This my friends, may not look loose, but believe me, the fact that I was able to aim a camera phone at her instead of hanging on with both hands is a HUGE improvement.
Of all the things I have done well with the training of my dog, walking on a leash is NOT one of them. I have messed this up 12 ways to Sunday, beginning with not starting early enough.
I was going to say I've never had a puller before, but that's not true. Our Cocker Spaniel/Lab mix was a puller for a short time. I've never had a dog strong enough for it to be an issue though. When a small dog pulls, you're like, oh, there's something on the end of that leash. When a medium dog pulls, it's annoying, but tolerable. And with Beathoven, he eventually stopped pulling though I don't remember how. Maybe it was the influence of our older dog, a Lhasa. But with a 60 lb plus dog, pulling becomes an exhausting workout. I know she doesn't fit the category of a large dog by any means, but she is freaking strong!
So anyways, when we brought home this adorable, about the size of the cats, 12 week old puppy, it was February. There was snow on the ground. I was not about to attempt teaching a puppy how to walk on a leash in the snow. I don't like the cold enough to walk in it period, let alone with a puppy. So the first time she was on a leash since coming home was Easter. She was a good dog and was already learning the boundaries of the yard, but a walk! Well, that was more excitement then she could handle. We tried a few corrective jerks of the leash but that was incredibly ineffective. So I started looking at positive training methods. I did the thing where you stop and wait for slack in the leash and marking it with a treat. This seemed to work, but then she'd take the treat and start pulling immediately and I began to feel like I was being played for treats. So I stopped. I tried walking with treats in my hand and feeding her whenever she'd "hit her mark" and this had some limited success. I tried a few other things as well though I'm having trouble remembering what all they were now. It was like I had trainer ADD. Not fast enough results, fine lets try something else. This isn't working, maybe try the first one again, or the third. Or maybe I can combine them.
I know now I didn't really give any of the methods enough time to become effective. I thought I'd finally made progress one night with the worlds slowest walk. I put her on a ridiculously short leash so she'd have to be right by my side and I'd know the instant that she released the tension on the leash so I could treat and praise. By the time the walk was 3/4 over, I was able to lengthen the leash and she "loose leashed walked" the rest of the way home. I was thrilled! Until the next day when she started all over again.
We've finally made progress. Improvement started with me changing direction. Literally. "You're going to pull forward, fine I'll walk the other way. You're going to pull that way, fine, back the way we came." I spent probably 15 minutes one day walking back and forth in front of the same 3 houses. Every time she'd bump my hand, she'd get a treat. Eventually she was walking like a normal dog and checking in for treats every once in a while. I felt victorious! She still pulls like crazy at the beginning of a walk, but by the end, we've settled into a much more comfortable routine. And bonus, the neighbors all know I'm crazy now so they've stopped giving me strange looks.
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