Serious leash pulling

[Christine]

Good Morning!  I have a 6 month old English Golden Retriever names Miles and we have been involved with clicker training since for the past two months.  I like the positive reinforcement, and I believe it does work.  The first session was the basic puppy kindergarten "Pup Scout Level 1" and now Miles is in "Pup Scout Level 2".  It has been effective for the basic socialization, manners, commands & training, and now we are doing new commands with more distractions.  Let's face it, going to the class is one big distraction in itself. My husband and I are having a very difficult time with Miles' serious leash pulling, and I know that having a treat to encourage him to look at me, and keep his attention on the task at hand is the thing to do.  I feel like we are regressing on something very basic as walking on a leash.  It is the same issue when trying to do daily walks several times a day, a battle!  When I ask the instructor, she says to not let him pull, because by doing so he gets his reward, yet she does not encourage us pulling him back, but again trying to get him to focus on "look at me" seems to fall on deaf ears.  I know that I am feeling frustration, and that Miles can sense it and I do not know what to do to get him to stop pulling.  My thought is to go downstairs inside our home where there is more room and start over again leash walking with a short leash until we reach a point that Miles remembers what he should be doing.  I am also thinking of not continuing with the rest of the class until we can master not pulling on the leash!  The instructor can see the difficulty that we are having, and I don't feel like she is helping as much as she should.  The whole thing with the clicker training is that I almost need a second set of hands to handle leash, treats, and clicker while Miles is pulling.  Any suggestions would be so much appreciated...thank you! 

[Adrienne]

Hi Christine,

Welcome to the forums!

I hear you! I have had many dog owners have come to me because they felt they weren't getting from dog trainers the help they needed. Here's the thing; when doing group classes, it's not too easy to give that level of individual attention most dog owners need. This can be because there's so much to cover in classes and in very little time and often there are classes following classes so time is short in between. Also, in the training area, things seem very easy because it's a controlled environment, whereas, when we then go apply what our pups learned from class into the real world, that's where things often start falling apart. This is because we have many more distractions and these work against us. There are several things though we can do in these cases.

Firstly, I want to point out that this may be just a temporary phase. Your pup just turned 6 months old, and is now in the full adolescent stage. You can read about what happens in this stage here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/

During this time, things may regress a bit and this is explained under the "stuck in a duh moment."

I fully agree with your trainer not to allow the pulling as this will reinforce the behavior, and I also agree with the not pulling back. However, I still think we need some type of consequence for this behavior, otherwise you the leash pulling will put roots and strengthen (yes, even undesirable behaviors are subject to the power of positive reinforcement since pulling gets them closer to whatever they are trying to explore/sniff/greet). 

So here are a few tips that come to mind: 

-Provide some sort of consequence. Every time your dog pulls, make sure there is a consequence. The consequence doesn't need to be something aversive such as delivering a harsh leash correction. It can be as simple as stopping walking or turning the opposite way. I personally, like to stop and wait for the dog to realize that he doesn't get anywhere if he isn't walking with me. I adhere to the rule that "a loose leash is my accelerator and a tense leash is my brake" and apply it consistently. "

-Avoid behavior chains. Now sometimes, with some smart dogs, we may get stuck with them pulling in a yo-yo fashion. They'll be pulling, then they come to us for a treat, then forge ahead and pull, then come get a treat etc. This a behavior chain that requires some skill to stop. I work on this with providing frequent feedback.

If your dog does this, the moment he pulls ahead, you can use a slowing down option to put in the middle of the two behaviors (heeling next to you and pulling.  In other words, right after your dog has eaten the treat after several steps of heeling, start slowing down and then stop in your tracks the moment he reaches the end of the leash.

Imagine being a tree, where as your dog starts pulling, you start getting heavier, slowing down and then you stop in your tracks, put roots and "become a tree."  You want to anticipate your dog in this. If you do this enough times, your dog will come to learn that "When I start to pull, my owner slows down, when I reach the end of the leash my owner stops, when I don't pull my owner keeps walking and I even get tasty treats! Pulling or trying to pull is not good if I want to keep walking!"

You can even issue a warning that you are about to slow down by saying a split second prior to slowing down something like "slow down" and then "oops, tree spell!" (or anything else) once you put roots and stop walking. This pre- warning will help your dog succeed as he will learn to adjust his pace to yours upon hearing you pronounce that, while the "tree spell" works to get your dog's attention and understand what is happening.

So once your dog understands, that, when he forges ahead and pulls you slow down and stop, you'll notice more occasions of him walking next to you which you can promptly reward so he learns it's great to stick nearby. 

Other tips that come to mind:

-Add duration to leash walking. When your dog is walking nicely next to you, try your best to add duration by feeding your dog  more treats (always in the reward zone which is next to you!) to keep him more consistently by your side. In other words, try to don't give him a chance to forge ahead.

You may need to give more treats initially, but then you can start spacing them out more and more to the point that you’ll be able to walk your dog on a loose leash for an occasional reward (variable schedule of reinforcement).The good thing is that your treats don't need to be big for this task, you can break a treat in several smaller pieces for the exercise so can considerably cut down on the amount you feed at every session.

So a session may go like this: if your dog heels next to you for 10 seconds and then forges ahead, you can praise/treat for different time variants like every 1, 3, 2, 7,  seconds etc. to build duration. You may need to therefore initially immediately praise/reward before your dog is able to walk ahead and leave. Rinse and repeat until your dog is wanting to stay next to you longer because he's expecting more reinforcement and then gradually increase duration.

-Make sure your treats are high-value enough. So-so treats give so-so results.

-Evaluate whether your dog may be stressed by something on walks which can puta dent in leash work.

-Evaluate whether your dog may be thirsty/tired and in need of a break. Make sure your dog is given breaks during training. Is your dog the only one in class struggling in this exercise? Are the other dogs in class older?

Finally, here's a bonding exercise: If you have the space, it can also help to walk around a fenced yard and say "good boy!" and hand a treat when your dog, despite having a lot of acreage to explore, yet decides to stick nearby you.

About the clicker, maybe you can ask your trainer if you can replace its sound with some other form of marker training like a smacking sound/kissy sound with your lips or whether a verbal marker may work. There is also a leash with an incorporated clicker: PetSafe Clik-R Clip Pet Leash Clicker, look it up. 

I hope this helps!

Let me know if you have any other questions. 

Happy training,

Adrienne 

 

[Christine]

Hi Adrienne,

Thank you so much for taking the time to address my leash pulling issues, and at such great length!  All of your suggested scenarios make perfect sense to me with great explanations.  Thank you also for providing this opportunity to share so many problem stories on your forum for dog owners like me.  I am looking forward to reading more of your articles and utilizing some of the brain games that you offer.  Miles is very smart and does seem to occasionally get bored. 

We have elected not to continue with this particular class situation for Miles and rather to concentrate on back to the basics of leash walking, keeping his attention on me or my husband, while also reinforcing the exercises that he has already learned.  Along with some of your ideas concerning leash pulling I feel that we will get there with practice. (Although it was insinuated that we do not practice by the trainer) We DO walk and work with Miles every day.  Thanks again for your expertise!

Best Regards and Merry Christmas,

Christine 

 

[Adrienne]

You are very welcome!

Keep me posted on how things go. 

I am always here is you have any other questions or need some troubleshooting. 

Happy training!

Best,

Adrienne 

[Christine]

I certainly will, and appreciate the life line!!

Regards,

Christine