So Maisie gets primarily on-lead walks because there are limited areas where you can let a dog off leash where I live (and the majority of those are dog park areas, which tend to be busy and filled with dogs/owners I'm not so sure about). Sometimes we go to a park. But anyways, the upshot is we ALWAYS have on-lead walks. SO I want these to be enjoyable for Maisie, and for her to get stimulation by sniffing things, looking at things, going at her pace (within reason, not stopping for ages, etc, and obviously I stop whenever she pulls, which isn't too often at this point). But now we have a bit of a crazy walk going on, that I'm not sure how to fix, without taking away the parts of the walk I think are most enjoyable to her (i.e. being able to sniff and explore somewhat). The main problems are she crosses back and forth sides of the path a LOT, usually behind me so I have to hand my leash over to the other hand behind my back or spin in a circle (if that makes sense). And now all of a sudden she has become DEEPLY into sniffing everything, and will go "deaf" when she is sniffing something really good (although I do have some success with calling her name to get her attention, giving her the "move it" cue, or just a general "come on, let's go" type of chatter). So combined, our walks are a bit too … without rules, if that makes sense. Should I pick one side she should always stay on and try to train her to stay on that side? Is that fair when there are great smells on either side? If I pick a side, which side?? Should I put some of her walking on a cue and some not… Should I let her sniff stuff? Should I have some sort of cut off cue? I know it all depends on what I want out of our walks… I'm just hoping for ideas if anyone else has a walk that isn't a cued heel all the time but isn't a crossing sides, sniffing EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD type walk. I have one lesson left with a private trainer, so I'm thinking I'll try to decide what type of walk I want to have and then email her to set up the session so she can help me figure out how to train it. She does have a cue for "wrong way" which I use to make her untangle herself from posts so I don't have to do it, if she tries to go around the post. I sometimes can use this to get her to go around and in front of me if she crosses behind me (sometimes she gets confused and just wraps around me… ha). So I know she can learn how to do things on walks. Thanks for any suggestions!
Re: Maisie's walks… Whenever I do lead walks I always keep Harley on my inside, away from the road. She is sometimes on my right, sometimes on my left depending where the road is. I taught a 'this side' with a tap of my leg as to where I want her. Works well for us, she can still sniff, but safely
Re: Maisie's walks… As I frequently walk on Country Roads with no pavement I have trained Molly to walk on my right. This means we walk facing on coming traffic and she can get on the verge if necessary. It also means that I am between her and any traffic so she cannot dance out into the traffic if startled. She is always on the lead when we are on the road. Cars are infrequent, but it only takes one to have an accident. When I am walking in the town I walk her on my right. The downside is that she is close to the shops ( she finds the butchers particularly interesting) but keeps her out of other pedestrians way. We use the same side for both lead work and heel work. Less confusing for the dog.
Re: Maisie's walks… I do think it's important to be able to do a completely loose lead walk, but also have a cue that is "heel" which means head up, and walk to heel (on the left or right or both - Charlie will heel on either side of me). On a loose lead, Charlie has learned that a mad dash between sides has the same effect as a pull. We stop. He does cross sides, behind me, and in a calm manner so it's not a mad dance. He also won't cross sides if I don't move the lead - so if he goes to switch sides but that puts any tension on the lead, he reverses and continues to stay on the original side. It's trained in exactly the same way as no pulling. Any tension doesn't get him anywhere. So it ended up fine, with a dog that calmly and sensibly switches sides.
Re: Maisie's walks… We had a relatively good walk this morning and I think I figured out what we should be doing. First - walking her on the inside is exactly what I should be doing. We don't always want to be on the right side of the road due to destination, avoiding certain dogs or people, or just convenience. So the inside side is the way we will go. I did that today simply by giving my check in/heel position reward right by the side of whatever leg and starting a "switch" command by tapping that spot/side and treating for that. Given how well she picked up wrong way, I think she will easily learn to be on x side when asked is the way to get treats. Second, I need to develop some sort of cue to move her along when she's too interested in a smell. I'll start this at home and then start proofing it against distractions so it might be awhile until I can use it against strong smells. I had some success today with tapping my foot since she associates that with a treat being on the ground. I'll just manage this until I build up a cue. Third - I will teach a heel for safety and other management reasons... So we will start that in the house! I've also added a sit before crossing the road.., so our walks will now be more structured. No mad dashes back and forth and no changing the lead behind my back. Thanks for advice!
Re: Maisie's walks… The 'sit' at the kerb is a great idea. It was one of the first things I taught Molly, it is so deeply ingrained that I'd forgotten about it. I stop at the kerb, her bum goes down
Re: Maisie's walks… My two always sit whenever they're on lead and I stop. It's not something that I've taught them to do, but I'm more than happy for them to carry on with it
