Post by Aussienot on Jul 9, 2009 18:53:25 GMT -5
Sorry that I overlooked this post. You've raised quite a few issues, and I'll try to tackle a couple of them.
Here's how I teach loose lead walking. The set up: Leash in your right hand. Hand through the loop so you are holding the leash securely. A handful of treats in your left hand.
Start walking. Treat your dog with the left hand whenever she is close to you. She doesn't need to strictly heel, but she should be walking close on the left with no tightness in the leash.
As she gets better and better about staying close, you will increase the time between treats, you will reduce the frequency of treats, and eventually you will fade out the treats altogether. But in the learning stage, treat much and treat often.
Whenever Jetta goes to the end of the lead, give your cue word - I use Easy, but you can use Stop, or Halt or Whoa, or whatever term comes naturally. This cue word means return to my side.Then immediately give a pop correction, about turn and walk the other direction. It's important to act before she actually pulls the leash tight, so you need to have the timing right.
When Jetta catches up to you, praise and treat. You want to teach her that she needs to keep the leash loose. She doesn't need to maintain a good heel, and she can look around and quickly sniff, but she can't pull on the lead.
She gets two clues to change her behavior before she gets a correction: one, the leash begins to tighten. Two, you give a cue word 'Easy' that warns her a correction is pending. And when she does the correct behavior and returns to your side, she gets rewarded for doing the right thing.
As she gets the idea, you can make a game of it, running away after the pop and playing the 'ha-ha lost the dog' game when she catches up.
The hardest part is to do it consistently. This must become the new style of walking. Which means you may not get as far in your walks at first, and it may take you many tries to get from the house to the gate or from the car to the park. But be consistent in following these rules, and you can have a dog that walks nicely on the lead for a lifetime.
And while you are training the loose lead walking, you will need a avoid distractions. So if you do encounter a cat, a bike, another dog, you may need to help her maintain control by turning around and walking the other direction. Pair this with the leave it command.
You are right that you need to teach Leave it separately before you start incorporating it into walks. I teach leave it by offering a low value treat or toy and walking the dog towards it. As soon as the dog shows interest in the item, I say Leave , and offer a better treat or toy. At first I use the better item to lure the dog away from the thing, but once the dog learns what Leave means, I use the better item as a reward for ignoring the Leave item.
There's only one truth about dog training: Use whatever works.
Find a method that gets results with your dog, and that you feel good about. If you don't get the results you want, ask for help, filter the response you get and think about why your dog is having a problem.
There are a lot of zealots on the net who feel that they know the 'one true way' and are passionate about inflicting their view on everyone else. Criticizing what you are doing is easy. A trainer who has a depth of knowledge will be able to tell you what do to, whey to do it, and explain why it will work better than what you are doing. The response you got doesn't say anything about you, but it reflects heaps about the other poster.
I think from your post that you want to take Jetta to a dog park to play with other dogs? And you are concerned about her social behaviors? That's a really big couple of topics.
With an adult dog, it's impossible to 'socialise' her to play nicely with strange dogs. You might be able to let her play with one or two known dogs who are well socialised, but not with strange dogs.
You can socialise a puppy to other puppies, but when a dog reaches adulthood without socialisation from puppyhood, the best you can do is neutralise her to the presence of other dogs.
Neutralising doesn't mean playing nicely, it means not caring that other dogs are around.
Let me know if you want to talk about this topic more.
Here's how I teach loose lead walking. The set up: Leash in your right hand. Hand through the loop so you are holding the leash securely. A handful of treats in your left hand.
Start walking. Treat your dog with the left hand whenever she is close to you. She doesn't need to strictly heel, but she should be walking close on the left with no tightness in the leash.
As she gets better and better about staying close, you will increase the time between treats, you will reduce the frequency of treats, and eventually you will fade out the treats altogether. But in the learning stage, treat much and treat often.
Whenever Jetta goes to the end of the lead, give your cue word - I use Easy, but you can use Stop, or Halt or Whoa, or whatever term comes naturally. This cue word means return to my side.Then immediately give a pop correction, about turn and walk the other direction. It's important to act before she actually pulls the leash tight, so you need to have the timing right.
When Jetta catches up to you, praise and treat. You want to teach her that she needs to keep the leash loose. She doesn't need to maintain a good heel, and she can look around and quickly sniff, but she can't pull on the lead.
She gets two clues to change her behavior before she gets a correction: one, the leash begins to tighten. Two, you give a cue word 'Easy' that warns her a correction is pending. And when she does the correct behavior and returns to your side, she gets rewarded for doing the right thing.
As she gets the idea, you can make a game of it, running away after the pop and playing the 'ha-ha lost the dog' game when she catches up.
The hardest part is to do it consistently. This must become the new style of walking. Which means you may not get as far in your walks at first, and it may take you many tries to get from the house to the gate or from the car to the park. But be consistent in following these rules, and you can have a dog that walks nicely on the lead for a lifetime.
And while you are training the loose lead walking, you will need a avoid distractions. So if you do encounter a cat, a bike, another dog, you may need to help her maintain control by turning around and walking the other direction. Pair this with the leave it command.
You are right that you need to teach Leave it separately before you start incorporating it into walks. I teach leave it by offering a low value treat or toy and walking the dog towards it. As soon as the dog shows interest in the item, I say Leave , and offer a better treat or toy. At first I use the better item to lure the dog away from the thing, but once the dog learns what Leave means, I use the better item as a reward for ignoring the Leave item.
There's only one truth about dog training: Use whatever works.
Find a method that gets results with your dog, and that you feel good about. If you don't get the results you want, ask for help, filter the response you get and think about why your dog is having a problem.
There are a lot of zealots on the net who feel that they know the 'one true way' and are passionate about inflicting their view on everyone else. Criticizing what you are doing is easy. A trainer who has a depth of knowledge will be able to tell you what do to, whey to do it, and explain why it will work better than what you are doing. The response you got doesn't say anything about you, but it reflects heaps about the other poster.
I think from your post that you want to take Jetta to a dog park to play with other dogs? And you are concerned about her social behaviors? That's a really big couple of topics.
With an adult dog, it's impossible to 'socialise' her to play nicely with strange dogs. You might be able to let her play with one or two known dogs who are well socialised, but not with strange dogs.
You can socialise a puppy to other puppies, but when a dog reaches adulthood without socialisation from puppyhood, the best you can do is neutralise her to the presence of other dogs.
Neutralising doesn't mean playing nicely, it means not caring that other dogs are around.
Let me know if you want to talk about this topic more.