Seamus Is Making Leash Training Impossible. Help?

[tigerlily46514]

The belt ideas are great, so is that harness idea from SouthernGirl!! I put Buddy's ordinary cloth leash on a belt i borrowed from my guy, and WA-LA, instant belt-leash. Men belts are very strong and can fit over your coat, too, so borrow one from Dad.

One more idea, for painful hands, is, get an extenda leash with a very comfortable grip, some are rubbery padded a bit, nice feel to them.
BUT, and listen to me real careful here,
do NOT let Seamus know it extends, for real, just don't do it. NOt while he is in training, not even once. I made this mistake, i learned that the hard way.
Later on, after Seamus is "Mr. NeverPulls" the king of loose leash walking, then you can let him know about "this leash gets longer if you pull". LIke maybe this winter, lol!!

so til Seamus has learned loose leash walking,
if you get an extenda leash with comfortable grip, measure out how many feet you want (not many) and LOCK IT THERE, AND TIE A LITTLE KNOT in the leash right there, so it is consistent for Seamus to get the hang of "how long the leash IS".

again, you have to get everyone on board for this, no one can ever unlock it and let Seamus find out "if you pull, this leash gets longer" while he is in training.

 

[tigerlily46514]

One more idea, is, take your cloth leash, tie a knot in it, so knot is in your hand, and the amount of leash left is where you want Seamus to be. Practice this with Seamus on leash, to see how much leash is left, etc, to mark juuuust the right spot that you want.

cover knot with super soft fabric, like one of those super soft soft fuzzy slipper-socks, cut the toes off to fit over the knot. If necessary, you can even stitch a few stitches in it, to make it fit or stay over the knot.

Nice bonus: everyone in family will walk Seamus at same length of leash.
It's hard for a dog, if one person gives him all 6 feet of leash, and next one gives him 3 feet of leash....it is confusing to the dog to have to change how far away he can be, every time he walks.

 

[tigerlily46514]

//He doesn't bite it unless it's on him and he's started off. So, doing the training with him just getting exposure to the leash is useless//

no, it's not, the puppy in the video probably didn't bite the leash til it was on HIM, either, the steps in that video are called "conditioning" a dog. You'd still start just where Kikopup started, step by step, helping dog make a NEW association in his little doggie head about the leash. Conditioning a dog is not something you do AFTER the dog is excited and biting his leash----it's a lesson, an exercise, to teach/reward dog for what you DO want, see?

to teach a dog calmness===> you REWARD him for calmness,
so you begin where and when the dog IS calm, and REWARD that, and move up from there, as explained in the video. Again, dogs notice and tend to repeat stuff they ARE rewarded for.
Might not make sense to YOU, but it WILL make sense to Seamus!

That puppy in video is being rewarded for being calm while next to leash, BEFORE he has lost his mind in excitement. Then she escalates it to a moving leash, and so on.

Waiting til he HAS flipped out, then there's no way to teach a dog who is flipped out how to be calm. (except wait til calmness returns and reward that)
Instead, what kikopup is doing, is BEFORE the dog is flipped out, you capture, and reward the dog for being calm, next to a boring leash, then next to an moving leash, and advance along from there, see? Teaching the dog calmness for being next to the leash is where you START the lesson, see?

but, you can also do try "Wait It Out" routine, if you want to. Might be easier for you, hope this helps.

 

[SD&B]

Where is he when you have the leash on him and he is "started off"? Are you still in the house and this is the second that you put the leash on him? If so, you can work on calmness during the leashing process and work on extending that calmness after leashing. For example, c/t for him remaining calm when you get the leash, then c/t for calmness when moving your hand towards his collar, then c/t for calmness when attaching the leash, then c/t for calmness when you remove your hand, then c/t for taking one calm step towards the door, etc.... Baby steps all the way. Asking for a sit or down may help during the leashing process. Are the walks necessary (potty walks)? If not, then do not go on the walk until he is calm. If he bites the leash, take it off, don't go on the walk, and try again later. That means you might not make it out of the house at all for the first few times. This kind of training is best accomplished by yourself, unless the person also going on the walk has the appropriate patience. However, you do have to limit anyone else from taking him for walks or make sure they train him the same way. Otherwise, you have what is called the "Uncle Freddy" factor. (You teach your dog not to beg, but Uncle Freddy is feeding him all kinds of scraps under that table and then you wonder why your dog continues to beg, even though you've done everything right.)

 

[tigerlily46514]

you know what, Caitkoi, as result of SD&B's thread which sort of discussed giving a dog unconditional love, i wish now, in my post in reply #18 where i offer a "Wait It Out" routine, to try for Seamus being too excited to leash/biting the leash, and then starting out walk in frenzy of too much excitement,
i wish now, i had not said "ignore the dog". In fact, you could indeed, look at him, etc, but i mean do not put leash ONTO him, til after he quiets down.
You can also offer him a few slooow blinks,
and a yawn, when he is looking at you,
or a deep sloooow exhalation out of your nose.
(all three are dog language for "calm down/i'm calm"). Seamus will know what you said, he may yawn back, or he may turn his head away, both are "good answers"........... now, whether he is able to comply with your signal to calm down or not, is another thing!

You putting the leash on him to prepare to walk him, when he settles down, IS rewarding his calmness. and don't forget to CLICK/TREAT the calmness, too. and calmly praise him for doing right thing. (not squealing praise, but quieter calm praise cuz you don't want to excite him)

When he is leashed, and leaping about, you can look at him, but don't go forward, til he is settled down. CLICK/TREAT and move forward to the door. No scolding, no yanking necessary, and, as you may have found out, that stuff doesn't work anyway.
FROM THERE, you have tons of options already in the videos and posts on things to try for loose leash walking.

 

[JazzyandVeronica]

Everyone already gave really wonderful, technical advice...so I am just going to state the obvious.

Is he getting enough exercise? The first thing I would try, if you haven't already; is to tire him out. Are you able to take him to a safe, fenced in area to run and play off leash? I would let him knock himself out, then work on loose leash walking when he has drained all that excess energy.

I know for my dog she has to run. Not as much now that's she's 6; but still I can tell when she has to run; because she gets all...bratty and wound up and can't concentrate.

 

[tigerlily46514]

i sort of thought same thing, Jazzy, is a great point, but, i sort of /kind of slightly got my leash yanked on another thread for suggesting/asking that, which left me shy to put it forth again!
BUT JAZZY HAS A VERY GOOD QUESTiON, how much exercise IS Seamus getting per day?

 

[Caitikoi]

You guys! Seamus is getting it! I remembered that we have a leash that is chain at the front, the only part he can reach, and after a while HE GOT IT! He was walking calmly next to me! Of course, he started pulling after a bit each time, BUT HE'S DOING IT!

 

[tigerlily46514]

WONDERFUL!!! Just wonderful!! Good thing that SouthernGirl had the chain leash idea!!! WHOOOT!! KUDOS!!

Now Caitkoi, don't be discouraged if you find out, it's sometimes a bit off/on about the "no pulling", it takes a while for the puppy to be good at it for half of the time, then most of the time,
and even longer to be good at "never" ever pulling, so be patient!!

BUT THIS A WONDERFUL START!!! Now do hang in there, okay!!? BUT YAY FOR YOU!!!

 

[southerngirl]

That's Fantastic!! I'm glad they he is starting to figure out pulling gets him no where. Please keep us updated and continue to stay patient with him. If you have anymore questions just ask, everyone will be glad to help.

 

[Pawtential Unleashed]

CONGRATS! That first few days of no pulling are the hardest but he's getting it now!

 

[Caitikoi]

He's doing really well with walking by me in the hallway. But his problem areas are still when we go out the door (he RUNS), and being able to go outside :C After some training inside, I figure, "This must be getting boring, how about we try to go outside?" But no, he starts barking at people outside and cars before we even get through the door. I always take him in as soon as he barks.

/sigh Well, baby steps! After all, he is a baby.

 

[tigerlily46514]

For the running to door, you could look over the "Wait It Out" routine, if you wanted to.

You might also want to look over Jazzy's very very good question, too. IF IF IF you are working with a dog who is NOT getting enough exercise, all YOUR work will be tripled, it's very very hard to work with some dogs who don't get chances to run full speed every day, and plenty of exercise, etc etc.

This video is for barking on walks. You might not get it, as again, this is working with dog BEFORE he has a problem or a reaction, (BEFORE he barks),
and that concept doesn't seem to make sense to you, so this video might not be helpful to you, but, who knows, maybe you can still try to do these things for barking on walks, if you wanted to:

//
he starts barking at people outside and //

remember, yanking and scolding will be ineffective for this barking, is mostly a waste of time and not helpful to the dog, scolding and yanking does not teach the dog what you DO want him to do instead.....it's not the way to help Seamus, at all.

 

[tigerlily46514]

//he starts barking at..... cars//


THIS ONE, for barking at CARS----might be way easier for you to solve,
than the barking at humans issue, cuz dogs generalize objects much more readily than they do humans.
In simpler terms, once you convey to Seamus, you want him to be calm about a FEW cars, he will begin to be calm about ALL cars, is what i meant.

YOu may have to begin with YOUR dog a lil further back, than the dog in this video,
and then over time, THEN begin working closer to the cars:
(again, I hope you don't get impression "one lesson = it's solved", cuz this is an exercise to do, over and over, for many days or even a few weeks, to help Seamus learn HOW to be calm when he sees cars)

GOOD LUCK, CAITKOI, YOU CAN DO IT!! AND CONGRATS AGAIN ON THE PROGRESS WITH LOOSE LEASH WALKING!! YESssssss!!

 

[Dogster]

CONGRATS on the progress!!!! Keep us posted!!!!