Um...... Who is the boss here??????????? Who pays for the food, the vet
bills, the cozy bed??????????????????? That's who should be in charge.
{grin}
You may allow the dog to stop and sniff or piddle.... WHEN YOU WANT IT
TO DO SO. Yes, I'm yelling. Good grief.....
This young twit should walk without pulling on the leash, and you should
not need pull on the leash to keep him near and moving with you.
If there is pullin' goin' on, both of you need a GOOD basic obedience
class. (NOT one at a chain pet store.) Ask the staff at your vet clinic
who teaches a good class. Sign up for the next one. It'll probably
start in either Jan. or March. One hour a week of class for 6 to 10
weeks, depending on what is taught in the basic class, with a few
minutes of practice daily at home. The course should present walking on
a short loose leash (NOT the same as "heel", which is precision work
that comes much later), sit, down, come, stay, wait, and right, left and
about turns, as a bare minimum.... and maybe stand...
Prices will vary, often depending on the rental cost of the location of
classes.... Kennel clubs have volunteer instructors from among their
members; people with experience of training their own dogs for
precision work in competition and more informal stuff for daily life,
have normally apprenticed under more experienced instructors before
assigned a class of their own. Private instructors with credentials from
NADOI, APDT, and one other group with a string of letters, have to know
what they are doing to get those credentials. "Certified" trainers,
with no further explaination usually got certified by PetsMart (yeh....)
or some 6 month shake-and-bake "trainers school".... and are likely
doing work of very uneven quality. Those teaching at chain pet stores
generally lack supervised experience and have no problem solving
preparation..... I've seen them reading to their classes from the
chain's trainers book..... Instructors without organization credentials
may have obedience, agility or field training titles, and can be
excellent..... ASK! Many of them taught first in the club system.
Now... to address the problem. Treats. Heard of those? Nice smelly
PupPeroni, string cheese, hot dog.... held right in front of pup's nose
when the twit thinks it's appropriate to stop or dawdle. Nose follows
food..... Mouth gets food after a few yards. Without you stopping.
Only use the food when he's stopped or lagging, not when he's happily
coming along with you.... not ahead, not behind. With.
And, oh, by the way, you can teach this little twit to stay near your
side and not pulling by frequent offerings of food..... not stopping to
treat..... not every ten yards.... If you Also use a very happy,
high-pitched voice to praise him with each award of goody, soon your
voice will be sufficient reward.... maybe with a nice touch under his
chinnie-chin-chin. Keep the hand with the treat Near your body. NEVER
reach out to give the treat; he has to come and get it or be right in
the right position to get it while moving. If he's not.... too bad....
so sad....
Want a fun game? Teach him to catch a treat that you've tossed
underhand. Or teach him to catch one you've spit out at him (at your
side or facing you very close....). Those big yellow cheese puff balls
or unsalted popcorn are easily seen and a bit slower (float in the air
more slowly) than the usual treats, for the learning phase. No rush to
teach this.... take your time. It's a trick at first. Comes in handy
during later training. His eye-mouth coordination has to develop with
practice..... You weren't a major league catcher your first year in
Little League, either.
Jo Wolf
Martinez, Georgia, USA