Walks

[running_dog]

I tied a knot in his leash, to mark where he should be, so i don't have to keep looking to see where-abouts he is.. I loosely carry the know in my hand, and leash is slack.......... And Buddy is just......there, calmly walking along so the leash is slack, right where he belongs!!

I have a knot in Zac's lead too! I think it is really important that a dog knows what you expect, different hand positions (and don't get me started on unthinking use of extending leads) mean that your dog doesn't know where he should be walking to keep the lead slack, how can we expect him walk loose leash when one day/minute/second the leash is 3' long and the next it is 2' 6"?

 

[tigerlily46514]

Yes, Running dog, i so agree,
that is a mistake i made for over a year,
is,
thinking that Buddy could learn to heel
on the shortened extenda-leash.......

*my* dog could NOT learn to heel on the shortened extenda-leash, since he was sooooooooooo accustomed to being able to lengthen that leash by pulling or walking faster.
It must have been confusing to him, one day he CAN pull his leash longer,
the next day, nope!!!

also, i now wonder,
if the slight, nonstop slight 'pull' of an extenda leash, was nullifying allllllllll my efforts to teach him to not pull...since he could feel a slight pull at all times.

I had NO IDEA how much difference WHICH LEASH i used made SO MUCH DIFFERENCE for *my* dog in learning to heel,
which in turn,
somehow
made it easier for him to be less reactive on walks.

who knew? now i shake my head at allllllllllll the time i wasted trying to teach him to heel on an extenda leash....duh to me!!

 

[tigerlily46514]

slightly off topic, but one other benefit i got from throwing out his extenda-leash
was,
i always used to 'think' that Buddy was getting 'more excercise'
by walking on an extenda-leash, since he could take so many more steps, running this way and that way as we walked, see? (that is how i saw it back then).

But since i threw away his extenda-leash, i am way more determined to get Buddy his daily full speed runs in emtpy
fenced-in school yards or cemetaries or parks,
than i was when i used his extenda-leash, (which gave me false sense that Buddy WAS getting more excercise than he actually was)

 

[tigerlily46514]

i thought of THIS THREAD today, at a park, a woman passed by with two black labs, both dogs in monstrous looking, spikey-prongy choke collars...

She had her daughter with her, and her daughter was holding the leash of the smaller, younger black lab, with the older woman showing her daughter how to yank the leash to choke the younger dog when he pulled.

I looked at the older dog, he was obviously an elderly dog, with a white muzzle and the walk of an older dog, but still pulling,
when he wanted to sniff at something or saw something interesting........and still wearing a choke collar...with gray hair on his face.
I figured he'd been wearing a choke collar his whole life...(but of course, i'll never know, was only a guess.)...........and he is still pulling, gray hair and all.

When i walked by, the younger puppy barked to me, and the woman jerked his leash and yelled NO! at the puppy.... Then, the older dog joined in the barking, too, it was cute, it looked like an after thought from the older dog to bark, you could tell he hadn't thought of it and was just joining in with the younger dog, or perhaps his owner yelling startled him and provoked him to bark along too?
and then the older dog got yanked and yelled at, as well.

bummed me out...

 

[bekah1001]

Awe poor doggies. I tried kikopup's methods and Brody has been starting to walk behind me (still training!). I am also trying rear end awarness

 

[tigerlily46514]

Yes, i much like Kikopup's method, of getting the dog who is pulling---------to "participate"(choose to return to me), is a good plan, reallly helped Buddy anyway.