Sneak Preview from: The Dog Walker's Companion (DVD)

http://www.dogzanny.com/ Dog walking professional J.D. Antell has created a dog walking business startup kit to help dog lovers realize their dreams of working with dogs and making money at the same time. Learn to start your own dog walking business with The Dog Walker's Startup Kit! This scene is from the DVD companion to the book, The Dog Walker's Startup Guide and is included in the kit.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• dog walking business
• dog walking tips
• leash pulling
• halti collar
• gentle leader
• dog training
• obedience
• leash manners
• dog walker
• dogzanny
• dogzanny.com
• J.D. Antell

[EvelineUK]

The message the dog will get from this technique is that if I pull, then walk back to my owner, I get a treat! Yay! More pulling, waiting for the owner to stop and then simply walk back to get your reward.

[jdantell]

@EvelineUK She begins to get a little frustrated and turns to look at you, as if to say, “What’s up? Can you help me out?” The turning of her head aborts the pulling, moving you into step 2. The moment your eyes meet, show her the treat, and she will joyously bound to you to accept it. NOW, while the leash is very loose, immediately resume the walk (as demonstrated in the video), entering another reward phase: the commencement of the walk.

[jdantell]

@EvelineUK No treats are needed because the walk itself is a reward, and eventually you will be able to fade the treats altogether. The moment the dog gets ahead of herself and starts pulling again, immediately stop and wait. Be patient. Do not hurry to treat until she stops pulling and actually turns to look at you. As you can see the reward is NEVER given for pulling, the dog is effectively punished for pulling by the withholding of something it desires (progression).

[jdantell]

@EvelineUK In Learning Theory, negative punishment (-P) is what takes place when the dog pulls and progression (the reward) ends. What I am trying to teach the dog, is that she is doing this to herself. Her action caused this reward to end. Any frustration or resentment she may feel towards me at the beginning of the training should get wiped out with Step 2 when she is distracted by the treat, a reward for looking to me for direction and a confidence builder.

[jdantell]

@EvelineUK By the end of this treating phase, the learning scenario has been reset for her to freshly walk on a loose leash (positive reinforcement +R). The moment she pulls again, the walk stops (-P). Time to distract and reset the scenario (+R) and go through it again, and again, until the Ah-Ha! Moment happens magically!

[jdantell]

@EvelineUK To be clear the reward IS NOT given for reaching the end of the leash. If you were to break this down into pieces and apply a clicker to the mix, in order to create the training paradigm you describe one would have to click the clicker at the moment the leash becomes taught, praise the dog, and provide the treat. Thank you for taking the time to comment, I hope the following explanation will help you to understand the training method as presented in the video.

[jdantell]

@EvelineUK It's a modified “come when called” without the verbal queue, the queue to come and receive the reward is the “eye contact”. Timing and spacing the two separate steps is what will get the results you want. Initially, an excited dog races to the end of the leash and pulls. You stop. The dog encounters resistance at the end of the leash and is not getting anywhere. She continues to pull, but to no avail, because you are firmly standing your ground.

[jdantell]

@EvelineUK In order to avoid this, I added the very rewarding and interactive “look at, and come to me” step as a distraction and reset. The act of closing the distance between us slackens the leash significantly, so there is no misinterpretation of what a loose leash is. Eventually I would want the dog to walk right by my side at a specific queue, and this helps set the stage for training that behavior when the dog is ready.

[jdantell]

@EvelineUK The loose-leash training presented in this video actually demonstrates two training goals which appear as one. A common way of teaching a dog how to walk on a loose leash, without corrections or positive punishment (+P) is simply to stop progression when the dog pulls, and commence progression only when the leash is slack. This method can take a long time to teach, depending on the dog and the existing relationship, causing both the dog and owner to become impatient and frustrated.

[jdantell]

@dorothee98 Yes, my dog is the same way, food and outdoors are two different things for my dog, and he doesn't like to mix his pleasures. In that case you are left with trying to find out if play training your dog works, and, if not, you may need to introduce some aversive conditioning, since you can't really locate a reliable lure.