Walking Nicely On The leash
If there‘s any area of
intense conflict between companion dogs and their owners, this must be it!
I‘ve been deeply interested
in the various methods of teaching so-called Heelwork for as long as I‘ve been
involved in dog training, and I must say I never liked any of them too much.
So one day, I‘m standing
outside a primary school and I‘m observing various mothers with children of all
ages walking towards the entrance.
The very youngest children
were being carried.
The toddlers toddled after
their mums as best they could.
The older toddlers were
trying to commit suicide by dashing into the road and their mums were rushing
after them frantically, or else holding onto their hands like grim
death.
The pre-school children
skipped and hopped around their mothers whilst being watched carefully and
called back every so often.
The school children walked
next to their mothers on their own accord and had conversations with
them.
In a way, that‘s much like
my experiences with puppies.
Very young puppies are
absolutely desperate to stay with you. Even outgoing characters get pretty
overwhelmed at the great big world out there and stay close to you to begin
with.
In my opinion, the problem
with dogs pulling on the leash appears in the older toddler stage. The dogs get
really excited, can‘t wait to get out there, try to rush ahead. As result, the
owners tighten up on the leash and the dog goes into the "pull me - push you"
response, like those older toddlers were pulling on their mother‘s hands, trying
to get ahead, trying to get free. This "tug‘o‘war" type response is allowed to
occur every time they go out for a walk, and then becomes a habit.
6 months later, the owners
come to dog training classes with a dog that pulls on the leash like a steam
train.
I would say that
- it is perfectly normal
for a young or untrained dog to want to move about a little, rather than to walk
totally in one particular position to heel.
- and it is easier and much
more effective in the long run to guide the dog towards the right position than
to try and force it into that position.
See, the more you push, the
more the dog pushes back.
Ok, so there‘s ways and
methods such as check (or choke) chains that inflict pain every time the dog
moves out of position. There‘s also such things as sound devices or ways to
handle the leash in such a way that the dog gets a nasty "shock" when it pulls
ahead. And these methods work a treat if you‘re a good handler, have done it
lots of times before, and can handle yourself, leashs, dogs, and devices
congruently and at the same time.
However, normal people
don‘t have these specialist skills, and their dogs know it, and that‘s why these
methods don‘t work very well for most normal people.
So now, here‘s a nice,
evolutionary method to have a dog that walks somewhere with you, because it
likes you, and it has lots of times when it‘s off the leash anyway,
companionably, happily, and without you having to do anything than just enjoy
it‘s company and the countryside.
Walking Nicely On The leash - Action Plan
1. Find a route that is
reasonably safe, reasonably distraction free, and can be completed in ten
minutes or less.
It could be just round the
block, or up and down the lane - it doesn‘t matter if it‘s boring or if it has
many distractions, as long as you get there as soon as you walk out of your
house.
This route will become your
practise track for walking nicely on the leash.
The reason this is so
important is that a lot of owners only walk to their place of exercise every
single day, and the dog gets to believe that it needs to pull them all the way,
else they‘d never get there! These self same owners usually make the comment
that "it‘s not so bad on the way home"!
2. Put your dog on the long
line, or the training leash, and give it some rope.
In practise, this means
that you loosen the leash right out so your dog cannot feel it anymore. (I do
hope you‘ve got hold of this book before you were in a position where the dog
just runs hell for leather and doesn‘t care if you follow or not. If that‘s your
problem, go to the special section for Steam Train Pullers instead).
For your first attempt, the
assignment is to get round your practise route with the leash being loose as much
as possible.
- yes, you‘re going to get
tangled in the leash, wrapped round lamp posts or bushes, to begin with. And yes,
you‘re going to learn the art of handling a leash in such a way that this doesn‘t
happen anymore after a week of this.
It‘s an immensely valuable
skill that will stand you in good stead with every dog you‘ll ever own, and
something you‘ll never learn if you buy a Flexi-type leash with the big clumsy
box at the end of it.
- use the leash to bring
your dog back if it‘s going somewhere inappropriate. If you‘re walking in a
town, your dog will need to learn to distinguish the pavement and the verge from
the actual road. Tell the dog over and over, "Stay on the pavement, that‘s a
good boy (or girl)." After a week of this, your dog will know.
- use the leash to make your
dog sit at road intersections, if there are any on your walk. Again, speak to
your dog. Tell him about sitting because of the danger of traffic. The more you
talk to your dog with real intent and real meaning, the more he or she will
listen to you.
- to begin with, be very
flexible in your speed. Stop for a while if your dog wants to sniff something,
speed up a little when your dog picks up speed. The first commandment is to keep
the leash loose.
- to begin with, be
flexible whether the dog‘s on your left, or on your right, or in front of you,
or behind you. As long as the leash‘s loose, and the dog‘s still moving in
roughly the same direction, that‘s fine. You‘re both going to get home again.
That‘s all that‘s required.
- the only thing you should
strongly object to is if your dog suddenly lunges into some direction or the
other, or hits the end of the long line sharply. Call your dog back and tell him
or her right away that this is not on, that it could be dangerous for both of
you, and that you‘re just going round the block (or up and down the
lane).
Do this on one particular
practise track twice or three times a day for about a week. Once you feel that
both of you have got the hang of the basics (i.e. you know how to handle the
leash so it‘s loose all the time you‘re not actually using it to make an
important correction, and how to encourage your dog not to lunge, to stay on the
pavement and to sit at intersections, if any, and your dog has relaxed and
learned that you just kind of walk this particular walk together), you can:
- begin to encourage the
dog to be on the left or right of you, using an appropriate
encouragement;
- to walk closely with you for a short period of time with full attention
(just a few steps close by your side with the leash completely slack is fine,
then just let him wander along again);
- take a break and do a bit of training such as stay or
come.
Over a period of a month or
so, lengthen the time you are actually requesting your dog to walk in the normal
heelwork position by your side gently and steadily. The instruction I use for
this is "Walk closely." When the dog is in a close position by my left or right
leg, depending on the circumstance, I look down and praise it gently whilst
we‘re walking along: "Well, this is nice, isn‘t it? You and me, just poodling
along the old lane ... (etc.)"
When you‘re happy that you
and your dog can walk companionably with each other on your practise route, you
can exchange the long line for the proper five foot leash (which also must be
loose at all times you‘re not actually giving a direct instruction to your dog
and even then, only if a verbal instruction has been
ignored).
Then, you can start varying
your route and gradually introduce more distractions along the way, always
making sure that you‘re asking no more of your dog in the way of understanding,
good behavior and co-operation than your dog is ready to give to you, depending
on his or her age, prior training experience, and current level and standard of
training.
If you follow this outline,
in a couple of months at the most you will have arrived at a point where your
dog is walking along happily not because it‘s afraid it‘ll get hurt if it
doesn‘t, but simply because the two of you have built up a mutual rapport and
understanding of what going out for a walk together is all about - being aware
of each other‘s movements, and behaving in such a way that you‘re both having a
good time in each other‘s company.
Walking On The leash For Steam Train Pullers
Sometimes, you may have to
re-train a re-homed or rescued dog that pulls no matter how long the leash is,
and pulls flat out, like a steam train. For these dogs, we need a slightly
modified approach.
Firstly, I would recommend
the use of a head collar, such as the Halti or Fig.8 collar.
Secondly, a normal leash of
five to six foot will be of more use.
Thirdly, use the very best
food you can find to reward any attempt at co-operation.
Fourthly, whatever
"command" the dog has ever heard regards this activity must be firmly placed in
the rubbish bin from now on, because it has by now become a signal to start
pulling. Use words that sound completely different instead.
Fifthly, use your practise
track when your dog is as tired as possible; i.e. just after a long walk*.
Another very useful tip is to walk it once, come inside, and straight out again
- and then again.
*A safety note: Very young
puppies, older puppies of large boned or slow developing breeds, and rescued
dogs who are unfit due to kennelling or mismanagement can suffer serious health
problems if over-exercised. Please ask your veterinary surgeon, breeder or other
dog professional for advice if you‘re even slightly unsure about how much
exercise is advised for your dog or puppy.
The reason that even the
most dyed in the wool pullers will be able to learn through this method is that
it‘s simply impossible for a dog to sustain top levels of excitement over
walking the practise track if it‘s done three times on the trot, three times a
day, seven days a week.
If you are short on time,
just do a shorter practise track - but do it!
Walk the practise track at
least three times, three times a day. If there‘s more than one of you in the
household, do it each three times a day. Again, after a while the dog will relax
on the practise track and the leash will be loose more than it will be tight.
Once the dog is usually relaxed on the practise track, introduce all the methods
from the section above.
Walking nicely off the leash
As you can see from the
section before, the fact that sooner or later your dog will be walking without
the leash is actually built into this kind of leash training right from the start.
As you are continuously striving to keep the leash loose and your rapport and
understanding with your dog improves, there comes a time quite naturally when
your dog will be ready to walk off the leash with you. To make the transition
from on the leash to off the leash:
1. Firstly, remember to be
safe rather than sorry. Even a very well behaved dog can sometimes run off if
the temptation is strong enough - say, another dog taunting it across the road,
or a cat, or perhaps a car misfiring very close by. Walk completely off leash
only where you can be sure you will be safe.
2. Once your dog is walking
pretty reliably with you, put it on the long line. But instead of holding onto
it, just throw it over your shoulder and tuck the rest into a pocket. Walk
normally and do not hold on to the leash. Use it only if you really need to, and
always precede the use of the leash with a verbal instruction first (you will
find that this alleviates the need to use the leash at all, half the time
anyway).
3. Once you‘re happy with
that, let your dog drag the line for a while just to be sure.
Walking nicely everywhere
Once your dog is good on
the practise track, begin to extend the walks and the locations as described in
the section on How A Dog Learns. Eventually, the dog will make the cross over to
be able to reproduce his or her learning in any location.
To conclude this section,
let me say that this is a very friendly, very easy way to train most dogs to
walk with you in a civilised fashion in a relatively short period of time,
providing you make an effort for a month or so to really teach your dog. If for
whatever reason your dog begins to wander off or starts to pull later, go back
to the old practise route to remind him/her of the original
training.
Get Back & Walk On
Two instructions that are
very useful in conjunction with walking on the leash, amongst others, are Get
Back and Walk On, respectively.
The Get Back instruction
means that the dog should move into a position slightly behind you and remain
behind you. We have learned this from dog behavior studies - the "pack leasher" is in a forward
position, both as a look out and decision maker.
As this is a normal dog
behavior, it is easy to teach and dogs understand it very quickly. It has many
practical applications, from the aforementioned walking on the leash, to being
able to open the door to people and being both protected by the dog, yet the dog
under full control, putting the visitor at ease.
Get Back - Action Plan
Walk through your house
with your dog on the leash. In doorways, stop, use your leash and a stopping
motion with your left hand, asking the dog to "get back", so you can walk
through the doorway first. Also try this going up and down the stairs, through
garden gates or narrow passageways. Look over your left shoulder, and tell the
dog you‘re very pleased.
The other side of the coin
is the Walk On Instruction. This asks your dog to walk on and leash the way.
We borrowed this
instruction from horse trainers, because there are so many occasions when it is
useful to ask the dog to go first, be it because you wish to close the door
behind both of you, or any other situation where it is more convenient for you
to herd your dog(s) whilst you bring up the rear.
Walk On - Action Plan
When you‘re out for a walk,
wait until your dog stops naturally to sniff something.
Give a brief nudge on the
leash (like you would flick a horse‘s reins) and encourage the dog to "Walk On",
praising when they‘ve picked up speed.
Often, you can find narrow
passageways or corridors (failing this, you may construct such a corridor with a
few chairs in your dining room or in your garden). Walk up to it and encourage
your dog to leash the way by telling it to "walk on".
Practise both this and the
Get Back so you can be flexible in who goes first.
Indoors, you can practise
this instruction when your dog is already on it‘s way, out into the garden or
into another room, putting the words "Walk On" onto a naturally occurring
situation.
These two instructions will
give both you and your dog/s a great deal of behavioral flexibility both
indoors and out, and are very useful indeed for many different
situations.
You can reproduce this article freely in
newsletters and on your site providing you keep the following
link and copyright notice intact: Article
by Silvia Kent, Author, Dynamic Dog Training. More
useful articles and free downloads at http://A1Dog.com
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