Archive for the ‘heeling’ Category
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Even though it was so cold, I was surprised to pass only two people the whole hour we were out. Ace heeled without a leash as a runner approached us and then a walker. I didn’t trust him 100 percent to stay in heel position, but I trusted him not to jump or chase. To my surprise, he remained in heel position and barely glanced at the people. Good boy! It would’ve been another story had either of the people had dogs along or chosen to acknowledge the mutt. Instead, they ignored us and continued on their way. Of course, I would have clipped the leash back on Ace if there had been any dogs involved. One reason Ace heels well off leash is because he can’t pick up any tense signals from me through the leash. Sometimes owners (myself included!) will anticipate a dog’s behavior and unintentionally pull or tighten the leash before the dog even does anything wrong. All this does is make the dog more anxious and encourage her to pull or lunge. As for Ace, he did a lot better than I expected on our walk. I broke it up into sections of heeling on leash and heeling off leash. I like having a dog walk at my side, but there is also something great about watching a dog frolic around just being a dog. That’s why I rewarded Ace with time to run. I always make sure to call him every few minutes when he is running and then release him right away so he doesn’t associate coming to me with getting back on the leash. We also spent some time playing fetch. I was surprised that even when I allowed Ace to be “free,” he preferred to walk at my side most of the time. This isn’t normal for him, so I’m hoping my practice has paid off, and it wasn’t just the Prednisone. We never made it to the dog park because after we left Lindenwood, we were both too cold to do much else. I made Ace wear his vest, which he was not thrilled about. But when it’s cold out, he shakes without it. It sucks for black dogs with short hair. They are always cold in the winter but hot in the summer. This is day eight of my 30-day challenge to work with my dog on loose-leash walking. Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts. Don’t forget that the top commenter between last Friday and this Friday will win a copy of “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Dogs.”
It’s awfully cold in Fargo already (windchill currently 10 degrees), so I’m not too excited about walking. I might have to bust out Ace’s camouflage vest. He hates his vest and doesn’t understand it keeps him warm. An important part about teaching loose-leash walking is to challenge the dog, but not to challenge him too much. Ace is ready to work with more challenges such as oncoming dogs and heeling while off leash, but before getting to that point I had to work with him on boring streets, in parking lots and at obedience class. He has always been the best behaved at obedience class because he knows that’s where we work on heeling, and he is expected to behave. Since dogs learn from repetitions, that explains why Ace heels so well when it’s just him and I walking down the street. We’ve done it for miles and miles since the day I got him! Sometimes it takes hundreds of repetitions before a dog learns a command or behavior, so it’s no surprise that so many dogs act out of control when their owners bring them to a new place. When our dogs act inappropriately and embarrass us, it’s easy to remove them from the situation and never return. But in order for dogs to learn how to act in all situations, they need to practice in all situations. When puppies are being trained as future service dogs, their foster families bring them everywhere they go in order to expose the pup to as many environments as possible. The typical family dog rarely gets out of his yard, so it’s no wonder he practically strangles himself when his owner attempts to bring him to Petco once a year. For dogs that pull, my suggestion is to start small. First practice heeling indoors, then in the backyard, then in the neighborhood and parking lots nearby. Then progress to more challenging places. This is day six of my 30-day challenge to work with my dog on loose-leash walking. Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts. Don’t forget that the top commenter between last Friday and this Friday will win a copy of “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Loving Our Dogs.”
Ace needs practice with more distractions, so I plan on taking the mutt to some more exciting locations such as the dog park. I will drive to the park like normal and then walk in that area for a half-hour or so with him. He is usually pretty bad once we pull into the parking lot and will pull me to the gate if he can get away with it. Ace was not so good yesterday when I walked him through the field behind where we live. The smells in the grass were too tempting, and he was constantly putting his nose to the ground. Rather than popping the leash, it works better to offer Ace treats to get him to look up and focus on me. I’ve unintentionally trained him to look at me when I say “here,” so now I take advantage of that when I need him to make eye contact. Another trick is to stop walking all together, so he sits and automatically looks up. Although it’s annoying when Ace has his nose in the grass, I was glad he wasn’t pulling ahead. I’m also happy when I see his scent instincts kick in rather than his retrieving side! This is day four of my 30-day challenge to work with my dog on loose-leash walking. Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts. (Image from flickr.com) |
