Please help with leash walking! (long..)

777 Views 6 Replies 6 Participants Last post by GoldenJoy, Sep 19, 2009

LuckyPup

Discussion Starter · Sep 17, 2009

When we got Lucky he walked ok. He did not really pull all that much. He would pull to go to smell the grass but I would just redirect him. We were starting to work on loose leash walking. Anyways, I found the Premier Easy Walk Harness. And figured I would give that a go to help out as a training tool.

Now he goes bonkers! His "new" thing is trying to get the leash! So this is how he starts....We get the walk started walk out into the court he jumps up gets the leash. (he does not drop it on command yet...do not even know how to...thank god for training class I sure hope that is coming up) Anyways, He gets it starts tugging. I drop the leash and stand and ignore him (lucky for me he does not run off) He will pick it up and put it in my hand. I make him sit. We start to walk. Nope jumps and does it all over again! Finally get him to calm down. We walk for a good 1/2 mile. Back at it again!!!! It seems like he stops in the same places every time! So I tried other routes. Did not work he just found new places. I do not know what to do.

This morning he did it in the court of our house, I just finally said ok we are going home. He picks up his leash and trots on back to the house! So Dave (bf) tried to walk him this afternoon. He said he did the same thing. He was able to make it a mile but he stopped and did the leash tug!

What am I doing wrong? What can I do? This is driving me bonkers! :bowl:

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acritzer

· #2 · Sep 17, 2009

I'm a big fan of slip collars. I know not everyone is comfortable with them though so make sure you know what you're doing if you plan to use one. Then the 2nd key to the plan is walking should be viewed as work for the dog. At least until it is well trained. The structure will help establish ground rules. Try to teach solid heel training before you go for "care free" walks.

A lot of the story sounds like he's testing your limits.

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GoldenSail

· #3 · Sep 18, 2009

Sounds to me like he thinks you are playing with him and simply ignoring it isn't helping. I would tell him 'no' and get it out of his mouth.

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yukari3

· #4 · Sep 18, 2009

Maybe you hold the leash too long. We use to have that problem with Mickey tugging the leash. So we change the position of the leash to fit his upper part of his neck so we have control over his head. He did fight at first and then he gave up. Now he walks behind or next to us on a loose leash everyday without pulling. The only time he tries to walk in front of us is when he needs to pee or poop coz he doesn't know how to tell us to stop, so he pulls ahead and pee as fast as he can!! Now we know and we stop and let him pee.

We were thinking about using easy walk harness too. But Mickey is too small and will be big soon. So we use this methods for a week. Now it is like a miracle. He walks on a loose leash after that (in a normal flat collar)

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GoldenSail

· #5 · Sep 18, 2009

....oh, and the fact that those easy walk harnesses are clipped on the front is probably why he keeps going for the leash--it's right there!

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Jersey's Mom

· #6 · Sep 18, 2009

Try him on a regular flat collar. I think you'll find that when the leash isn't wagging right in front of his nose, he's less inclined to grab it. That really may be all you need to do, but if other issues pop up, just let us know!

Julie and Jersey

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GoldenJoy

· #7 · Sep 19, 2009

Our 6 month old, Joy, does that a LOT in the woods - she gets very excited in the forest!!! She has a good "drop it," and I ALWAYS have yummy training treats with me to reinforce the "drop it," but sometimes she is even too worked up to respond to it. She gets the command once, and if she doesn't comply immediately (I don't fool around with "drop it" - what if she had something poisonous in her mouth?) I get the leash out. It's very effective - our trainer said to VERY calmly but VERY firmly take her upper jaw and press on the flews while removing the object - in this case, the leash. She immediately sits, and after a deep breath we continue. Sometimes it will happen 4 or 5 times in a row, but I just repeat the process again. I think the hardest part is just staying CALM and not letting Joy see ANY exasperation - the trainer said exasperation can sound like FUN to her! That's funny to me.

Anyway, I know there are so many folks on this board who know way more about this than I do, but I just wanted to share what is working for us. :wavey:

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