traing Madison to walk on tradmill

[Lucy , Alex and Madison]

It has been below zero in Chicago Suburbs and my pup can only be outside about 5 minutes to do her numbers.

my husband found a treadmill training video and we tried it out today. Maddi is pretty nervous around new things so we used chicken to get her on it.

she sat down and laid down when it started moving.

hope we have better luck next time!  Any tips?

[Lucy , Alex and Madison]

We are remodeling our basement so treadmill training is on hold for now.  My friend's sister in Maryland walks with her dog on the same treadmill.  I can't imagine how they fit on it togather.

[Pat, Mary & Cooper]

Cooper goes on the treadmill as well, pretty much for the same reason , it's minus 30 these days!! At first he was on a leash and I was standing beside him and giving him the command " let's go" like I do on our walks.

I found that if the paste was too slow he would temp to be distracted by everything around so I tried going a bit faster (good walking pace) and he seemed more focused. Treats are always near by to keep him interested ...

Then I moved to the next step ,which is being in front of treadmill and still having him on the leash.  

And now I'm on the elliptical, my husband is on the bike and Cooper is on the treadmill by himself no leash , it's too funny to see the three of us working out!!

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

I'm not sure how to get them started, but once she gets the hang of the movement, it was helpful to stand in front of Eloise and hold her attention with a treat, so she was walking "towards" it.  I stood facing her at the front of the treadmill (leash draped over the control panel and in my hand so I always had "hold" of her).  I held a small treat a couple feet in front of her face, so she could see & smell it and it kept her attention, then I would treat her every 10-15 seconds or so at first, and worked up to every minute or so - encouraging her the whole time.  This worked for us because my not-always-brave girl was focused on the side of the treadmill (she knew that's how she jumped off), and I needed her to stay facing forward.  I made sure to not let her get to a point of being stressed or freaked out while she was learning, and keeping her attention focused on the treat really helped. 

I first put her on it at almost 9 weeks - just briefly to expose her to it and let her experience the movement.  So at that age, it almost seemed reflexive that she got the hang of the motion after a couple attempts.  As she got older, we worked on the training to stay on the treadmill, lol.  She really likes it now and walks on her own (no treats) - she'll stay on for 30 minutes or even more at a time. It's been a HUGE help whenever it's too cold like now, or in the scorching heat or rain.

I'm going to check out Jane's link below, bc I did not teach Beasley on it when she was a small puppy.  Now I have to figure out how to help her learn how to walk on it, too. :)  I hope Madison gets the hang of it! 

[Shoney & Ruby]

Interesting idea--let us know how it works.

Sorry about your weather, that is too cold for me!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Here's a discussion and our video on how we approached the training.  We had a trainer come to the house and work with us.   It's a life saver when it's too cold to really exercise Murph.  I hope it helps.  http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/trainingmindsets/forum/topics/tre...