Now, for the not-so-fun-part. My dog has poor leash manners. I tend to avoid this topic because I'm not motivated to change it, I manage her when in public and we use(d to) use an x-back harness for walks in not-crowded public places. And I used an Easy Walk if I was feeling less lazy (the rate of reinforcement needed for the EW is actually pretty low, because I did attempt to train that a couple times in the last few years). A Gentle Leader was put on if we were going to be in a super crowded place.
The missing component? Teaching my dog to walk on a loose leash reliably.
The reason? I'm lazy and she got far better exercise running on property at home.
The justification? I'm lazy (What? Isn't that what all good trainers say?)
We were REALLY GOOD at walking in town this winter for exercise. We always went when nobody else was bound to be out, so we rarely had an issue that required her to be on a short leash at my side. Not irresponsible, but good planning I think!
Anyway, this post isn't to complain (rather... to brag!) because I've actually been training my dog! Her exercise(s) include 20-30 minutes of Leashed Walking (UFN) twice a day. How handy is it that I feed twice a day. How nice is it that she's eating kibbles that are easy to handle. I'm actually training my dog to do something practical! We do some sit stays occasionally, but no formal heeling (in fact, I do NOT click/treat if I'm getting eye contact--I want that body to stay as straight as possible), just some casual, loose leash walking.
Just don't ask about the rate of reinforcement for this whole Loose Leash Walking phenomenon yet, we've only had three sessions!
Bailey has woe.
3 comments:
aww I hope Bailey gets off restriction soon! But yay for training :) I'm a big stickler for LLW skills but it's so much easier to teach when they're younger. Little Chuck hasn't even had the chance to learn to pull yet since he's getting kibble shoved in his mouth constantly! Good luck on your project, I know you can finally do it!
I should be doing this, too. Really really. But I'm still lazy.
Steve's not terrible on a leash walking in the neighborhood, but he's not great. He could certainly benefit from work on LLW. And goodness knows that with him too on leash walk only restrictions, now would be an excellent time.
Here's hoping everybody heals up quickly!
I kicked it up a step tonight (read... tired/exhausted/lazy) and took both dogs out at once. It went reasonably well, but I also put the dreadful GL on her...
I think tomorrow morning we'll be back to walking dogs separately for a while again. Eugh. It takes me almost an hour to get them walked/stretched/fed in the morning now. It's a good thing I can get ready quickly!
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