Akatihsa
12-27-2007, 04:47 PM
We've been having some difficulty teaching Ein to walk on her leash. She doesn't mind wandering around inside with it on, but we have limited space for indoor training.
Her first experiences outside were in no less than 2" of snow. Fortunately for us, she was able to run around off the leash without the fear that she'd run off (her fastest through the snow was a normal walking pace for us). On the leash in these conditions things were easy as well - the snow covered up most of the distracting scents and she'd stick with us happily.
When the snow melted we took her out a couple times to much busier places, and the distractions were just too much. She's stop to smell every little thing and say "hi" to everyone who wandered past. When we went to Tucson to visit Maria's parents things were slightly better, but not much. Ein would be content to follow us for a certain amount of time (usually about 10-20 minutes) then she would get severely distracted and if we continued we'd just be dragging her along.
I finally figured out what I should've known from the begining - positive reinforcement for good behavior is essential. When we were walking and she'd be with us being good we did nothing (it's what we expected), but when she'd deviate we'd tell her to keep up and give a little tug on the leash. She kinda understood, but as soon as we started praising her for staying either beside or slightly in front and correcting the deviations, she picked it up in a day. We've now had 2 completely successful walks with no dragging and no carrying.
This is just one more reason I'm excited to have her start classes in a few days. We need training as much (if not more) than she does. :BIGGRIN"
She's a little afraid of streets with driving cars on them. She REALLY hesitates when hopping down the curb into any street. I'm not sure if it's the fact that the curb is as tall as she is in some places or if she just doesn't like streets.
Anyway, just wanted to share her new accomplishment with everyone. We're very proud of her.
PS - she did really well with the other 6 dogs at Maria's parents house! And no bad habbits as far as we can tell were picked up from the others. We head back home tomorrow (4 hour drive...which she was completely fine with last time. ^_^ I'm glad she likes the car - always new exciting places to be seen)
Her first experiences outside were in no less than 2" of snow. Fortunately for us, she was able to run around off the leash without the fear that she'd run off (her fastest through the snow was a normal walking pace for us). On the leash in these conditions things were easy as well - the snow covered up most of the distracting scents and she'd stick with us happily.
When the snow melted we took her out a couple times to much busier places, and the distractions were just too much. She's stop to smell every little thing and say "hi" to everyone who wandered past. When we went to Tucson to visit Maria's parents things were slightly better, but not much. Ein would be content to follow us for a certain amount of time (usually about 10-20 minutes) then she would get severely distracted and if we continued we'd just be dragging her along.
I finally figured out what I should've known from the begining - positive reinforcement for good behavior is essential. When we were walking and she'd be with us being good we did nothing (it's what we expected), but when she'd deviate we'd tell her to keep up and give a little tug on the leash. She kinda understood, but as soon as we started praising her for staying either beside or slightly in front and correcting the deviations, she picked it up in a day. We've now had 2 completely successful walks with no dragging and no carrying.
This is just one more reason I'm excited to have her start classes in a few days. We need training as much (if not more) than she does. :BIGGRIN"
She's a little afraid of streets with driving cars on them. She REALLY hesitates when hopping down the curb into any street. I'm not sure if it's the fact that the curb is as tall as she is in some places or if she just doesn't like streets.
Anyway, just wanted to share her new accomplishment with everyone. We're very proud of her.
PS - she did really well with the other 6 dogs at Maria's parents house! And no bad habbits as far as we can tell were picked up from the others. We head back home tomorrow (4 hour drive...which she was completely fine with last time. ^_^ I'm glad she likes the car - always new exciting places to be seen)