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3.TEACHING DOGS NOT TO PULL ON LEAD
Pretend you return to your house late at night and flick on a light
switch. What do you do if the light does NOT come on? Do you continue to
stand there in the dark flicking the same old switch over and over again?
Probably not! That would be a very UNREWARDING thing to do, wouldn't it?
You would DO SOMETHING ELSE -- go to a different lamp, change the bulb,
get out a flashlight. You would do something REWARDING.
A dog or puppy pulls on the leash in order to get where it wants to go.
What would happen if we did NOT move with that pulling dog or puppy? There
is no need for punishing collars. There is no need to jerk the leash or
use any force at all. If the dogs pull like work horses, we simply become
hitching posts.
What happens when the dog gets nowhere at all when he pulls? He will
NOT be rewarded for pulling on the leash! He will do something else.
Pull in a different direction? We continue to stand still like a hitching
post so the pulling behavior is not rewarding for the dog or puppy. What
if the dog turns and comes to us when we say his name? Celebrate! Time for
us to praise and give the dog a piece of kibble. We can then take a few
more steps with that dog. If he charges off pulling again, we simply
repeat our standing still until he pays attention to us and/or moves at
the brisk pace WE would prefer to walk.
This stop and go process may seem to take forever, but when done correctly
with praise and kibble rewards, the end result is a dog that is a pleasure
to walk -- a dog that is ADOPTABLE. Many dogs are turned in to shelters
simply because they cannot be walked on lead. If we unintentionally
reward dogs for pulling on lead by continuing to let them do so, their
pulling behavior will become stronger and more persistent. They ignore us.
They become completely desensitized to the collar, the leash and the
person on the other end of it.
Short leashes automatically cause any dog to pull. Dogs simply
can't take more than a couple of steps before a short leash tightens. If
you don't have a leash that is at least six feet long, you can create one
six feet or longer by securely fastening two shorter leads together.
Walking too slowly automatically causes any dog to pull. If you
watch dogs moving at their natural, preferred pace, you will notice they
are "dog trotting." It's easy enough for any of us to move
briskly with the smaller dogs so they can trot at their natural pace.
Things get a lot harder with the bigger, longer-legged dogs! Moving
briskly with the dog on a longer leash will give that larger dog a chance
to trot.
A behavior that is rewarded tends to be repeated.
A behavior that is repeated tends to become a habit.
Good habits are as hard to break as bad ones.
© Maggie Blutreich
BRAVO! Force-Free Training
Maggie Blutreich is a charter member of the Association of Pet Dog
Trainers,
an American Kennel Club Public Education Coordinator, an AKC Canine
Ambassador,
a member of the Animal Trainers Forum, an officer of the Piedmont Kennel
Club <mblutreich@carolina.rr.com> |
