Loose leash walking..what worked for you?
- Thread starter Fran101
- Start date
I hate leash pulling, so when I got Quinn I worked really hard on it from puppy hood (lots of direction changes, reward for following, bee a tree or change direction when she reached the end of the lead etc) and still had a dog that walked with a little bit of tension.
Now if I want her to walk well I just walk her on her prong.
Once I started treating it like an exercise in training for abstinence instead of action it changed her behaviour.
She still tends to pull a bit on a flat collar but thats because I've never worked on transferring it over and sometimes (restrained recalls/tracking) I want her to pull into it.
Now if I want her to walk well I just walk her on her prong.
Once I started treating it like an exercise in training for abstinence instead of action it changed her behaviour.
She still tends to pull a bit on a flat collar but thats because I've never worked on transferring it over and sometimes (restrained recalls/tracking) I want her to pull into it.
I worked really hard on Kris, my Dobe, for walking on a loose leash and as long as she was in heel, she was fine. Just wanting to go for a walk and not heeling the whole time, she was bad. Finally at 14 months of age, I switched to a prong. After using it for about six weeks and switching back and forth to the flat collar, she now will walk on a loose leash with just the flat collar. She is really good at heeling but when I want her to just walk on a loose leash, I let her go in front of me as long as she does not tighten the leash and she is really good. Sure helped when I had to walk back down my icy driveway to close my gate.
I don't really go for leash walks, my walks are usually off lead as there are lots of places I can go where there is no traffic and very few people or dogs but still wanted her to not tow me along when I did have to have her on leash.
I don't really go for leash walks, my walks are usually off lead as there are lots of places I can go where there is no traffic and very few people or dogs but still wanted her to not tow me along when I did have to have her on leash.
I'm going to ask you a question that I ask most of my clients: What do YOU want from your dog? Not what you've heard people say you should do, not what you think the world expects, but what do you want?
I know a LOT of folks who want their dog to walk in heel as a default solely because that's what they've been told you're supposed to do. Same with dogs walking on a totally slack leash. When asked what they personally want, the picture is wholly different.
For my crew, they are allowed to walk on a lightly taught leash ahead of me because it's what I am happy with (I can see what they are doing and am not getting pulled, but the leash isn't getting tangled either). If I need them in heel, they are cued to heel, and do. When we were teaching casual walking, we used penalty yards as described prior by several people and no pull harnesses as needed.
I know a LOT of folks who want their dog to walk in heel as a default solely because that's what they've been told you're supposed to do. Same with dogs walking on a totally slack leash. When asked what they personally want, the picture is wholly different.
For my crew, they are allowed to walk on a lightly taught leash ahead of me because it's what I am happy with (I can see what they are doing and am not getting pulled, but the leash isn't getting tangled either). If I need them in heel, they are cued to heel, and do. When we were teaching casual walking, we used penalty yards as described prior by several people and no pull harnesses as needed.
I used an easy walk harness and the "penalty yards" method (backing up when he pulls). The easy walk keeps him from fighting me when I implement the penalty yards because it forces him to turn and face me as I walk backwards. It worked very well for him. Sometimes he'll still be over excited at the start of the walk but a few reminders and he's back on track. I also reward him anytime he walks in a formal heel as he spontaneously does it on walks (making full eye contact and everything...it's a remnant from working on his reactivity) and it seems like a good behavior to strengthen. I find if he's being a bit out of control with the pulling he'll come completely around as soon as he does his first heel. He'll spontaneously heel (or see me touch my pocket and remember I have treats, then heel), get rewarded, and then won't pull again for the rest of the walk (even though he's no longer heeling). I think he just looses his head a little and forgets I'm here.