Argh! Leash Training Is Driving Me Crazy!

[LoremIpsum]

I have started leash training with Martha, but she pulls terribly.

I began training inside. We walk around the house, me clicking and treating madly. She keeps the leash loose because she wants the treats. We do an exercise where I put a treat on the kitchen floor, then lead her away from it up the hallway, then we walk back toward the treat. When she runs forward and strains on the leash, I stop. She generally returns to me to work out what's going on, and as soon as the leash is loose I go forward.

Then we took it outside.

Our walks go like this: Martha runs to the very end of the leash and pulls. I stop immediately and say "bad luck". (My word for "you're doing it wrong and there's no treat".) She strains on end of leash for some time. At some point, she'll turn around to look at what I'm doing and the leash loosens. I click, treat and take one step forward. Martha runs to the very end of the leash and pulls. I stop immediately and say "bad luck". She strains on end of leash for some time. At some point, she'll turn around to look at what I'm doing and the leash loosens. I click, treat and take one step forward. Martha runs to the very end of the leash and pulls.

And so one. For the whole walk.

We've only done it for three sessions or so, but there's no improvement. Am I doing something wrong? Am I just impatient? Should I change the approach? Or is perseverance the key? She's a clever dog, but I can see she hasn't twigged to the theory yet. Are there any other exercises that might help? Any and all advice will be appreciated.

Just to be clear, I am training her to walk with a loose leash — we're not heeling yet. I'm not worrying which side she's on. I'm clicking for a loose leash only.

[Kavik]

Have you tried turning around and walking the other way as she reaches the end of the leash? Then you can click/treat when she turns around and catches up to you.

[TerraNik]

I had the same problem with Jedi and whenever he pulled I made like a tree and stood still. Then got him to come back to my side by calling him back. As soon as he got there I would start walking again as his reward. It took a little while, but now when he hits the end of the lead he just comes back to my side automatically.

[4 Paws]

I recently brought- My dog pulls,what do I do .She suggests stoping for a few seconds,turn and make a sound you deceide on(tongue click etc)and treat when they turn and catch up

[PAX]

Our walks go like this: Martha runs to the very end of the leash and pulls. I stop immediately and say "bad luck". (My word for "you're doing it wrong and there's no treat".) She strains on end of leash for some time. At some point, she'll turn around to look at what I'm doing and the leash loosens. I click, treat and take one step forward. Martha runs to the very end of the leash and pulls. I stop immediately and say "bad luck". She strains on end of leash for some time. At some point, she'll turn around to look at what I'm doing and the leash loosens. I click, treat and take one step forward. Martha runs to the very end of the leash and pulls.

And so one. For the whole walk.

Be careful that she is not training you, I can see Martha has a pattern here that gets her treats.

[LoremIpsum]

Have you tried turning around and walking the other way as she reaches the end of the leash? Then you can click/treat when she turns around and catches up to you.

I recently brought- My dog pulls,what do I do .She suggests stoping for a few seconds,turn and make a sound you deceide on(tongue click etc)and treat when they turn and catch up

If I'm reading you both right, this is basically the same suggestion. Yes I have, but I guess I was unsure if that constituted walking on a loose leash, cause she'll catch up to me then run past me. But if I can interrupt her with a click/treat as she's careering past I might pull her up a bit.

Be careful that she is not training you, I can see Martha has a pattern here that gets her treats.

Well exactly. She's doing very well out of it, by the way — she had her whole lunch on our walk today! However, I think what TerraNik suggests here:

I had the same problem with Jedi and whenever he pulled I made like a tree and stood still. Then got him to come back to my side by calling him back. As soon as he got there I would start walking again as his reward. It took a little while, but now when he hits the end of the lead he just comes back to my side automatically.

... is going to solve this problem. I think (am I right?) I need to encourage her to consider walking forward the treat, and not expect food. Then I can click and food treat when she's walking nicely consistently for some metres. Does that sound right?

Really, I reckon she will pick it up. It's just so frustrating waiting for her to understand what I she has to do to walk forward, as neither of us get a good walk at the moment. The poor girl was so frustrated today in her efforts to run forward that she started whining.

[PAX]

Yep getting to continue to walk forward is the reward.

[Tonymc]

The routine with the treat on the floor is teaching the dog to pull. Tony

[persephone]

I haven't heard of this method before

It sounds to me like you are 'testing ' the dog with a treat...when she doesn't know how to walk yet...

Why not take her out ,on a long straight boring walk... she will get tired eventually LOL.

I also recommend the walk in a straight line.. until she pulls- then do an about turn.. no speaking, just an unexpected about turn-pulling the dog with you, and praise for following correctly....repeat, repeat repeat...

I also find that being calm and not vocal helps... pay attention to what you can see,smell, etc. Don't try and engage the dog in conversation, or be enthusiastic... a walk is an everyday ,boring thing... no excitement, no need to hurry, no reward to anticipate... just the walk.......This seems to transfer to the dog...

[Arnah]

Charlie and I have been training with an obedience trainer reccomended through a member of this forum. It's been tough, but the results are worth it.

We started just walking around the front yard through to the back yard - one big circle because taking him beyond our fence was too much and i completely lost his focus - straining the lead the moment we tried to open the fence. Maybe this might help? Get Martha comfortable with the process before taking her out where theres so much to smell and see?

Charlies word to look back at me is simply 'look' (and its come in handy for photos!) :-P He is also made to sit and wait patiently before any door/fence/gate is open. What blew my mind was him sitting at the gate of the dog park on saturday when it was full of dogs. He sat there, watching me, waiting for me to let him move, even when I moved my hand to open the gate.

Like what 4paws suggested, whenever the lead goes tight (Charlie is a beagle, so I allow a bit of sniffing so long as he stays close and looks up at me occasionally) I change direction and make a clicking noise with my tounge. We walk the other way until he catches up and i turn back around when he behaves. If I stay rigid, he sits beside me and expects a treat - which doesnt teach him to walk beside me, but rewards him for straining the lead (if I treat him when he sits, he strains the lead straight after).

I reward now for when he looks at me and walks beside me. I reward after a few steps by holding the treat in front of his nose a little and making him continue to walk without jumping for the treat. If Charlie wants to go to the dog park, he has to walk beside me with no lead tension. It normally takes about 5 minutes before he accepts this (were still working on it!) On the way home, he is flawless. By this point he realises hes not going anywhere unless he does the right thing, and theres less thrill in exploring.

The hardest part is being consistent. There were some mornings where we didnt even get beyond our front fence. When we went to the lurcoursing day, I was so much more relaxed about walking him because there were so many adorable beagles he wanted to meet - and I paid for it the next day!

Charlies trainer also used a gentle leader - and im buying one to use when he is in a stubborn mood. The lead goes partly around the nose and the neck, so that when they pull, you can gently lead them to look at you. Might be an idea too!

Keep perservering - Charlie gets better every time and Im sure Martha will too!

[~*Shell*~]

I wouldn't suggest using it on a puppy, but Zero and i use a prong collar so he gives himself a correction when he pulls. He's totally stopped pulling on walks and will even do a "heel" now without the prong collar on. He's also better mannered around other dogs and for the most part, his attention is on me on walks.

Personally, i turned in the other direction and walked the other way when Zero pulled on the leash. He would pull, i would give him the command "slow" and then i would turn in the opposite direction. when he would run out in front of me and when he was nearly at the end of the leash, i would give the command, and turn in the opposite direction. When he reached the end of the leash, he would recieve a correction without me having to do anything and he soon learned that where i went, he had to follow.

He also learned that "slow" meant that he was to slow down and watch what i was doing (i didn't teach him this, he kind of picked it up on his own). Now i don't even have to give the command, i just turn around, he notices and follows. If we're out walking and he sees another dog, i now use the "slow" command to turn his attention back to me and if he's walking a little in front of me and i say slow, his face turns on the side and he looks back at me and slows down how fast he's walking.

I had great results doing this but I'm sure there are a lot of methods for teaching a dog to walk on a loose leash that work just as well.

[dee lee]

I feel your pain!!

I have had an ongoing problem with my dog's looselead walking. I have tried all the stop start methods, treats, harnesses etc and nothing worked. I use a private trainer (who is briliant), I have emphasised pack leadership, and still she is fantastic at home but once out the door is beserk. Like Shell, the only thing that I have found to work is a prong. She is a staffy x, HIGHLY excitable, prey driven and with a very high pain threshold so that even the sporn harness I was using she became numb to. The prong demands focus. But I dont think you will need one.

Having a lab pup, from what I understand about the breed, you will find success with basic training. I suggest you get a private trainer in and get some tips, there is probably just some tiny thing you have been doing that is sending mixed signals. I knowthis ws the case with me.

The biggest thing I have learnt from my trainer is that the dog is not doing these things to be contrary, just because our expectations are not being made clear. Once you learn how to communicate this it gets much better.

Good luck!!

[B-Q]

I tried the stop and wait method with Buster for weeks and got pretty much nothing out of it, he's happy to stand and wait, or sit and wait at the end of his leash.

What I found worked best was to start in the backyard, take a couple of steps and C&T after those couple of steps, slowlyincrease it till I could do several steps loose leash before a C&T

Then once I could go anywhere in the backyard loose leash I opened the back gate, which made him more excited and we'd leave the gate open, going towards it as long as the leash stayed loose, turning away when it went tight, after about 3 days of twice daily sessions we had got out the gate. For a few more days every session started int eh backyard till he was fine walking all over the backyard and front yard loose leash. All the while clicking and treating every once in a while, after 6 steps maybe, or 12 or 20 or 4.

Then we started the sessions going strait out the front door, this took about 5 days to build up to. We would practice on the nature strip up and down up and down, turning everytime he pulled and clicking every few steps when he was doing good.

Buster gets more nervous as we get further from home (his comfort zone) so we had to slowly work on getting it through to him that loose leash means everywhere, not just where he is comfortable.

It took about 2 weeks, twice or 3 times daily sessions to get him to the point where we were walking for a good length of time.

I'm now incorporating a heel command into it (his offleash heel is lovley but onleash its not) using pretty much th same method.

I can't believe how much its helped, he feels safer with me and more confident in me, which in turn has helped his DA substantially, he can walk past barking dogs only meteres from us on occasion and not pull on the leash.

That said, its not 100% yet, he stills tests it sometimes but a quiet "back up" gets him to check himself. And, we've started jogging now, I wasn't able to do it with him before because he almost pulled me over, now we go everyday because he just runs along next to me.

Edited September 3, 2008 by busterlove