First loose leash walking lesson in months

So tonight we did 20 minutes off leash walking. And then I put Lucy on the leash while buddy was off leash. At first she only wanted to run after buddy. The leash was super taut and I remained motionless for probably a couple minutes. Then she finally focused back on me came and sat by side. Click and treat. Step forward she would try to dart forward again. And then awhile later she would relax. Sit and come back to my side. Click and treat.

Then we got into a rhythm of 5-7 steps of her walking slow like I was, click and treat while walking. 

Then she got distracted and bored. Patience. A few minutes later, back into the same rhythm.

Lucy is definitely a puppy that needs to learn impulse control. But it's gonna take patience and persistence on my part!! January we will be working on lots of recall while on lead and loose leash walking!

The exercise, while painstakingly slow it seemed, took probably only 20-25 minutes out of the hour long walk.

I've been very consistent recently walking the dogs everyday as well. I think regular walks are a huge part of building trust with the dogs. It makes them happy and balanced. 

I'm really excited to work on this stuff. And I've gotten super excited about introducing the dog whistle as a training tool to teach recall as well.

All in good time!

And as for day 3 of introducing gentle leader... Lucy still isn't a huge fan. Lol.... Haven't even attached the leash yet. We'll see on that one.

The Gentle Leader - loose leash walking continued

EDIT: I just want to make it clear I am only using this as a training tool and will not become 100% reliant on gentle leader! I want to combine this with clicker training. 

 

So after one of my posts last week - pup pup had tons of energy and couldn't focus on loose leash walking! It was a very frustrating training session. Until I realized DUH - she's a puppy! She has tons of energy right now! She needs exercise before she can focus!

So I went out and got the gentle leader. I got it for my dog I had as a puppy about ten years ago. It worked like a miracle.

I decided to get it because there are some nights when my puppy just needs to get out and exercise. This allows her to get plenty of exercise and practice loose leash walking. There are times when puppy is relaxed and will loose leash no problem. And then there are times when she has a ton of energy.

Last week, when puppy had all that energy - our training session wasn't a complete loss. Oh no, not at all. Lucy realized that if she pulled on the leash we wouldn't going anywhere. She realized that as soon as she calmed down, sat, and looked at me I would click and we would begin walking again. So she was learning to refocus on me. But she had so much energy it was truly hard for her to calm down and focus. And it was frustrating for the both of us because it was a beautiful evening and all that either of us wanted to do was go on a walk.

So this is why I have purchased the gentle leader. As a temporary training tool. It gets the message across beautifully to the dog without the process of stopping every two feet when pup pup starts getting crazy excited. I've used it before and it just worked so well and was only a temporary training tool.

I really like the clicker because it makes the dog think about what the desired behavior is. And I will continue to use it for loose leash walking and other stuff. Really my puppy is really good most of the time. It's just that as her legs get longer, her energy crazier and never ending - I feel like the Gentle Leader is my best tool because it allows us to go on a walk with fewer interruptions. Thoughts/suggestions anyone?

And to finish it off, here are some pictures of Lucy at 18 weeks:

Loose leash walking

Okay, so I have always taught a dog to not pull on the leash either by pulling on the leash a million times or using a a halti leader. Halti leader I have found was a miracle!

But here I am experimenting with using a clicker. Last night I followed the instructions using this article:

http://www.clickerlessons.com/looseleash.htm

We took a walk around the pond and I clicked and treated a lot for her walking beside me. I tried to treat while in motion. Previously on taking her on walks, I haven't focused on loose leash walking just exercise with one of those long retractable leashes. She only got her shots 2.5 weeks ago so she hasn't been walked much up to this point.

I was surprised by how well she did. Granted, I felt really awkward and silly training this way. There were a few times she would run and sniff stuff (retractable leash) and I would just practice the come command when she did that. 

Overall she did really well. It was nighttime and minimal distractions. So I guess ill just practice this a few times even though its kind of awkward.

The only thing I don't like is I would just prefer to go out and take puppy to the park and run around and exercise and have fun with her. This training exercise took up a lot of time. So I hope it actually works. But I do realize I need to put focused attention into training her.

Anyone have any suggestions? I feel like puppy will get the general idea of I follow this through but just curious what everyone else's thoughts are on training loose leash walking.