Leash training

[Smaug]

Looks like I need some advice.  Chase will not walk with a leash.  He just sits down and won't move.  If I am patient enough he will walk where ever he wants to as long as there is no tension on the leash.  As soon as I decide to go a different direction, he will sit or lay down and refuse to move.  I am getting tired of picking him up.  Please help......

[shangrila]

I have two suggestions for you to try.

The first is the method I used to teach Zoey when to walk. You take a small treat, hold it at dog-nose-level and say 'let's go' and then start walking - the pup will follow the treat. Walk for a bit, then give the treat; you can gradually increase the distance before the treat. Eventually they will learn that 'let's go' means that they need to walk.

Another one to try is to buy a small stuffed animal with a squeeker in it. Bring it with you outside. Squeek the toy to get your pup excited about it, then throw it a few feet ahead. The pup will want to walk forward to catch the toy. They can carry it for awhile, and you can throw it again if the pup stops again.

Good luck!

[Smaug]

Thank you very much.  I will try both methods.  He obeys so well in the house, he just seems to have a hang up when he's on a leash.  Thank you.

[Stacey]

I had to ask the same question a few months ago about Tonka and shagrilas suggestion about the treats did the trick!  I took me one day and then after that (and still) it is just perfecting (heel, ect.) but it is a heck of a lot better than dragging a puppy behind me who is doing his impression of a bucking bronco at the end of a leash lol!  Good luck!

[tvsjessica]

I'm having this problem with Daisy, but it only occurs when we try to walk around the neighborhood.  She's perfect on leash in the backyard, at the park, at the beach, and in other public places where there are other people, but she will not budge from the driveway once she realizes we aren't getting in the car.  The treat/toy methods don't work - she's so freaked out that she won't pay attention to me or them.  What should I do?

[Anky]

I'm having this problem with Daisy, but it only occurs when we try to walk around the neighborhood.  She's perfect on leash in the backyard, at the park, at the beach, and in other public places where there are other people, but she will not budge from the driveway once she realizes we aren't getting in the car.  The treat/toy methods don't work - she's so freaked out that she won't pay attention to me or them.  What should I do?

Awww crap, I'm gonna butcher Moni's saying.  Something about Redirect, reward and praise....  Get her mind off of it and on to something else.  Spin around in circles, start dancing, anything to confuse her then stride off like nothing happened.  Once she starts to follow you praise her like there's no tomorrow, give her treats, make her feel like a princess.  When I used to ride horses all the time if they were being obstinate, something you'd do is make them spin in circles for a while and then when you have them going straight again, they forget why they were being a pill in the first place. 

[ZooCrew]

One thing that works really well for puppies, that kind of goes along with what Ang is suggesting is to make a really strange noise.  Puppies will almost always come running to you to see what just came out of your mouth.  You will look silly in front of your neighbors, but believe me, it works.

I can get mine to come with a whistle, but some noises that work really well are: monkey/ape, kittne/cat, and what works really really good is dinosaur/eagle.  Suck in air thru your mouth and while you're doing that make as high a pitch noise as possible.  It still gets Gunther every time.      I don't use it for recall, just in play, buy hey, whatever works.  If you're not into looking silly, an easy thing to do is take a sqeaker out of a toy, take the bulb end off, put the noisemaker in your mouth and blow.  Mom instantly becomes a giant squeaky toy, much more interesting than the toy itself.

Does she do this no matter how far you are from your house?  Or just right in front of your house and once you are away from it she's fine?

[tvsjessica]

I don't really mind looking silly - I look much sillier when my dog just freezes and I look like an idiot and bad mom. 

I think it's just as long as she knows where home is, that's where she wants to be.  If we somehow make it up the block and I let her turn around, she pulls on the leash to get home and I have to stop and wait for her to stop pulling every few steps, so it takes us about 20 minutes to get home.  She was doing okay our first week, when in the middle of our walk, a car drove by with a huge sheepdog in the backseat that barked REALLY loud and really scared her (and me, actually).  Since then I've tried taking different routes but it doesn't help.  Even if we park a block away and walk home, she freezes until she realizes where home is and then starts pulling like crazy.  It's as if she's afraid of being out in open spaces without people - the sidewalks are deserted, she's scared.  Crowded areas, she's perfect.

I'll try the noise thing when I can walk again (I broke my ankle on a chew toy), but I don't know if it will work.  I've been doing it on a smaller scale, and she'll walk for a few steps, and then freeze again.  After a while she just starts ignoring me because we've gotten so far from home. 

[mastiffmommy]

All the tips are great. The puppies I have had a lot of problem with, I have done the "mommy is being an idiot" game. Combine strange noices with jump, dance, go down and pat the pavement, say something like cooooomsie coooomsei puppiese duppesie yey ohhhh yaaaa sooo gooooood, in a real happy voice (your husband and kid will not walk with you ever again, but the dog usually think you are too much fun to resist) take little steps, end of leash and do the "thing" hopefully that distracts them and they come to you because you are just too crazy to turn down lol.

When she pulls for home, turn the other way, and do the same thing to get her attention, when she comes to you praise of course, then continue towards the house again. The idea is to make her see that if she behaves the way you want her to, she gets the reward, in this case the reward is to go home (and bunches of praise and some treats)

Good Luck

Marit