Hi, I need a bit of assistance as I am struggling on how to deal with this one. We have been doing a lot of LAT training while out walking both off and on leash. On leash we have now got it down to about 1.5m where another dog is involved that we see coming. She will offer a 'Sit', tail wagging, but looking at me to get a treat. So that is working well. There are times where she will ignore dogs on the walk, so it does come down to breed and mood. The problem I have is if she is desperate to say hello, due to the other dog pulling over but then they walk a different way while the dogs are pulling, once passed and we carry on walking she literally pulls in the direction that the dog was when she sat down (not where it has walked too since) and sniffs like crazy. This has happened a couple of times and so far both times it has taken me by surprise and just yanked my arm and me to follow. I don't pull back, but it hurts and I then have to quickly apply breaks on my feet once I find my footing again. she will then eventually turn round to see what the hold up is, and a C&T is applied. Anyone come across this one or any ideas on how to deal with this one? I know I could lure her away with a treat, but there are only so many different treats a person can carry before they start to smell like a 'walking treat shop' and have all the dogs queuing... thanks as always...
There's a good game I play when there's a sniff the dog is eager to get to. I get to a distance they can cope with and I work on C&T for focus, tossing the treat onto the ground, so the dog has to reorient to me to get the next C&T. I start tossing the treat ever so slightly in the direction of the smell, so the dog is learning to reorient to me, despite the distraction. You can gradually toss the treat closer and closer to the smell, but don't push it - you need to, at some point, use that smell as a reward, too, so the dog reorients to you and you release her with "go sniff". Using the thing she wants as a reward for ignoring it is a very powerful tool indeed. With practice over time, you should start to see Vanilla start "asking for permission" to sniff something, but looking towards it and looking back at you. You have to be pretty on the ball to pick up this body language and make sure she gets given permission to "go sniff" often enough, or you'll lose the behaviour.
Thanks for that. Never thought about that but makes sense. I was concerned it would confuse her (most probably more me though). We do that seperatly as I have been reading CU and the C&T for sniffing dogs and what to do. So will start to apply that to the LAT.
