loose leash in the real world

[Stacy]

Maggie is doing incredibly, so this isn’t a complaint, but I’m just looking for a few training suggestions.

Maggie seems to understand heel and she walks so nicely in class and when we go to the store. But it’s definitely more challenging when we go outside into the real world for a walk. There are all those great smells and distractions, and squirrels!

During class I just have her on a buckle collar, but when we go for walks I put her in a front attachment harness so she can’t hurt her neck when she loses her mind about a squirrel. She’s still able to pull fairly hard in the harness.

I notice that she gets much better after the first couple miles, but I struggle to get through those first couple miles! It’s no fun when she’s pulling on me. I’ve tried stopping when she pulls and we don’t move until she stops pulling. And she does stop, but then when we start walking again she starts pulling. I turn her around in circles a few times and that also seems to help temporarily. And we practice automatic sits where I just take a few steps and stop. But I’m not sure she really understands what I want, or maybe the distractions are just too much to care.

I use treats in class, but I haven’t been using them on our walks. I wonder if that’s the secret? Or maybe someone has some other great idea to overcome distractions. I don’t need a perfect heel when we’re out there. I just want a loose lead. Ironically, if someone walks toward us she drops back and heels right next to me. Or if we are walking on the sidewalk down a street with a lot of traffic she heels better. I’ve thought about trying the gentle leader too, but I’m not sure if we need that. She’s really not dragging me down the street, just pulling enough that it’s an annoyance. How do people get those dogs that walk so nicely with them everywhere?

[Joani, Skadi & Elli]

Treat training worked for me when I first worked with my girls.  I would count houses...treat at first every 2-3 houses...then later as they got better...treat less often.  I still use prongs on my girls...I know ... I know...so cruel HA.  They work for me ... the girls just know they have them on.  Then again, I use e-collars especially for my rescue...it has been life changing for us.  With a good trainer, all things are possible! LOL...I can now let her off leash in the woods and not worry ... she loves it and so do I.

[Stacy]

I think keeping them safe is the biggest thing, and different tools are needed to train different dogs. No judgment here.  The thing about the prong collar though, is I don't know how you guys use them and keep it from getting all tangled in their hair! I tried it on Katie once and it didn't work for her at all, just from a purely functional standpoint. 

With Maggie, I feel like we need to boost her confidence more than tone down her exuberance. I'm afraid she would just shut down if she received corrections. I think we will try treats first. I like your schedule of reinforcement. I'll see what happens. We've already seen huge improvements. From being too stressed to even eat a treat to wagging her tail and smiling all the time. I feel like things are much easier now that she will eat the treats!

[Joani, Skadi & Elli]

The e-collar has different settings...vibration, tone, and stimulation...with proper training it is an extremely useful tool.  I just wanted you to know that I was very hesitant about using one also...my trainer helped me and like I said, with my rescue the pleasure of being with her in the woods off leash is lots of fun.  Good luck, keep trying whatever works...have fun.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I have a prong from Lola Limited. They are sewn into a cloth collar and you can get them with quick release

fasteners. They look like martingale collars. Both Charlie and Clancy can slip out of flat collars (perhaps from being rescues, perhaps they learned from previous owners).  I am working to see if I can transition them to simple martingales, however when I walk more than one of them at a time, IF they had too much of a fear or distraction and tried to bolt, I need collars with reminders or I’d be dragged down the street.  That being said, Maggie probably just needs more practice walking on leash with distractions (what are HER distractions). Good job. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

It really sounds like you're already doing a really good job.  She knows what to do if she's heeling in class and when you go to the store.  For some dogs, the smells when you're walking "in nature" can be incredibly exciting.  My Guinness is particularly distracted when we walk on grass.  I give him little "reward times" where I let him smell.  I'll give him a command (I use walk or heel) and then he is expected to walk by my side.  After walking for five or 10 minutes I then say "okay", let the leash out and let him smell.  Then we'll start with the structured walk again.  I use a buckle collar for him and if he gets distracted I verbally correct and just give a quick little tug.  I used to keep treats with me so that when he corrected himself and went from pulling/smelling to walking nicely I could reward with a "good boy" and sometimes a treat.  For me the key has been consistency....always doing exactly the same thing on every walk.  I also don't more forward if he's in an excited/pulling state of mind.  We stop and wait and try again.  That can be frustrating, but I really think it helps them to understand what you're expecting from a walk.  I do use a Gentle Leader for my standard Doodle, only because he's dog reactive on walks. 

[Stacy]

She's amazing! There has been so much change in the last 6 weeks that, if I didn't see it with my own eyes I would think I was lying. 6 weeks ago I literally wrestled her into a sit in our first class. I tried for 9 weeks to lure her into a sit with no luck. At our first class they showed us how to put our arms behind their knees and put them into a sit. And she resisted and I ended up sitting on my butt on the mat.

Now she sits, stays, downs, comes, heels, sits politely for petting, and she's potty trained! And when I say she stays, she stays while I walk 20 feet away from her, turn around and come back. If she never learns anything else she's already the best trained dog I've ever had. What Voodoo is this? Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. But I just really don't understand what happened. 

The other day we met a little girl on our walk. She looked like she had some health challenges, but she was so excited to see the doggy. And I stopped and told her she could pet Maggie. I put her in a sit and kind of held onto her head. I'm really cautious about letting kids and dogs interact. I would be destroyed if anything happened to either one of them. But she just sat there and let the little girl pat her. It was a great moment. 

Maybe all of the initial struggles and frustrations were just so that I would appreciate the good stuff that much more. But I still don't understand how she learned all of that stuff in 6 weeks. Maggie is amazing!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

The voodoo was 6 weeks to get older, a trainer and a class, and all the work you have put in her.  CONGRATULATIONS.  But keep it up it can go away as quickly as it comes.  My trainer has a rule never ask a dog to do anything you cannot enforce it will back you up in training a million streps.  So keep up those treats, and keep on training!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

If she learned all this in six weeks, I would keep going with the training.  Maybe if you have time, start her in Therapy Dog training, Agility, or formal competition obedience.  She sounds like a dog who loves to learn.  Thanks for sharing your experience!