Stardancer85 Posted May 15, 2018 Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 Hi everyone, some questions about loose leash walking from an inexperienced dog owner. I use the stop-and-go method for leash training - loose leash means go, stop the second the dog starts pulling, go again when the leash has slack. A couple questions: First, I can't imagine having a husky walk at heel like they show on (cough cough) some TV shows. Seems silly. It's fine for a husky, who walks faster than me anyways, to be in front, right? Second, I understand that pulling on the leash or adding tension to the leash encourages reactivity. I hear that this is what a lot of dog owners do wrong - they see a stimulus and tense up, which causes the dog to react. So okay, I've got: loose leash good, don't pull back or put tension on the leash. But here's the piece I'm missing in my understanding. Let's say the husky loves people, has slack in the leash and is walking along nicely, sees a person, pulls on the leash to go to the person. Now the leash is taut and the husky is 6 feet away from me. I don't pull back because pulling on the leash encourages tension/reactivity/dog countering the pull with the opposite force (ie continuing to pull away from me). I can't simply turn her with my body because she's too far away from me. What do I do? Thanks! Sorry to be the doggie dummy around here, but I really value the insight and experience of this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARMANI & ALINAH Posted May 15, 2018 Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 It sounds like you have the hang of it and are doing well with the dog training!!Here's what I would do if approaching someone we both know:When out walking, you can tell whoever that your dog is "In Training." You also can bring some training treats if needed.Let's say the dog is pulling the leash to see a neighbor. I would do a very "light jerk" and say "stop" at the same time. If your dog is still excited & keeps pulling, I would grab the leash up where the dog is only 1-2 feet away from me. You want to hold tight on the leash because dogs "accidentally" forget and want to jump up on people to greet them because they can't handle the excitement. (I hate this when other people just let their dogs do this...you don't want them scratching anyone, children or any dogs as well.) When you get close to the person you are going to visit with, make your dog "sit" and then you can let the person pet them, etc.You want to be able to control your dog in all situations and at all times.I hope this helps!![emoji847][emoji191][emoji252][emoji259]Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Husky Owners mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shepsky5 Posted May 16, 2018 Report Share Posted May 16, 2018 Hi! Stop and go worked to teach loose leash walk to my dog. You don’t even have to speak...I just froze like a statue and gazed at trees until he looked at me and relaxed the leash. Then I would walk again. It was like a game...if you think of it like a game, that keeps you (hopefully) from getting annoyed or worse, angry. when I pass people or other dogs and I have to pass close, I walk my hands up the leash gradually until he has about 2 feet of leash. This restrains him if he decides to take a sniff of the person, or say Hi...that way I don’t have to suddenly pull back on the leash. i used to suddenly shorten and tighten the leash a lot, steer him off the sidewalk, etc and that made him behave horribly (pant, strain, rear up, even growl). keeping a relaxed attitude and not suddenly tightening the leash, helped a lot with my dog! he has learned a habit ( due to my consistent leash shortening) to stay close with passing people, cars, etc. I hope to turn that into an official Heel command someday. agreed that they don’t need to walk in Heel all the time...I let him sniff a lot, and walk ahead and out to the side...but having him Heel for a few minutes is nice for passing cars, kids on scooters, guys with leaf blowers, etc! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stardancer85 Posted May 16, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2018 Awesome! Thanks guys. Glad to hear I'm on the right track. All makes sense to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BingBlaze n Skyla Posted May 16, 2018 Report Share Posted May 16, 2018 I used a walkyourdogwithlove non pull harness to train mine, both of mine walk lovely but they do walk in front Sent from my [device_name] using http://Husky Owners mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.