Pulling When Walking

[Staranais]

we have been walking well ie heeling but he's only good for 10+ mins, after that he gets excited and start sniffing, goes off in front but still loose leash. Do you try to get 100% heeling during a walk?

My dog has 3 types of walking; I'll list them:

1. Walking without pulling me along, she can be in front of me and sniff if she likes

2. Walking by my side in a very rough heel position

3. Walking in a precise attention heel for competition

(Well, she also has a 4th type of walking - pull like a maniac! But we try to discourage that one. ;) )

I'd never expect her to do either type 2 or 3 "heeling" walking the whole walk. It takes too much brain power & is boring for her. I do ask her to do type 2 walking for short bursts when we're going past other people or we are in a busy place (whether she's on or offleash I still ask her to come back & walk by my side), then I usually reward her by releasing her to do type 1 walking again.

Hope that makes sense! ;)

[TC001]

My dog has 3 types of walking; I'll list them:

1. Walking without pulling me along, she can be in front of me and sniff if she likes

2. Walking by my side in a very rough heel position

3. Walking in a precise attention heel for competition

(Well, she also has a 4th type of walking - pull like a maniac! But we try to discourage that one. ;) )

I'd never expect her to do either type 2 or 3 "heeling" walking the whole walk. It takes too much brain power & is boring for her. I do ask her to do type 2 walking for short bursts when we're going past other people or we are in a busy place (whether she's on or offleash I still ask her to come back & walk by my side), then I usually reward her by releasing her to do type 1 walking again.

Hope that makes sense! ;)

thanks...that makes a lot of sense, heeling the whole walk is a big ask I suppose.

[brinashay]

We volunteer at the RSPCA and see the damage choke/correction chains can do in the wrong/untrained hands, a tool for training with NO instruction :D .

Check out the link at the bottom of the front page at this website ( www.wagntailscdc.piczo.com )

There are better ways to train using either the stop/go method or change direction, you just need to see which one suits your charge.

[Cosmolo]

Agree with Staranais regarding the types of walking- mine are the same.

What kind of damage do you mean brinashay? I have worked at numerous shelters and pounds and apart from imbedded collars (which can be chain, material, harnesses etc) i'm not sure what kind of damage you could mean? Or do you see dogs being walked incorrectly on the collars there?

[Red Fox]

I am quite happy with the walks now, most of the time the leash is loose and I only occasionally have to tug/release when he's too far ahead. He's about a body length in front of me most of the time ie tail on my leg. How do you get him to walk besides me? ie his head parallel to my leg? thanks.

we have been walking well ie heeling but he's only good for 10+ mins, after that he gets excited and start sniffing, goes off in front but still loose leash. Do you try to get 100% heeling during a walk?

There is a big difference between a focussed heel and LLW. You don't really need your dog to be "heeling" during a walk, and definitely not 100% of the time! Focussed competition style heeling most certainly has it's place, but not during a casual walk. It's also trained very differently (and looks very different) to LLW

As far as training a dog LLW, well there are as many different ways to train it as there are trainers ;) Personally, I think the most important thing is that you are consistant and confident with whatever method you choose. Chop and change, or give in (yes, even just that once because you are in a hurry!) and you will get no-where.

Also, I think that as owners we sometimes worry too much with our own dogs. Are we doing it right? What if we mess up? What if we hurt the dog? What if he doesn't love me anymore, blah blah blah... Our own lack of confidence and inconsistancy rubs off onto the dog, confuses him and makes it sooo much harder.

I walked my neighbours dog yesterday morning - 6 year old Lab. Same dog that she has in the past told needs to be walked on a head collar as he pulls strongly. I walked him on a flat collar using the technique I was taught (by Steve from K9 Pro) when teaching my own dog LLW. Well what'd ya know? This dog tried it on with me for all of 30 seconds, realised it wasn't getting him anywhere and walked like an angel at my side for the next 30 mins - so much so that he was even complemented on his "lovely walking" by a stranger Admittedly my confidence was about 100 x higher than it had been teaching my own dog and it certainly made a difference.

ETA, forgot to say try a martingale instead if a check chain. They are easier to use (IMO) and much more effective :D

Edited January 9, 2011 by SecretKei

[Pretty Miss Emma]

I do the same as Staranais.

I try to get a bit of time with my girl walking close to me to keep her focussed. But particularly around people.

Don't forget, having a sniff around to see who's been past is also brain work for dogs - different sort to heeling, but brain work nonetheless. Plus imagine if you had to go for a walk but couldn't check out anything around you it'd get boring.

I have found by mixing up every few minutes or so on my walks what I'm asking of my girl she's doing all of them better (her heeling has been fantastic in short bursts, she walks close to me the moment I ask and when she has the length of the lead she doesn't pull).

[Rottifan]

I believe if you associate a word with the action of a slip/choker chain it is effective and will not damage the dog, they learn fast most of the time. I have worked as a drug dog handler with a federal government agency, one year old labs are trained with these. They are pulled back gently (not allowed to get too far ahead so its not a dramatic handling action) and told "heel" and this is repeated, with every step if need be. I was against using them in the past and didnt with my rotti until (when he was fully grown and I was a 21 year old owner) I realised the power he had and the damage he could do if I couldnt control him and he took off and bowled a child over or had a confrontation with a dog that went wrong and decided I had to be sensible about it. He also learnt very quickly but you have to know what you are doing so as to work with the dog and not damage them in anyway...which is why so many people dislike the use of them. I still see people yanking their dogs (not just on choker chain but on leads/harnesses as well) without uttering a word to the dog. How are they expected to learn that way? Put yourself in the dogs position...walking along then suddenly "yank" - what for?! They learn nothing by this. Associate a word with it and gentle praise and you will do very well. My rotti is now 10 and whilst I didnt socialise him (I have since learnt so much) and he is dog aggressive he walks with the lead loose all of the time and if there is a dog about just with the noise of the chain moving on the chain he slows. He hasnt had any damage done to him, likewise the dogs I have worked with in official capacity, but you need to know how to use them properly. The benefit to using them for me with my rotti far outweighed the damage he could have done had I lost control of him in public. Best of luck, sometimes it seems like they take ages to learn something than all of a sudden they just 'click'!