F1 W3 MO | Quad Cities Canine

Week 3

Complete

I hope all is going really well with your training so far! Here are the concepts we'll be learning, behaviors we'll be teaching, etc. this week:

I always recommend reading ALL the handouts the first week if possible! If you don’t have the time or patience for that, though, be sure to at least take a look at this/these this week:

Clear Communication

If you don’t have it/them already, return to the main course page (click the button below) and scroll down to the downloads. It'll open in a new window so you won't lose your place here.

7:23

7:18

5:56

5:14

25:51 Total

Tips Regarding Leash Walking
Leash Walking “Stage 2”
Recall
Leave It

Fundamentals 1

1. Tips Regarding Leash Walking

Complete

Description

These are just some tips I wanted to share with you.

Key points / Tips

Long, relaxed arm with short leash! If you’re tense and you tense up on that leash, the dog will feel that and likely respond to it. Your arm should stay down at your side – do not let it extend out in front of you!
Put your thumb in your pocket or behind your belt if you need that extra help! If you don’t have a pocket, hold your hand slightly behind your back.
Use watch me and/or nose touch to help your dog.
Hold the leash in the right place! You don’t want it too loose or too tight. Tie a knot in the leash if you need to give yourself a “place” to hold it.
“Fold” the leash so that you’ll be able to drop part of it is necessary but still have a hold of the remainder.
Don’t jerk the dog! Use turning to your advantage so that if the dog doesn’t follow your turn, it’s his/her responsibility that it reached the end of the leash and felt a tug on its neck.

Problem solving

N/A – will be addressed in the leash walking video that follows.

Video

2. Leash Walking "Stage 2"

Complete

Description

Now we’re likely out of the house and starting to walk outside. Your puppy/dog will start to get pretty curious about all kinds of things and might try to start pulling. You need to nip this in the bud immediately! The best case scenario is that the puppy/dog never learns to pull on the leash – never learns to resist pressure.

Key points / Tips

Long, relaxed arm with short leash! If you’re tense and you tense up on that leash, the dog will feel that and likely respond to it. Your arm should stay down at your side – do not let it extend out in front of you!
Put your thumb in your pocket or behind your belt if you need that extra help! If you don’t have a pocket, hold your hand slightly behind your back.
Use watch me and/or nose touch to help your dog.
Hold the leash in the right place! You don’t want it too loose or too tight. Tie a knot in the leash if you need to give yourself a “place” to hold it.
“Fold” the leash so that you’ll be able to drop part of it is necessary but still have a hold of the remainder.
Don’t jerk the dog! Use turning to your advantage so that if the dog doesn’t follow your turn, it’s his/her responsibility that it reached the end of the leash and felt a tug on its neck.

Problem solving

Some dogs might “put the brakes on” and not move forward. Try luring them or throwing a treat out a few feet. You may need to go back and watch last week’s “Intro to Leash Walking” video.
If the dog starts to get ahead of you, change direction – ideally just as it starts to go you’re your leg and certainly BEFORE it reaches the end of the leash! If you turn into the dog, your knee might bump the front of the dog and the dog should quickly learn to pay better attention to your leg movements. If you turn away from the dog, the dog will probably reach the end of the leash and will feel a little jerk. To help him/her a bit, say something like, “over here” or “let’s go”.

Video

3. Recall

Complete

Description

Here’s another behavior that I shouldn’t have to explain what it is and why we should train it! It’s one of the four “if you don’t train ANYTHING else, you must train”… watch me, nose touch, stay and recall! Sit, down and all those other things are really just fun tricks compared to these four things.

Key points / Tips

The dog CANNOT be given an option NOT to come, so you MUST keep them on a line and be ready to use it!
Say the dog’s name followed by your verbal command, “come” or “here”, for example. If the dog doesn’t IMMEDIATELY start moving toward you, start “reeling” the leash in.
Start pretty close to the dog and build distance very gradually (remember the 3 D’s!)
You might want to try using a place marker of some sort (a vinyl one, a strip of carpet, etc.) to help give the dog a specific landing spot, i.e., if you want the dog to come straight to you and stop RIGHT in front of you every time.

Problem solving

If the dog isn’t quickly coming right to you every time, either you’re not reeling him/her in properly or you’ve added too much distance too quickly. Don’t PULL him/her, just use light pressure to help guide him/her. Start off closer to the dog if necessary.
If the dog runs past you when he/she comes, he hasn’t been rewarded properly for coming. Make sure you use your positive marker reward just before the dog reaches you and reward the exact moment he/she gets to you.

Video

4. Leave It

Complete

Description

Here’s another behavior that is incredibly important to train not only for our dogs to have proper manners, but to keep them safe!

Key points / Tips

Always offer a higher value item for the dog leaving the lower value item.
You’ll be more successful using food rewards if you keep the higher value reward in your hand behind your back.
You need to mark and reward the dog the MOMENT he/she glances away or turns away from the item in your hand.
If the dog tries to get the lower value item, DO NOT move your hand away! Just close your hand so your dog can’t get it. Keep this in mind if using toys rather than food. If you’re using toys, you need to use something that’s small enough that you’ll be able to hold onto it if your dog tries to get it. You CANNOT let your dog get it!
Make sure you change hands. Dogs are very smart and may learn that “leave it” means whatever is in your right hand, for example.
Little by little, start opening your hand more and more and lowering your hand to the floor/ground. You’re trying to get the dog to learn to leave whatever might be on the ground, and you’re not always going to be able to get to it first to cover it!

Problem solving

If, no matter what, the dog is going for whatever is in your hand, you need to find something less tempting to use for the lower value item or consider that you haven’t marked and rewarded with proper timing.
If the dog will leave whatever is in your hand alone but won’t leave what you’ve placed on the floor/ground, you need to be faster with blocking it with your foot or go back to still holding it in your hand when it’s at the floor/ground. You may even need to go back a step or two prior to that.

Video