to be able to do anything in that situation, so I'd just tell them what you want them to do if she jumps up, given them rope toys to give her if she becomes a crocopup, and relax and enjoy it. Maybe take a travel crate for somewhere to put her if it all gets a bit too exciting?
