Puppy training joy

[Blackstar]

Ah yes, the joy of training an untrained puppy to the simple walk with the heel command...

He wants to go everywhich way way and doesn't want to stay at my side... I said "Heel" and gave the leash a good yank many times last night, but he's taking his time, that and occasionally he'll grab the leash in his mouth and start tugging.

Oy vey, this is gonna be fun, hopefully all three dogs will learn fast so I can walk them properly all three at once, rather than a separate training walk for each...Still got to go over the training regimine and map it out with my wife to make sure she knows her responsibilities for the morning training sessions while I get the evening. And with it winter, she won't do the walk training, so they get that just once a day for the time being...

[RottiMomCT]

I'd concentrate on getting the dogs to walk on a leash without trying to chew/eat it; then get them to walk on a loose leash, then work on getting the 'heel' command.

If pup's gotta go potty, let 'em go potty first...then begin the training sessions.

[Blackstar]

True, but when you're trying to teach Heel, how can you tell?

He never gave any indication that he wanted\needed a potty stop, he had dinner over an hour beforehand and had time outside during the other dogs' walks to potty.

For the chewing I "snapped" the leash with a rolling motion. He only did it twice early in the half mile walk, so we'll see tonight if he tries it again.

My wife is of the opinion that we can't take the dogs for "casual" walk until they've mastered "heeled" walks, because they'll get confused, and I'm too tired to argue with her about right now. Maybe only half the 1/2 mile walk wll be heel trainng, and the rest casual, haven't really decided yet...

[Nina&Bill]

How old is your puppy?

Two suggestions, gleaned from my trainer & that seem to be working with the wild, untamed Amber.

Take your dog for a walk. When dog surges ahead stop, wait for dog to come back to you. When dog does, give it a treat. Repeat. Eventually dog catches on that staying right by your side is a great place to be when on walks. This will take some time & the walks will take awhile in the beginning but if your pup is food motivated this should work.

As for leash chewing...try a nylon webbing horse lead. These are about 8 feet long with chain for the last 2 feet (the part that connects to the horse or in this case the dog). About 10$ at a feed store & the dog will quickly decide that chewing on the leash is not a fun thing to do.

Have fun!

Nina

[Blackstar]

Age of pup, the card on his cage at the shelter said 1 year, but he was found by them as a stray, based on his personality and energy, we're guessing he did have a home once, but either escaped or was turned out. We think he might be closer to 8-10 months.

Hmmm...may have to look into the horse lead thing you were talking about.

When he comes back, but at what point, usually he's all hyper and lumping/hopping all over, or is it just that he at least returns to near me again?

As for the chewing the lease, it's more of a "take-it-in-his-mouth-and-tug" thing, almost like he's saying, "C'mon dad, it's cold out let's get moving!" or "Mmmm...I smell lots of interesting smells, let's check them all out!"

One thing is for sure, he's already bonded himself to me...

[lblax]

how old are they ??? please just get them use to the leash and to walk on a loose leash without pulling -----heeling for long periods of time is very stressful even for a trained adult dog not to mention for a pup leasuly walks is exactly what you need with a young dog let him be a well manered pup and dont break his spirit

[spidey]

It seems to me that you're doing things a bit backwards here, correcting him (and perferably not by "yanking", but with a single, firm snap) is for when he understands what "heel" means, not for when he's learning (correcting him for something he hasn't been taught is adversarial, rather than cooperative, not to mention unfair, you want to make learning fun and rewarding, not uncomfortable and confusing). And I really believe that dogs need to understand how to walk politely on-leash before they learn formal heeling (training involves baby steps, start with the simple and work to the complex, and don't rush him). Train him with treats and praise, so he learns that walking politely beside you is fun and rewarding (if you find a treat he really likes, and carry it in your left hand, you'll probably find he starts walking beside you right away, then praise him and give the command). Also, heeling is a more advanced skill than walking politely (i.e. not pulling, not biting the lead), so teach the easier skill first and then the more advanced skill (formal heeling) follows on naturally (in terms of training) from that. If he's pulling you all over the place, you could consider getting a pinch collar for safety reasons, but make sure that you learn how to use it properly (no yanking). Are the two of you in obedience classes?

[austin]

Something that worked for us when the dog was going everywhere and tugging the leash was point-to-point training. It is a variation of what Nina did, that uses a little correction with the reward. Take him to a big field, put him on a long lead with the handle clasped firmly in your hand and start walking. Pay no attention to him. Whenever he starts going in another direction, abruptly go in the opposite direction. Don't slow down or look at him, just forge ahead. He'll get yanked, but that's ok. Whenever he's doing good and walking beside you, give him treats and lots of praise. After a few days of that, he should decide that walking beside you is the best place to be.

[Blackstar]

Originally posted by austin
Something that worked for us when the dog was going everywhere and tugging the leash was point-to-point training. It is a variation of what Nina did, that uses a little correction with the reward. Take him to a big field, put him on a long lead with the handle clasped firmly in your hand and start walking. Pay no attention to him. Whenever he starts going in another direction, abruptly go in the opposite direction. Don't slow down or look at him, just forge ahead. He'll get yanked, but that's ok. Whenever he's doing good and walking beside you, give him treats and lots of praise. After a few days of that, he should decide that walking beside you is the best place to be.

Warren is the third largest city (at least population-wise) in Michigan, there are very few "fields" available. Those that do exist invariably are school-yards or city parks with "No dogs" signs. Plus, his walks take place after 6:30pm, which is night-time and dark around here this time of year, be hard to see him in the dark. On the weekend, if I take him with me to work at my security job (problem is it's a 12-hour shift, he'd be with me all day, and the other two dogs would get horrendously jealous) , I could use the adjacent golf course like that, and Sunday's I could take him to the Edison corridor and "tresspass" in that big field under the heavy powerline towers during daylight hours.

Personally, I hate "heeling", polite, don't-yank is all I really need, that and sit when told. My animals will never be show beasts, i wouldn't want them to be, just happy pets.

[Carina43]

Originally posted by Blackstar

Personally, I hate "heeling", polite, don't-yank is all I really need, that and sit when told. My animals will never be show beasts, i wouldn't want them to be, just happy pets.

Then I would just concentrate on polite loose leash walking! :)
Heeling is quite precise...I only ask my dogs (the two who actually know what it is) to do it for very short periods of time - a few minutes at most.

One thing - to add a little structure to walks - is to teach your dog to sit at curbs. make them sit & wait each time you get to a curb & then give a release word to cross...use treats & praise when they sit. Eventually they will start doing this automatically! Dutch is learning. When we get to a curb and I slow down while he keeps going...I can say ahah, what do we do...? He's like oh yeah! And he sits. Quite gratifying. :)

[Blackstar]

Originally posted by Carina43
Then I would just concentrate on polite loose leash walking! :)
Heeling is quite precise...I only ask my dogs (the two who actually know what it is) to do it for very short periods of time - a few minutes at most.

One thing - to add a little structure to walks - is to teach your dog to sit at curbs. make them sit & wait each time you get to a curb & then give a release word to cross...use treats & praise when they sit. Eventually they will start doing this automatically! Dutch is learning. When we get to a curb and I slow down while he keeps going...I can say ahah, what do we do...? He's like oh yeah! And he sits. Quite gratifying. :)

Osiris is very good about sitting before he's even told at the corners before crossing the street. Angelica will stop and wait, but sometimes needs the butt push in addition to the command, that's why the older two are back-in-training as well.

When we took Angelica to obedience training (small, community-school type thing), the instruction never talked about casual walk, the only real walk she taught in the beginner class (we didn't bother with the advanced calss) was "Heel".

We're using a more free-from, culled from multiple books training right now, everyone getting started from square one, but Angelica and Osiris have the basics down better, they just need to re-learn to obey all commands... Xander is the fun (as in headache-inducing, obey-already, what's-wrong-with-you fun) one of the bunch, but seeing as how he's getting neutered Friday morning, maybe that will help...:D

[Bucky's Mom]

What kind of collar are you using? - If you do a search on collars you can read up on the various types available and their correct application - did you mention if you were in training classes? - I would try to take a few private lessons one on one so the instructor could show you the correct method to get the results you are looking for - then you can practice on your own - heeling isn't the issue at this point - leash manners are :)

[Blackstar]

No real time for training classes, we only have one vehicle, and I use it during the day from 7am-6:30pm getting to, being at, and getting home from work (almost an hour drive to work, 1-1 1/2 hours home), and My wife needs it for work 9am-7am. She has Thursdays and Sundays off (usually), I have Sundays off between the two jobs, so we're basically going this alone at the time.

During training, a standard "choke chain" with the quick jerk-release, make-it-click move...

[TrinityRun]

Originally posted by austin
Something that worked for us when the dog was going everywhere and tugging the leash was point-to-point training. It is a variation of what Nina did, that uses a little correction with the reward. Take him to a big field, put him on a long lead with the handle clasped firmly in your hand and start walking. Pay no attention to him. Whenever he starts going in another direction, abruptly go in the opposite direction. Don't slow down or look at him, just forge ahead. He'll get yanked, but that's ok. Whenever he's doing good and walking beside you, give him treats and lots of praise. After a few days of that, he should decide that walking beside you is the best place to be.

This reminded me of a tape I saw. David Somebody was the handler. Urgh - I don't usually forget names. Anyway, it's a variation of the methods Koehler used.

Not remembering his last name is going to bug me the rest of the day!

[Nina&Bill]

You can do the point to point training that Austin so thoroughly outlined while walking on the street. Instead of heading in the opposite direction when the pup wanders off simply stop & wait, reward when the pup returns to your side. You can keep treats like cheerios in your leash hand for rewarding while walking ("you're right by my side, good dog, here's a treat") and the dog will make the connection. It's still an ongoing process with Amber because any new and exciting place seems to result in her pulling, treats be d@mned. I'm seriously considering getting her a prong collar until we get this whole walking on a leash thing under control. And I've done the "treat in left hand while walking dog" and she did stick by my side like glue but it was more like walking a kangaroo as she kept trying to bounce up and reach the yummy treat

Amber does the same sort of leash biting that your pup does, but it's more of an "I'm all fired up & full of myself, let's go go go!". She doesn't even try it with the horse lead.

Fun fun fun :)

Nina