long lead training

[MPbandmom]

I took each dog out to our favorite smaller quiet park today. It was so nice and quiet (and unoccupied) that I was able to let Sirius explore at the full length of her 8' double ended lead. (Since she tends to lung at people/things, I usually keep one end clipped to her harness and other end clipped to collar to keep her close to me and well under control.)

When I took Sky over there, I took along the 20' training lead. We started out with her on the 8' lead and then as she settled into walking more calmly, I switched to the 20' lead. She did really well. We didn't work on recall with the 20' lead as much as working on her walking nicely on it, remembering that there is a person at the other end. (We did do a little recall work when she managed to go around a few trees past the point of knowing how to go back around the tree.)

The idea is that when we go to the beach in the spring, she will be able to have a little more freedom to explore when walking on the beach. In the future I plan on working with her and a 100' lead in hopes that she will be able to play fetch while at the beach too.

I did observe one thing that could become an issue with my scootering project. The turning style of loose leash training didn't work particularly well for me. The stop and stand training did. So, now she stops if she gets to the point of pressure/end of the leash. Teaching her to pull the scooter could pose a bit of confusion for her initially. She is very bright though, so I'm sure she will figure it out and know the difference between walking nicely and pulling the scooter.

[wvvdiup1]

MPBandMom, did you check out this thread, viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10218&p=70433&hilit ... ing#p70433?

[Mattie]

I did observe one thing that could become an issue with my scootering project. The turning style of loose leash training didn't work particularly well for me. The stop and stand training did. So, now she stops if she gets to the point of pressure/end of the leash. Teaching her to pull the scooter could pose a bit of confusion for her initially. She is very bright though, so I'm sure she will figure it out and know the difference between walking nicely and pulling the scooter.

When you stop and stand you do this when your dog is pulling, when you turn you don't wait until your dog is at the end of the lead and pulling, you turn as soon as your dog goes in front of you. Your dog needs to be able to walk close to you on a loose lead, there are times when this is necessary, when you stop and stand you are not teaching your dog to walk next to you.

Sometimes we have to nit pick to train our dogs to do what we want of them, I do let my dogs walk in front but they also need to be able to walk next to me especially is we are walking along a busy road.

[MPbandmom]

I understand the concept and reasoning of the turning. I understand why it is better than the stopping and standing in place. I just so far haven't been able to implement it in the way it is intended to work. I think this is probably partially due to my own lack of consistancy, but it is also partially due to Sky's ability to take whatever I am trying to do with her and turning it into what she wants to do with herself.

I have managed to get her from a dog that would walk to the end of whatever length lead she was on and continue pulling like crazy, seemingly oblivious to the choking and weight she was dragging around, to a dog that seems to prefer to not choke and pull. She now recognizes that I exist and will check in with me and make eye contact. Although many times when she checks in and makes eye contact, it is obvious that her mind is working along the lines of "come on lets go faster!" as the check in is often followed by a surge forward on her part. (This is why I am working on the scootering project. She is such a sweetheart, and has such a bright perky personality, I feel like I need to address her need for a little more speed out of me.)

We are both definately still works in progress, but the training advice I have received here has been invaluable in getting her to this point. After a year of pretty intensive focused short and gradually lengthening training walks, I was pretty happy that when I put her on the long lead, she didn't take off at full speed and jerk me off of my feet. (My main concern with giving her more leeway to roam, as she can be selective in her recall.) She will recall when it is important, but quickly looses interest in recall training. (I get 3 recalls and then she has played that game enough to suit her tastes and she is on to other more fun things. )

She will walk at heel, for some reason she does this better on my right than on my left, but I'll take it. I took her on a group walk recently where I am pretty sure she got overwhelmed by a couple of large huskys/malamutes that were there that she had not met before. For the first time ever, I had her literally plastered to my right leg for a portion of the walk. I think we will stick to walking with dogs that I know she is comfortable with in the future.

[Mattie]

She could also not be balanced when walking at your speed, this is often the reason why so many dogs pull, they are using the person on the other end of the lead to balance themselves. I used to know someone who taught dogs to walk on a loose lead by running with their dog, she kept at her dog's pace so didn't have a problem with her dog pulling, unfortunately most owners can't run like that

[Fundog]

MPbandmom, there is another thread about extending leads, which sort of morphed into a discussion about long lines. I had posted about my own recent "adventure" with practicing recall with Dottie on a long (50') lead. I got some really helpful advice about how to improve techniques, and make the experience better. What I was doing is just a bit different from what you are trying to accomplish, but you may be able to glean some ideas from the advice I was given anyway. Go have a read, starting on page 2: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9747&start=15

[easilyconfused]

it is easier to teach a dog to pull a load wth a different style harness, so the dog acociates one harness as no pulling, one harness as pull away. It saves confusing them as to why the rules keep changing,

[MPbandmom]

Mattie, I have long thought that if I were a jogger, Sky would walk on loose lead beautifully and quite naturally. But I am not a jogger, I am no where near being a jogger, so she has had to learn to put up with my slowness on walks. Since she has adapted her needs to suit my speed, I feel I need to adapt my speed to her needs. But as I am not a jogger and will not become a jogger, I have turned to the scooter as a possible solution.

Thanks Fundog! I have actually been following the retractable lead discussion and semi considered joining in on the conversation a few times. I fully believe that the reason Sky was such a determined puller was that she was intitally walked on a 20' retractable lead.

Thanks easilyconfused, I am waiting for the pulling harness to arrive to really delve into the scootering project. I am fairly certain that Sky is bright enough that she will be able to quickly learn the difference between scootering and walking on lead. After yesterday, I'm thinking it may take her a little while to realize that the scootering is a scenario where pulling is okay and even encouraged.

I took the dogs back to the park today and came up with the idea to add some commands in with my work with Sky and the long line. Initially I thought "woah" as she approaches the limit of the lead since she will need to know "woah" for the scootering. I quickly realized that I wasn't making her stop walking, so "woah" was inappropriate. My goal was to get her to slow down. I then changed the command to slow. We later ended up behind another dog walker that we were catching up to, and the thought occured to me to add the "turn around" command. This worked quite well as I was able to have her turn before reaching the end of the lead and she would come running back towards and past me and then I could have her turn around again before reaching the end of the lead and then the next time issue the slow command as she neared the end point.

[Mattie]

Mattie, I have long thought that if I were a jogger, Sky would walk on loose lead beautifully and quite naturally. But I am not a jogger, I am no where near being a jogger, so she has had to learn to put up with my slowness on walks. Since she has adapted her needs to suit my speed, I feel I need to adapt my speed to her needs. But as I am not a jogger and will not become a jogger, I have turned to the scooter as a possible solution.

I never suggested you jog, for some reason I can't reply to you without you misunderstanding what I am saying so I will bow out. Your dog may need to learn to balance at your pace and until she learns to balance she can't walk at your pace.

[MPbandmom]

Mattie, I guess I should have put some smilies in that comment. Sky does seem to be able to walk at my speed, it just isn't the speed she prefers. I realized fairly quickly when I started walking her that she would be happiest with a jogging partner. Which I know I am not. Sometimes she is quite content to walk at my speed, but most of the time, she would rather run and play, and she now obviously invites me to join in what she considers "the fun."

I guess my main malfunction is trying to find the balance between helping her to have fun, and training her to do the things that she should be able to do as a well behaved dog. I think I always feel kind of guilty that she got stuck with me when her original owner was military physically fit and perfectly capable of jogging with her, but chose not to.

I didn't take it that you were suggesting that I jog with her. (I actually kind of took it that you were pointing out that jogging with the dog avoids the need to train the dog. )

Sorry for sounding grumpy, I was actually smiling inside.

[horza]

i have had a look at the scootering since i saw someone mention it on here (can't remember if it was you or not), as i think my dog would really enjoy running with me, but i found that the scooters were really expensive. then when just browsing through the clickertraining.com website i found a article called "mushing with your dog" it is basically connecting the dog to the bike and letting them pull you along it also has great small steps to follow so that the dog can enjoy the experience, btw my dog can run with a bike but off lead i thought that doing this would tire her out and give her another job to do.

have a look at the article if you find the scooting an expensive option, but you do need to have a good bike for this to work.