i have had enough with bad walks and sore hands!!

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**liz**
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2010 6:55 am
Location: Gloucestershire, England

i have had enough with bad walks and sore hands!!

Post by **liz** »

Hi All,

I have has enough with my 7 month old lab pup Riley!! He will not walk nicely on his lead at all and he really hurts my hands when he pulls!!!!
I do not know what else i can do to stop him from pulling! i have tried 3 different head collars, 2 different non-pull harnesses, stoping dead still when he pulls until he lets the lead go slack, turing round, pulling him back, calling him back to my side, and he still pulls hard!!! it is always worse when i have the children but the problem is that if i cant take the children with us on a walk then i cant go out at all as my husband works and is often not it in!

I wondered if maybe having him neutered would make a difference to his excitement level?? maybe it would help?!
what else can i try to get him to walk nicely so we can all go out as a family??

please help me, i have had enough and my poor hands cant take anymore!! :(

liz
x
OHenry
Posts: 97
Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:35 pm

Re: i have had enough with bad walks and sore hands!!

Post by OHenry »

I have this problem to a certain extent too--Henry is learning to walk well when it's just with me, but with the kids it's a mess. Can you take everyone to the park and they play on the equipment while you walk him around the track? It is helping us a little.
emmabeth
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Re: i have had enough with bad walks and sore hands!!

Post by emmabeth »

You both need to use the loose leash walking method as set out in the Articles section - consistantly!

Take walk times down to 10 minutes per walk - because YOU cant concentrate on loose leash walkign longer than ten minutes, never mind the dog. Learning and focussing on something hard for 10 minutes is hard hard work, and if you try to do walks longer than this the chances are, you'll fail, feel bad, get frustrated. You forget, you let the dog go ahead, you miss the opportunities to train, he pulls, your hands hurt...... aarrrrrrrrgh!

So 10 minutes. By all means do MORE ten minute walks a day to make up the difference but keep those walks short, to the point, loose leash walking every time.

This WILL mean you are going to spend ten minutes twice, t hree times, four times, however many times, a day, going up and down the pavement by your house, up and down the yard, in and out of the front DOOR if he needs that. A walk STARTS on a loose leash with a dog not pulling, if hes tanking and pulling and not exercising self control, dont even put the leash on, dont even open the door!

You may need to do other training to burn off some his energy too - work on sessions that involve self control such as the 'its yer choice' video in the Articles section. Devise similar games about sitting nicely for lead on, door opening (ie, break the sit, lead is dropped you walk away for a count of ten and then re-ask and start over. Break the sit as the door is opened... or start barking... slam door shut, drop leash, ignore dog.... re-ask and go again.)

Make sure also when you are training a dog to walk on a loose leash that you are doing your about turn AS he steps ahead of you, NOT as he puts tension on the leash. He needs to be free to choose to walk beside you so he needs enough slack to make a mistake. Waiting until the leash is tight (or holding the leash so tight that theres no slack to start with) will NOT help, it teaches that dog that the consequence only comes when the leash is tight, thats not the lesson you want to learn. He has to learn 'i must walk here, keep the leash loose'.

In the first few sessions you will get dizzy about turning all the time, you will feel silly going for a walk but not GOING anywhere, but thats fine, it doesnt matter because once he HAS got it, you can increase the duration of your walks and get a little further, you can proof the behaviour in other places.

You can practice at home teaching a heell command OFF leash, indoors or in a secure yard, for little dogs its often easier to have them target a target stick (check out the clicker training thread), for big dogs have them target your hip with their nose. Start out by rewarding just ONE step in the right position, make it a good game... make it fun!
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
OHenry
Posts: 97
Joined: Mon Sep 06, 2010 6:35 pm

Re: i have had enough with bad walks and sore hands!!

Post by OHenry »

Thanks emmabeth, this is very helpful...not to highjack liz's thread, but just to clarify, I have been pretty much following the advice on LLW and it has been working pretty well. with the kids along it doesn't work out as well because they are excitable and like to issue lots of conflicting instructions, hard for the dog to stay focused, etc. They are better with playing in the backyard or working on simple commands.
emmabeth
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Re: i have had enough with bad walks and sore hands!!

Post by emmabeth »

Ahhhh ... yes you have to train the kids as well, either don't take them on walks with you or take one child at a time and make sure they are not giving conflicting instructions (or indeed any!).. Kids respond well to positive reinforcement too, its just a matter of finding out what they will work for (tip: pieces of cheese or kibble usually isnt it! :lol:)
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
jacksdad
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Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 10:48 pm

Re: i have had enough with bad walks and sore hands!!

Post by jacksdad »

emmabeth wrote:Ahhhh ... yes you have to train the kids as well, either don't take them on walks with you or take one child at a time and make sure they are not giving conflicting instructions (or indeed any!).. Kids respond well to positive reinforcement too, its just a matter of finding out what they will work for (tip: pieces of cheese or kibble usually isnt it! :lol:)
clearly you have never met my son, food works great for him :lol:
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Noobs
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Re: i have had enough with bad walks and sore hands!!

Post by Noobs »

One of my cousins was potty trained using M&Ms as the reward...
maximoo
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Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:07 am
Location: South Florida

Re: i have had enough with bad walks and sore hands!!

Post by maximoo »

I potty trained my son with m&ms :D :lol: Hey it worked for him :D Now my dghtr was a bit different-- her reward was a trip to the dollar store. Yes I've created a monster!
To OP: what kind of leash do you have? Those nylon leashes will give serious rope burn. Get a nice leather leash. It is soft on the hands and gets softer with time.
For now until kids can follow the rules do not walk pup with them. I agree to walk one kid at a time with pup until they can be less distractive to puppy.
It's hard & frustrating in the beginning (like learning to drive a stick shift) but with patience and consistancy your pup will walk properly.
GOOD LUCK!
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