I’m not here to re-invent the wheel. People have been successfully teaching their doggy students how to walk with their dogs for decades before I was born.
I love all the techniques. Clicker, shaping, luring…and so many more.
The things, however, that I hear myself saying over and over are the following:
* I want my dog to Walk WITH me!
* I shouldn’t feel my dog on the end of the leash.
* They should not walk in front of me – it’s a tripping hazard.
* If you want 100% from your dog, you have to give THEM 100% too! How can you tell if they’re doing it right if you’re not watching?
* There are 3 levels of connection when teaching walking skills. Food, Eyes, Ears. This means you use your food to lure the behavior, your eyes connected to theirs, and their ears listening for instructions and praise. These will keep you connected to your dog.
* Look exactly where you want your dog to be and they will be there. Dogs, for the most part, want to see your face. I personally believe they’re looking to us for guidance as well as companionship.
* Chat your dog up! Tell them how good they’re being. If you’re talking to them and looking at them, they’re less likely to see all the other distractions.
* Loose leash walking is one of the hardest skills for beginners since every step brings new stimuli that you and your dog have to overcome (i.e. you have to know how to keep your dogs attention when they see a squirrel, leaf, new smell, breeze, sound etc)
* Walking is actually a combination of many skills. A final product is the equivalent of competition level dancers. They both know their dance steps, but one leads and the other follows. You need to become the leader.
So what does that mean?
And how do I get from 100% of my attention with constant food to casual walking where I just check in with my dog as we go?
Well, to start with, let’s review the introduction to walking.
Your command for this is “Lets go!”. This is not heeling.
- Show your pup some food. Hold it at nose height facing him and say “lets go!”. Look at them (look where you want them to be) and talk to them telling them how good they’re doing as you let them lick at and nibble at the food as you walk (Reinforcement rate 100% – food and verbal praise).
- Next, I recommend slowly reducing your food reinforcer while still giving 100% of your eyes and words. LOOK at the spot you want them to be in. This allows you to start standing up straight and looking down at your dog. Don’t forget to show them your smiling face J
- After you’ve successfully reduced the number of treats to casual and random reinforcement you can start looking in the direction you are walking. Keep your peripheral vision on your dog and don’t look away for more than 2 or 3 steps in the beginning. We are reducing this connection/reinforcer the same way we reduced our food.
- At this point in time, humans tend to naturally reduce the verbal reinforcers. Try to keep yourself talking or ready to chat with your dog.
- Eventually, all reinforcers (talking, food and eye contact) will be random reinforcers.
As I said, there are MANY aspects to this. Other questions I receive are:
Well, what do I do when my dog rushes ahead?
To this, I say stop moving. When he rushes ahead and there is tension on the leash just stop! When your pup looks back or moves in a way that relaxes the tension on himself, give him ALL of the leash without letting go and MARK the loose leash behavior. At that point in time you can either continue walking with your dog in the same direction or change direction. Make sure to mark the correct location of walking with you. I will change directions frequently (aka crazy walking) as a reminder to my dog that she needs to pay attention to me. They tend to look at me like “u’oh, she’s lost her mind again, I better pay attention to see which direction she’s going to go this time!”
What if he’s not paying attention?
Well, to this I’d say you’re not paying attention either. I don’t mean that to be mean. But remember, you have to be of equal or greater value/interest than the thing your dog is distracted by. You will develop the skills of observation your dog has. It just takes time. You will also learn to take treats with you everywhere as an added attention grabber and reinforcement when your dog gets completely overwhelmed by something.
This is not a 6 week skill. This is a lifelong skill. I have walked beginner dogs for people just to get an idea of how I need to help the owner. Most times, because I’ve been leading this dance for quite a while, the dog falls into position with low levels of reinforcement quickly. Owners say things like “You make it look so easy” or “will you take my dog for a few weeks?” To this I laugh and say that I could take your dog but I’d still have to teach you how to work him when I give him back. Why not learn WITH him for longer success. If we learn with our dogs we will also learn their personalities. And THAT is really why we have dogs in our lives. We all look for that one perfect dog. The one who just understands what we want. I’m here to teach you how to talk to your do so he understands.
Remember, I LIVE day in and day out in this mindset. I do this Every day! I want very much to help you learn how to lead this dance. It’s usually pretty easy for your dog to follow. I just want to teach you how to dance and have fun with your dog.
Be patient. Be playful.
See you on the trails.
05/26/2013
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