Progress - lead.

[jami74]

I'm feeling quite proud of our progress, although we're still a long way from perfect. I would love any more input/advice people might have.

After practicing some nice loose lead walking inside our home and then venturing out, at first only a few steps up our garden path and gradually increasing the distance I found the tugging always started the minute we took a step further than we had previously been. I also noticed that his neck would fluff up and he'd start panting and if I picked him up he'd relax in my arms and be happy to be carried, so I put it down to a little bit of anxiety at being out of his known area. I worked on this by using tons of treats and each day going a few extra steps and increasing the frequency of treat dropping in the new areas so he would see the next treat drop as he finished the previous one.

If a car comes he lays down and I drop treats. Initially every car needed me to stand on his lead and stuff the treats in his mouth while he tensed up, but now cars at the same distance cause him to half heartedly drop, watch it patiently and then look at me for his treat. We visited a busy road over the weekend and sat on the grass verge, the traffic was closer and faster than we'd attempted before and while he was hyper alert and needed rapid fire treats he managed to not lunge or bark. We even managed a few steps of nice loose lead walking, again with rapid fire treats, next to the traffic before I ended it.

Today has been a particularly good day. This morning I took him to a park we've never visited before, he needed faster treats but we did nice walking stopping and dropping a couple of times to watch other dogs playing in the distance. No fluffy neck or panting. He wouldn't have coped with this a month ago. And this evening we walked to our local park, barely looked at the passing cars and laid down to watch a couple of people walking past but didn't need lots of treats to keep him still. Our local park is about a five minute walk away and is tiny (just about long enough and wide enough to play fetch with a ball but we don't as it's not fenced, just a big grass verge next to a quiet road really with a couple of benches). It was my original goal that we should be able to walk to the park of an evening and now we can, although it takes a lot of concentration on my part.

I think the treats have become a game, he likes snuffling in the grass for them and keeps his eye on me to see when I flick them. I can use a mark word and then treat only every other time (maybe every 6-8 steps) and that's enough to keep him from walking to the end of the lead. The treats keep him focussed on me, if he loses focus and wants to forge somewhere I change direction and he happily accepts that and comes back in line.

What's the next step from here though? Will I always need to carry a huge bag of treats to drop every few steps? Do you think that one day he will be able to walk nicely next to me and just enjoy the world around us without needing to be focussed on something? I'm quite happy dropping the treats, it's lovely to be able to walk him with a loose lead but I'm wondering if we'll ever be able to go on a walk that is not determined by the amount of sausage in my pocket. 

  

[Mandy1961]

Our puppy Harry is nearly 5 months old and it has been a slow learning experience with him. He has been to puppy classes where you continously give treats to get them to do anything, so I would not worry about the amount you have to give, he probably just takes comfort from this. Harry can walk good on a lead but it only takes a dog bark to frighten him and he is away. He lies down when approached by another dog apaarently this submissive behaviour is common with collies.

[D'Elle]

You will not always have to carry enough treats to drop every few seconds, although I always carry treats with me whenever I walk any dog, no matter the age or training level because I want always to be prepared to reward if appropriate. Your dog is new at this yet; don't worry. Some dogs wean themselves off the treats on their own time. They get the idea, learn the behavior, and it becomes automatic to the point that they are not always looking to you for a treat. Use them as long as you need to. As he matures and learn it won't be needed as much. Glad to hear you are making progress!

[brihop]

Hi, my 5 month old is pretty much the same although he doesn't constantly look for treats. Its quite funny, he can be walking along really well and you can see the light bulb go off in his brain and he remembers "oh I get a treat for walking nice". He still walks at the end of the lead but I would not class it as pulling. Whenever the lead gets too tense I stop and stand still. He quickly realises and stops himself and we walk on.

We went to our local trail park at the weekend and joined in with a dog walking group. Must have been 8 dogs of different breeds. He mixed in well and really seemed to know his limits and was respectful of the other dogs.

Brian

[jami74]

Today a person appeared from around the corner, unexpectedly  My boy wagged his tail, went down when I asked him, continued wagging his tail while watching the person walk past, then looked up at me for his treat  No lunging, barking or even tension on the lead. It was like he actually thought 'Oh good a person. This means treats'.

I've also found a really nice park next to a road but separated by a fence. We've visited it a couple of times to watch the traffic, bikes and people through the fence. It gets us close enough to be almost at threshold but the fence makes me feel less exposed than just being at the roadside. Next we're going to try walking up and down next to the fence while the traffic, bikes and people do their thing. I'm hoping eventually we'll move to the other side of the fence so we are by the road.