Passing other Humans or Dogs

[nim00053]

Hello,

 

My pup is 8 months and still learning and each day. I'm getting better control with walking. When we are by ourselves he is fantastic and when he occasionally pulls I stop and he returns right away no problem.

 

When we try to pass other Humans or dogs he gets really excited and tries to pull towards them. If I stop and he can't pull further he just hops on his back legs. I try to lure him with treats but he just ignores them.

 

I've tried practicing with my mum with her only approaching my dog if he sits and he does this really well but he hasn't seemed to grasp this with strangers or when we are out walking.

 

Any advice?

 

Thanks x

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello Nim00053,

Welcome to the forums!

You are on the right track with your 8 month "pup" and it's great to hear that you are getting better control with walking. It sounds like though you are struggling with distractions and your dog is over threshold when there are humans or dogs around. There are several things you can do to ameliorate the situation but it will need lots of practice and working at a distance at first and then gradually decreasing distance. Here are some tips:

 

- Invest in a no-pull harness. If your dog is large and difficult to control on walks, try to invest in a front-attachment harness (harness where the leash attaches to a clip in the middle of the dog's chest). Examples of these are Premier's Easy Walk Harness, the Walk Your Dog with Love Harness and the Sensation harness. Hopping on the back legs when hitting the end of the leash is often a strategy dogs use to gain more leverage/momentum to gain an extra inch or two closer to what they would like to reach. While a no-pull harness can help reduce pulling, it's important to note that it's just one part of the resolution of the problem. It won't magically stop your dog from pulling and trying to run up to people or other dogs. In order to set your dog for success, you will also have to implement some training under threshold.

 

- Work under the threshold. What is the threshold? It's that fine line where your dog is no longer capable of obeying your commands and appears to no longer have a brain. When your dog reaches this point of no return, you can try to pull, yank, shout and even dangle a juicy piece of steak as much as you can, but it does not seem to make its way to your dog's brain. It almost looks like all the circuits are off and the brain is unplugged. In order to resume some reasoning, therefore you need to work UNDER the threshold. Here is a general guide on dog threshold levels:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

 

If your dog is too revved up to take treats or listen to your commands, you are therefore exposing him too close to the other dogs/people. You really need to step back a bit to regain some control. Keeping him too close to other dogs/people creates these precise problems:

 

- By walking your dog very closely to other dogs/people your dog feels more compelled to fulfill his desire. This means your likeliness of being pulled and dragged is much higher and the other dogs are more likely to come closer. The more your dog gets to pull or the more other dogs come closer, the more your dog will be rewarded. Rewards tend to reinforce behavior, and therefore, the behavior will put roots and become hard to extinguish over time. Your dog's mind will reason this way ''pulling makes me get closer and possibly meet and mingle with other dogs/people, and therefore, I will continue to behave this way''. This creates a vicious cycle which is hard to extinguish.

 

- Working your dog over the threshold, will not help your dog learn anything other than rehearsing the undesired behaviors. Dogs learn best when they are put into a situation where they can cognitively function.

 

Therefore, it would help greatly if you can work on finding a distance from where your dog is better under control and not too aroused. It will not matter if the distance is 5 feet, 15 feet, 50 feet, or even 80 feet. Once found the distance where your dog is calmer and capable of taking treats, you will work from there and try asking some focus commands.

 

-Train focus commands that offer an alternate behavior to the pulling. These alternate behaviors to the pulling can be sit, look into my eyes, heeling or attention heeling- which is my favorite, that is, a dog walking next to you while glaring in your eyes, you can find how to train this here:https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ ) Practice any of these a lot at home, then in the yard. You need to make the behavior extra fluent before going on walks. Practice a lot in the yard and with familiar people. You can try several different exercises and see which ones your dog responds better to. Young puppies, hyper dogs or dogs nervous around people or other dogs, may find stationary exercises such as "sit" a bit difficult and may do better with heeling exercises. Once better under control, they can then practice with sits.

 

-Make sure you have high value treats. On walks,they have to be very, very high-value treats. Consult with your vet if your dog has a medical condition or your dog has a sensitive tummy. Find what really piques your dog's interest and makes him drool. Consider that what works at home and in the yard, won't likely work in overly stimulating environments. You may also find it helpful coordinating the sessions when your dog's stomach is empty so to increase saliency of the treats. A full tummy is not very motivating.

 

-Gauge progress and setbacks. If your dog shows signs of progress from a certain distance for some time, then it's likely time to reduce distance. You must very gradually, work your way up to more distracting environments with people /dogs at a closer distance where your dog still doesn't react. If your dog loses focus on you, consider that he might not be ready for that certain level of distraction or he may be tired if you have practiced too long. Take a few steps back and resume from there or end the training on a positive note and resume the training another day.

 

-Daily walks. While distance can help keep a dog better under threshold so does frequency of walks and practicing often. Daily walks are important. Seeing dogs and only people only every now and then increases their saliency. There is a phenomenon known as "suburban dog syndrome" which takes place in dogs who live in suburban areas and are reactive to seeing dogs and people because they are not frequent sights. If you walk your dog only on weekends or every now and then, things get more difficult. A daily walk or two, even if short (10-15 minutes) and just seeing one dog at a distance and him showing a bit of progress can suffix and you can call it a day.

 

-Enlist the help of some volunteers. Ask them to walk past your dog and totally ignore him while you work on practicing sits, the look at me game and attention heeling. Again, be careful to gauge his reaction to you and the person. If he can't seem to focus, work from a farther distance and build up some progress gradually from there.

 

-Practice with a friend. If you have a friend with a very mellow dog you can practice with, have her hold her dog on leash at a distance your dog is under threshold and practice the alternate behavior exercises. If all goes well, over several sessions, you can decrease distance and perhaps do parallel-walking exercises with you on one sidewalk and your friend on the opposite sidewalk. You can then progress over more sessions, to you and your friend walking next to each other with the dogs at opposite sides to maintain distance between the dogs.

 

-Even better, enroll in dog training classes. Group classes offer the ideal controlled setting to help your dog learn to behave calmly despite the presence of other dogs. Alternatively, have a trainer follow you around for private classes and in-person coaching. The trainer can help ensure your dog is under threshold, observe your dog's body language and coach you on when you are ready to progress to the next levels and troubleshoot problems.

 

-Go to the city. This is one my favorite tips for reducing the saliency of people/other dogs. It must only be done only once the dog has shown calmer behaviors though. Have you ever noticed how generally well-behaved dogs in the city are? This is because they see people on a daily basis and lots of them too! It might help if every now and then you can schedule a trip to the city or other crowded places to keep your dog up-to-date on his training. After seeing many people, all the enthusiasm fades away in excited greeters as the presence of people is no longer as salient as it previously was. Your dog's senses will eventually tire after seeing many people; this allows him to practice and rehearse calm behaviors.

 

-And don't forget about exercise. If your dog is a ball of energy before walks, he will be harder to control and over threshold. Drain a good part of his energy by playing games in the yard that have him running and panting. Let him drink and then go on the walk.

 

-Patience and realistic expectations. Realize that changing dog behavior takes time. Embrace progress and its exhilarating feeling but don't get too excited that you progress too fast. Slow and steady wins the race. And don't forget to pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

 

Hope this helps,

Best,

Adrienne

Edited February 20, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli