How to teach leash manners and attention

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Post questions about leash manners and attention to name here.

[Grhyno]

This is where I am right now...I have a seven month old Border Collie who is high energy and soooooo happy to be in the world. I am doing exercises in the house and in the yard as far as walking behind me/beside me, eye contact, recall...but once we are out of the fence, it's nose to the ground and full speed ahead. What I'm wondering is, should I extend my exercises out the gate, down the driveway and part way onto the street...further and further each time.. so that he sees the exercises were are doing inside/in the yard are supposed to alter his behavior on the walk. If I do the exercises only in the yard or house, does he only associate their meaning to those areas? Or is it a combination of his age and that we just haven't done enough work/repetitions yet?

And yes, he does get lots of exercise otherwise, on the treadmill and we jog. It's the walk...oh the walk. I've just started watching the videos here, and am working on leash manners, but this is my first week.

Gail

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Hi Gail,

I wouldnt stress about leash manners at this early stage in training out the gate. "Leash manners/attention" exercise purpose in this style is mainly used for two reasons:

1. So that you can get the dog's attention during training exercises

2. If you are standing still at anytime the dog will learn to not pull you back into a moving state.

A dog on a walk is naturally going to want to put their head to the ground and sniff, so dont worry about that. What we want to work on is practicing a "heel" in a controlled setting, then we will incorporate the "heel" on the walks during the times when you are moving and do not want the dog sniffing and peeing etc in the neighbors yards. It is a controlled walk. When you find the areas you would like the dog to have more freedom...Then you will "free" him and let him sniff and do whatever - even follow him for a while if you like.

Some tricks that I use in early training so as not to get frustrated with a bad puller is to:

1. Use a no-pull harness such as you can get from premier pet products.

2. walk on a flexi leash if you are in a safe enough area where the dog wont get hit by a car pr switch to a flexi when you walk to a safe area.

Either way still choose the general direction of the walk and if you do want to practice early leash manners on the walk - do it by standing still and remaining patient until the dog realizing you are going nowhere until he settles and gives you a little attention.

I am working on redoing some of the leash manner stuff - not huge changes, but mainly doing away with the dropped leash part, because it can potentially be too much for some dogs and i dont want anyone to accidently drop a loop on a dog that is wearing a halti-type collar which can potentially be very bad for the neck.

I will post when I have it up. Adding all the time. been in the literature section mostly lately.

[drewstealth]

Hi, I had a question on Leash Manners and attention. Not sure if it should be on this sticky or a new thread but here goes. I have a 1 year old female Bull Terrier and man is she a stuborn dog. She knows basic commands but will only do them when she wants too. The most frustrating part for me is when we are walking. I try to keep her at my left side at all times but she keeps trying to pull forward. I've been trying what you said on the leash manners video. I become a stake in the ground pretty much and just stop and say my dogs name. But she usually doesn't look at me for a while so i'm just standing there waiting for her to look at me saying her name. Many times when she does look at me or not if i turn around and go the opposite way she just plants herself in the ground. She pretty much forces me to pull her in the direction I want to go, sometimes she will even try to get out of her collar. Should i be pulling her or what? Thanks.

[jocomoreno]

My guess would be to start off in a zero distraction environment first; like in the garage or backyard and teach her leash manners there for a while. When she starts to show some fluency with not pulling and manners then move on to teaching her a heel like in the phase 2 video. Make sure she knows whats expected of her first. That would be my opinion

[jocomoreno]

What kind of collar/harness are you using?

[drewstealth]

I try my best to teach her in an environment without any distractions. It has been working great teaching her, sit, down and climb. Unfortunately outside is the only place where I try and train her leash manners/heel because the backyard doesn't work.

As far as the collar i'm just using a regular nylon collar. I'm gonna go to the petstore and see if they have a martingale collar that Mike recommends. I got a halti but she absolutely hated it and was almost impossible to get on.

[jocomoreno]

Martingales are great, and CHEAP!!
Correct me if im wrong mods. Honestly if you just want to manage the leash pulling; ie; you dont care if she knows a basic heel as long as she doesnt pull; then get an ez walk harness or a pinch collar (understand that we DO NOT yank on a pinch collar it is only there to make her uncomfortable if she pulls on the leash). My two cents.

[Teresa]

I would definitely recommend a different collar for her. You could use either the Starmark collar( http://www.amazon.com/StarMark-Train...8160619&sr=8-1)
Or the Premiere Easy Walk Harness.
Remember to use a safety collar such as a nylon slip loop (attach leash to both harness/starmark and the slip loop) regardless of which piece of equipment you decide to go with.


You should review 2 videos prior to working on this with her:
The leash Ninja video
http://www.selfhelpdogtraining.com/V...52d91fdbb7d463

And the New Leash Manners video :
http://www.selfhelpdogtraining.com/V...b4627dd3de004d

Practice in as low distraction as possible. Leash manners can be a stationary exercise if she will pull even if you are standing still. As she gets a better understanding of what is expected then move to more distracting environments.

One tip is to wear her out a little bit prior to the walk. If she has a lot of restless spirit as most Bullies do, then you might want to play tug or ball with her prior to going out for a walk.

Keep us posted on your progress!

[drewstealth]

Ok...thanks for the replies. I have watched those videos already but i'll work with her some more on her leash manners and attention. I'm definately going to get her a better collar too see if that helps any. Yes she does have a very restless spirit, first thing I do with her when i get home is take her for a walk/run. During this time is when i'm also trying to teach her leash manners. Should i not do it at this time? Typically she will try to run in front of me and pulling me basically which at full speed i feel is safer than having her at my left because sometimes she cuts in front of me and almost trips me. Do you think it is okay to have her run in front of me when we are running like that? Or should I always try to be in control on the walk/run?

To Jocomoreno: I do want her to learn heel and i'm trying very hard to teach her that, I think she has to learn the basic leash manners first though.

For now i've taken the week off from training with her because she just got spayed and is recovering from that.

Again, thanks for all the help.