With Sampson sidle-lined with an ACL injury, I’ve had to make modifications to our exercise routines.
What this means is Sampson’s walks are short and slow, (his walks should only be 5 to 6 minutes, twice a day), while Delilah’s walks are longer and usually faster (hers generally total between 50 minutes to an hour and a half per day), and I’m walking about twice as much as I usually walk.
Sunday I walked almost 5 miles. One would think with this type of increase in exercise that I’d lose some weight, but so far, that isn’t happening.
Sorry, I digress.
Since I’ve got some great one-on-one time with Delilah, I figure it’s a great time to work with her on some of our walking skills.
I decided to focus on loose-leash walking. Truthfully, Delilah walks pretty well on leash, when she’s BY HERSELF. When you add Sampson to the mix, they turn into instant, competitive assholes.
Honestly, it doesn’t bother me in the least if my dogs are in front, beside or behind me on our walks, as long as the leash is loose.
Like I said, one-on-one Delilah’s pretty good, but there are times when she can dig her heels in and work on stretching out my arm.
And let me tell you, that fuckin’ hurts.
She’s right on the verge of pulling me at this point. This is NOT my idea of a loose leash.
I’ve been practicing turning around with her when my arm gets stretched out in front of me. I’m not sure I’m doing it right, but I turn and walk the other way and once she’s following me, I turn around again.
Most times this works. At least for a little while until something else grabs her attention.
Sometimes there is just too many exciting smells for her. Sunday we went up into the woods and she stuck her nose down into the snow and off she went. Walking in snow can be challenging and it’s even more so when you are being dragged by 72 pounds of determined Lab.
I turned around and we had a standoff. She was facing one way, while I was facing the other. We stayed like that until she finally caved and headed back my way. We walked a few steps and then I turned back around and tried to resume our walk.
The smells were just too much for her. She started tugging again, I turned around, again. We did this for five or six times and she just wasn’t getting it, so I took her out of the woods and we walked the neighborhood.
Now that’s what I call loose leash walking!
Like I said, I don’t mind if she’s in front of me, as long as she’s not trying to make one arm longer than the other.
Any ideas on how to work her when the smells are just too exciting?
Oh leash walking, the bane of my existence. Snow is definitely challenging because all the smells are frozen to the ground so it’s even more distracting. I also have trouble in October when the squirrels are going crazy. What I do is take higher value treats and up my rate of reinforcement. Try looking up 300 peck, I just started doing my dogs with leash walking. I also try to reward for them being in position, so I reward them right at my leg, the closer to me the better. Sometimes when they are really distracted I will just stand there and wait for them to give me some sort of attention. It takes a lot of patients to do that, though. You could also try training an attention noise.
I’ve tried just standing there and waiting and this dog can be super stubborn!!
What I had started doing (and then forgot!) was changing things up. I did it like this.
We start out walking, then I run for about 30 seconds (which is probably about all I can handle), then we walk some more, then I walk backwards for a bit (this made her jump) but it also helped keep her focus on me and what kind of fun things I was going to do next.
Most of the time my dogs walk sooooo slooowwwwlllyyyyy that I wish they would pull me. Mine are sniffers and unless they see the source of that smell dart out in front of them, they stand in one place taking it all in. A recent fox (even out of sight) is my dream come true on a walk. I actually get some exercise! I’ve got the opposite problem from you so, sorry, no training tips!
We aren’t into proper walking around here either. Bailie is our current puller, but she is getting better. Mom hates the turn around method, but it is effective, so she does use it sometimes even though it drives her crazy going nowhere! Good luck, but on the bright side, with one dog it is easier to work on things.
Cocoa is really good when we are running but when we are walking she is harder to control. The trail has so many smells and animals that it is much harder to keep her leash loose. She is really good until someone or something walks by and then its craziness!!
I’ll offer my two cents although I may have chimed in about this before…
First of all, I use a hands free leash system (it’s just a carabiner attached to my jeans belt loop). I can NOT handle being yanked around. I have shoulder, neck, and wrist issues and although B is really good on the leash most of the time, when she smells something exciting, I can almost always expect her to start pulling. That’s when I have to put on my patience pants. Usually, in a calm voice I will tell her to relax and I will slow my pace. If that doesn’t work, I stop and if necessary, I will start going in the opposite direction just a few paces and if I can tell she is still a little too interested in that smell, I will start dropping treats around me and tell her to “find it”. Usually this will redirect her focus and we can start walking forward again.
I also know that I tend to walk slowly most of the time, so I will at least try to pick up my pace a little so the leash remains somewhat loose – but when the pulling still continues and my little stubby legs can not go any faster unless I run, that’s when I use the stop, turn, and redirect approach. It’s been working pretty well so far. B catches on quickly as long as I stay consistent.
You might have talked me into a hands free. MIGHT.
When you turn around do you turn into her? If not that would be my suggestion, when she starts pulling turn into her quickly and keep doing this until she pays attention to you. You might get dizzy but it does work. Hope it makes sense, hard to describe…easier to demonstrate 😉 But I think you are on the right track because the objective is to throw them off so they don’t know what way you are going and they are forced to pay attention to you.
As for the smells the key really is just keep doing what your doing about keeping her focus on you and not everything else. Do you use “leave it”? That’s my command when I want them to leave something alone.
Bring treats, and work on “look at me” while you walk. 🙂
Sheba used to be my worst puller. But since I started bringing treats with me and training her to “heel” she’s been so much better. We’re not technical about heeling either, it just gets her to my side and she’ll stay there as long as she knows treats are close by. Now if I could just remember to bring treats every time! 🙂
I do lots of reinforcement with treats and some verbal commands–if there’s an area she keeps pulling towards, I’ll tell her to watch and give her treats as long as she’s staying right beside me with her loose leash–and sometimes toss treats ahead of us and tell Barley to find it so that I can redirect her attention. Usually, as soon as she goes stiff and starts stretching out her neck to sniff or her ears perk up, I call her name and as soon as she looks at me, she gets something delicious 🙂
I am incredibly anal about loose leash walking. That said though, Nola was a demon to teach it do. She LOVES to pull. After trying various methods like turning around and “be a tree” that just didn’t fuckin’ work, I did something a little off the wall. I taught a formal heel (in the house and yard first, to get it well established), and then one walks I’d cue her to heel. Just for a few seconds, and then I’d release her to pull. Since pulling was more reinforcing than anything I could do, I figured it couldn’t hurt to try that premack principle. It worked! I just slowly increased the heeling and slack leash duration, and now she only pulls when she’s released to do so.
She’s got a good nose on her that girl. Have a great night.
Ducky pulls on the leash, too; and believe me, for a 25-lb. dog, she is s t r o n g! During the day I usually just let her run around the yard and work off that turbocharged energy; but at night, I have to leash her up so I know where she is. Luckily, by bedtime she’s too tired to do much more than pee. When she does pull, though, I just stop dead in my tracks and refuse to budge until she stops.
dogs love to be outside, and the walk is a stimulating and exciting part of their day, so the desire to push ahead is very strong! Loads of Love to Sampson and Delilah.
These guys are the same. Together they walk like jerks. Alone they’re pretty good. Except, with Cooper, when we see other dogs. My solution? A can of spray cheese! Gross but it works. He picks walking nicely with me over sniping at other dogs whenever I have that can!
I would say that she does not know what position she is supposed to be in with respect to your position because you let her be in many positions. She probably has little idea that your rules are a “loose leash”. She just knows that sometimes she is allowed in places she wants to be and other times she is not. My advice would be to pick a position, and train her to that position. I require heel at my side because a strong dog at the end of the lead can pull me over. You may allow her to be more in front, but it is your job to teach her where that spot is, and then hold her to it. It is her job to stay in that spot by paying attention to you. The position should be enforced no matter the smells. Hope this makes sense.
Lol, I can relate to that and I feel the same way. Haley doesn’t have to be beside or behind me, as long as she’s not pulling me down the street. I hope Sampson’s ACL heals very soon!
I have 2 terrible pullers. And of coures they insist on pulling in separate directions. 🙃 It helps tremendously to have treats with me. At random times I will call them back to me and do an occasional command like sit or high five. The worst is when They see another dog and want to pull me across to street and act like maniacs. So make sure the treat is a good one. I also have been trying using the wait command. When I say wait, hey turn to me and get a treat. I make them wait at each stop sign or street crossing. It helps a lot.
The trainer told me turn-arounds are good for behavior you’re trying to change. Best to be patient and keep at it. As you’re turning, yell “loose beans” or whatever that phrase was that you yelled. Maybe that will snap her out of the smell thing? Hope springs eternal, right? 😉