Loose leash walking

[Zhucca]

Hey guys, if I missed a recent thread you can direct me to it. However I figured it would just be easier to start a new one.

Duke was pretty easy to teach loose leash walking to, the "be a tree" worked well. So that's pretty much the only way I know how to teach it.

So I have a 7 month old foster dog named Thelma. She pulls like a plow horse and she's only 35lbs, but since I have a bad knee it's killing me to walk her. We end up cutting them short since I just can't at the moment. If she were my own dog, I might use a prong just so she could have more exercise since I can't take her off leash. However the rescue doesn't allow correction collars, and I want to abide by their rules.

She is moderately food motivated. Suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Doberluv]

Halti Harness - No Pull Harness - Dog Training Supply

This will manage the dog, but not necessarily train him. You can work with him if you want to in the house...at first. In a smaller room with no distractions, you can work on getting his attention on you more when you ask. Have him walk with you in a smaller area, making turns a lot, going down the hall. Use truck loads of praise and teensy, pea sized chicken or steak tid bits or cheese...something super duper.....on a hungry tummy. Use a high rate of reinforcement for better responses. Do short 5 mintues practices off and on during the day. You can also look into clicker training which can be a big help. Then take it out in the yard...where there isn't too much going on, where it's not so novel but where there is a little more space than inside the house. This is what I'd recommend to get started with his loose lease walking training. If he thinks he's a freight train, it's really hard to train out in the midst of the big, interesting world. When on a real walk, use the harness to stop the pulling.

Make sure he's getting some good romping and off leash rip roaring...if there's a safe, fenced area for that. Get some of that pent up energy out before trying to teach him anything.

 

[Zhucca]

Oh, Durr. I never thought about a harness! That's exactly what I want right now - something to manage the behaviour in between training. I do use clicker so I'll definitely be putting that to use. Thanks for the input DoberLuv!

 

[Doberluv]

You're welcome. I hope you can get this under control soon...not fun to be yanked along, especially if you have painful joints. I never used one of these on any of my dogs, but I've heard great feed-back about them. It's worth a try to deter him from so much pulling. You could still reinforce him a lot for walking when he's walking along side you and not trying to charge ahead...when you're out in the big world. It could help along with the no pull harness. He might pick up on some of that education along with the home sessions.