Yes, agreed @Joy, very good video, thanks for posting. I think it's just the thing to tweak Cassie's loose lead walking which needs improvement.
My Oliver is 11 weeks old and is doing really well walking on the leash. we put him on leash each time we take to potty and i walk him down the road a bit in the mornings.
I have been doing the click and treat for J shape in the leash and following me for a few days now, with good effect. So do I now start doing that for walking along side me with the lead in a J shape? Cass isn't a ferocious puller, but her "polite walking" definitely needed improvement. @Joy, or anyone?
Part three of the series shows the progression to walking alongside. With Whiskey, a dog I walk, I haven’t been so methodical, but have achieved a nice loose lead walk on pavements by continuing to be unpredictable (about turns, 360 degree turns randomly, not waiting for him to pull.) Another person I’m helping with training , I’ve encouraged her to walk in spirals -so forward, about turn, back a few steps, forward a bit more, repeat, with the number of steps forward before a turn kept very random. It’s working really well with a very excitable dog and I think is better than turning when the dog pulls.
Thanks @Joy, that's really helpful, she's getting the idea really quickly, I noticed tonight that she is already stopping herself from going on ahead.
Thank you, I need this right now, I have a 10 month old male black lab, who just wants to pull me to his next tree or marking spot. I find the walk home a lot better, I'm trying him on a Halti collar once a day too which seems to help although he keeps trying to pull it off. Also, as you are the administrator, I notice that I put my age and DOB etc, not the dog's! So how can I change it?
If you want your DOB to be changed, just drop me a personal message and I'll change it for you. But you can also just hide it from view by clicking on your name at the top right of the page, choosing "Personal Details" and unticking the "show day and month of birth" and "show year of birth" boxes The date isn't used anywhere within our system as we don't have any restricted age content, so it's just about whether you want to display it to the forum users or not. For your dog's information, most people add it to their signature, like I have done below my posts. You can update this by clicking on your name and choosing "Signature".
Well I see this is a slightly popular post I've been practicing with Sophie in our driveway and in the fields at work, (as advised on another good training article), without a lead and I'm pleased to say she got it pretty darn quick. In my simplistic mind I thought she would automatically be great on a lead. Our first attempt this evening proved the opposite and she totally ignored all previous commands/instruction and even with sausage treats, she would not walk to heel. Later in the walk in a very quiet street, I took the gamble and took the lead off. She immediately stayed to heel and we walked for possibly 500 yards like this and then when nearing a busy road again, I put the lead back on and she was much improved. I truly believe it's down to me to practice more and it's not her fault, (as they say; no such thing as a bad dog, just bad owner. Or should that be an owner that does not put in the time)
Michi is 5 y.o. and more recently, he learned to walk more relaxed. He feels more comfortable without a leash, he is more manageable We tried dog hulti but it wasn`t great... Our salvage was a harness,in it he doesn`t pull
Wow he looks just like my labrador Lucius. We also tried a halti with him and it partially helped with lead training. He now doesn't drag me everywhere but does walk ahead at the end of the lead but doesn't pull. If we go somewhere new the rules go out the window, he drags me everywhere new. He's on a collar and leash at the moment but in public he is on the headcolla to give me more control.
One of Pippa's posts stated that the only real solution for pulling is to teach your dog to heel. I wanted it not to be true, but a few months back I decided that loose leash with a hyper 1 year old lab was never going to be good enough when walking past other dogs/cats etcetera. Now, if my lab is on leash, he's always by my side, and this has solved the lunging problem. However, I usually walk him off-leash, and then he's free to roam.
How do you get the puppy to even walk, let alone pull. We put the leash on Cooper and start to say lets walk Cooper and he flops on to the floor on his back. He just refuses to walk on the leash. You take it off and he's fine, but the minute you put that leash on his collar and he flops onto the floor and on his back so you can't make him walk.
Lure him with high value treats so he takes his focus off of the leash and on your hand/treats. Does your puppy have a high food motivation? It should be easier to lure him if he does. Slowly, he should get used to the leash and you won't have to keep your hand/food in front of his face while walking forward. I'm assuming your puppy is pretty young if he is refusing to walk on the leash. Do training in short intervals, as young puppies don't have high attention spans. It's weird sometimes. You will think your puppy is not getting it after finishing one session, and then the very next session, he will do what you want him to do.
Yeah.. he loves treats.. I have treat trained him to sit, come and leave it so far but haven't had luck with leash training. He is about 4 1/2 months old. I'll try what you suggested. Thanks!
Still trying the luring thing with treats.. He just doesn't like the leash. He's used to being able to run in the yard, so its like he hates being restricted. Its just so crazy to see him literally flop on his back and grab the leash when you try to start walking with him. I saw a training video that says put the leash on and just let him walk around with it on him.. without me holding it. I'm going to try that tonight. Maybe I'm just not being patient enough too. With his other training he gets it Very quickly so maybe I'm just expecting too much too soon because he's done so well with the command training. I'm gonna keep trying!
So strange... that idea may work. Try that and then distracting him with high value treats. Maybe others can chime in with more advice
Thank you @Bud Light/Dilly Dilly re @Chrishawn Green problem. An unusual problem. I have some questions. What is the lead being attached to? Did you attach a house line when the puppy was much younger? How did you socialise the puppy, if he won't go anywhere on a lead? Maybe try one or all of the following: 1. Carry pup to a grassy area with lots of scents. After very light rain would be ideal. Put the puppy down with a long line attached. Carry most of the line in hand so not much weight needs to be carried by the pup. Let the puppy explore in any direction trailing part of the long line. One is using the environment to distract the puppy from being aware that a lead is attached. Or 2. One thing we do with transitioning from long line to off lead is cutting the lead progressively down in length. Reverse the procedure. Start with houseline and then gradually attach thicker and thicker leads. I would imagine one would need to buy heavier and heavier ropes, tying rope to a clip. Or 3. Put light lead on and roll ball away from the puppy. Or 4. Take the puppy in the car to a new area. Put lead on dog. Put her down on the footpath, holding the lead, and whether curiosity happens. Let us know what happens.
Make sure you are keeping the leash slack and loose. If you pull the dog using the leash, you will encourage what's known as the 'opposition reflex' to kick in - they will just pull back the other way. The leash is not a means to control the dog unless it's an emergency dash for something the dog is trying to get - from moment to moment, the leash is just an insurance policy, it doesn't or shouldn't go tight or get used for any purpose. Think about someone rock-climbing. They have ropes securing them incase they fall. But the ropes are just an insurance policy, they are using their climbing skills to get up the cliff. Use your training skills, not your physical equipment.
