Very Reactive while on walks

I had a very similar situation to yours and everything change like two weeks ago.

I've got a 14 month old who I've been trying to train "heel" since last July. She did well about 70% of the time and then there were the days where everything caught her attention and she was pulling to get to it.

I tried being the "tree", worked for a walk or two. Then tried turning and going opposite direction again worked for a short time. Tried the praise and treats, never really worked at all. "Leave it" works for stuff on the ground but not for joggers, cyclers, cars etc. (for us anyways)

Through this forum I learned about gentle leaders and so through some study decided to purchase the "easy walk" gentle leader. It has the leash attachment at the front. I cannot say enough good things about what a difference it has made. I now love going on walks, we even go out now a couple times a day vs. just once. When something distracting is there she now looks over to me and this is what we do:

http://www.premier.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/behavior/easywalk/productdescription

We jog for just a short distance, and there is nothing in the world she likes better.....everything is forgotten! Most times it may be only be a jog for 15 feet and other times it's jogging half way down the block. I know I probably look like a crazy lady out there with my sheltie; but the two of us are loving it! Lots of energy we are sharing..

I'm using the "Natural Dog Training" developed by Kevin Behan. His philosophy is that they (our dogs) are always asking us: "What do I do with my energy?" and if we can answer that.............that's when the beauty of a wonderful relationship starts. It's about us being the "Moose" in our dogs lives.

Dogs by nature are driven by what they call prey drive...that's why they get interested in all that other "stuff".......that's when they are asking us: "what do I do with my energy", and if we don't answer them that's when we get the pulling on the leash. He suggests carrying a tug toy....but that's just not me, so that's when I thought lets jog even if it's for a short distance (FYI: 15' does the trick). Then I squat down and say..."Oh, you are soooo gooooood, such a goooood girl" and she walks on like "best in show" the rest of the way!

I love just love being out with her now, I love our walks! (I'm sure she's feeling it too)
~Karol & Sadie
 
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My neighbor's dog runs around off leash at least once a day. Those people in general drive me nuts but at least they don't do it on purpose or leave him out.

I'd be calling the humane society on that neighbor, end of story. That dog is just asking to be attacked by another dog, to be kicked by someone or hit by a car. Its very irresponsible to let a dog run loose!

For a reactive dog I'd stick with the gentle leader. Of course he doesn't like it, it forces him to behave himself when he otherwise is able to do all of the naughty stuff he loves to do. :smile2:

Toby was MUCH worse this spring than he was previously. We had really terrible weather this winter so he didn't get enough exercise. Plus he's a very anxious, unsocialized dog to begin with so his leash training went completely backwards due to his anxiety issues.

If he's not completely over the top I practice the 'look' game with him. I say 'Toby' or 'Look,' he looks and gets lots of praise (Toby eats up positive attention) and a treat. I feed him one treat after another if I can keep him looking, if he looks away.

Toby is also very good at impulse control when it comes to treats, so I might throw a treat on the ground in front of him to distract him (Often though he's too worked up for this to work. When he's anxious he's less likely to be interested in food). He'll then look at the treat, then look at me, at which time I give him lots of praise and a treat. I'll often drop lots of treats on the ground around him to further distract him.

When he's in a full blown explosion I do what SheltieChe said, when he's reacting to something I slide my other hand (the one that wasn't first holding the leash) down the leash till I have the loop that the leash attaches too. Its easier to slide your hand down the leash than just try to grab it without first holding on, when your dog is bouncing all over the place.

I then make him sit and/ or lie down and play the 'look' game with him to distract him, until he's calmed down enough to continue.
 
karol said:
I had a very similar situation to yours and everything change like two weeks ago.

I've got a 14 month old who I've been trying to train "heel" since last July. She did well about 70% of the time and then there were the days where everything caught her attention and she was pulling to get to it.

I tried being the "tree", worked for a walk or two. Then tried turning and going opposite direction again worked for a short time. Tried the praise and treats, never really worked at all. "Leave it" works for stuff on the ground but not for joggers, cyclers, cars etc. (for us anyways)

Through this forum I learned about gentle leaders and so through some study decided to purchase the "easy walk" gentle leader. It has the leash attachment at the front. I cannot say enough good things about what a difference it has made. I now love going on walks, we even go out now a couple times a day vs. just once. When something distracting is there she now looks over to me and this is what we do:

http://www.premier.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/behavior/easywalk/productdescription

We jog for just a short distance, and there is nothing in the world she likes better.....everything is forgotten! Most times it may be only be a jog for 15 feet and other times it's jogging half way down the block. I know I probably look like a crazy lady out there with my sheltie; but the two of us are loving it! Lots of energy we are sharing..

I'm using the "Natural Dog Training" developed by Kevin Behan. His philosophy is that they (our dogs) are always asking us: "What do I do with my energy?" and if we can answer that.............that's when the beauty of a wonderful relationship starts. It's about us being the "Moose" in our dogs lives.

Dogs by nature are driven by what they call prey drive...that's why they get interested in all that other "stuff".......that's when they are asking us: "what do I do with my energy", and if we don't answer them that's when we get the pulling on the leash. He suggests carrying a tug toy....but that's just not me, so that's when I thought lets jog even if it's for a short distance (FYI: 15' does the trick). Then I squat down and say..."Oh, you are soooo gooooood, such a goooood girl" and she walks on like "best in show" the rest of the way!

I love just love being out with her now, I love our walks! (I'm sure she's feeling it too)
~Karol & Sadie
Click to expand...

That is great!! I love my walks with Maverick. We are back to power walking again since I am walking dogs separately. In regards to jogging. I don't run unless being chased by a gun.:lol: My cardio sucks!! I tried jogging with Ryder, just a VERY short period, and he jumped all over me in excitement.
Thanks for the link for the GL.
 
I can't run either nor jog really...never could. Now that I'm older don't think it's going to change....BUT; I can do 15 feet though :lol:
(i stop usually at 15 feet, it's just before she starts jumping up at me)

That's why i feel so like the crazy lady out there...especially being over 50!
 
OntarioSheltie said:
My neighbor's dog runs around off leash at least once a day. Those people in general drive me nuts but at least they don't do it on purpose or leave him out.

I'd be calling the humane society on that neighbor, end of story. That dog is just asking to be attacked by another dog, to be kicked by someone or hit by a car. Its very irresponsible to let a dog run loose!

For a reactive dog I'd stick with the gentle leader. Of course he doesn't like it, it forces him to behave himself when he otherwise is able to do all of the naughty stuff he loves to do. :smile2:

Toby was MUCH worse this spring than he was previously. We had really terrible weather this winter so he didn't get enough exercise. Plus he's a very anxious, unsocialized dog to begin with so his leash training went completely backwards due to his anxiety issues.

If he's not completely over the top I practice the 'look' game with him. I say 'Toby' or 'Look,' he looks and gets lots of praise (Toby eats up positive attention) and a treat. I feed him one treat after another if I can keep him looking, if he looks away.

Toby is also very good at impulse control when it comes to treats, so I might throw a treat on the ground in front of him to distract him (Often though he's too worked up for this to work. When he's anxious he's less likely to be interested in food). He'll then look at the treat, then look at me, at which time I give him lots of praise and a treat. I'll often drop lots of treats on the ground around him to further distract him.

When he's in a full blown explosion I do what SheltieChe said, when he's reacting to something I slide my other hand (the one that wasn't first holding the leash) down the leash till I have the loop that the leash attaches too. Its easier to slide your hand down the leash than just try to grab it without first holding on, when your dog is bouncing all over the place.

I then make him sit and/ or lie down and play the 'look' game with him to distract him, until he's calmed down enough to continue.
Click to expand...

I know I have been very tempted to call the Humane Society. To be honest the guy REALLY scares me. I would be worried about him hurting one of my dogs or throwing something poisonous over my fence. Its not only on walks, its when he is out running around barking his head off Ryder is at the front door side window going nuts.( I am going to buy some blinds for that window.) That being said I have not really seen him that much this week, but it could be the weather.
I really don't like the halti he has. It has this metal part on the bottom just above where the leash clip is and I think that it catches his hair and pulls it. He pulls almost equally with martingale as with halti. I think that I am going to look into buying another GL.
Thanks for your suggestions.
 
karol said:
I can't run either nor jog really...never could. Now that I'm older don't think it's going to change....BUT; I can do 15 feet though :lol:
(i stop usually at 15 feet, it's just before she starts jumping up at me)

That's why i feel so like the crazy lady out there...especially being over 50!
Click to expand...

Good for you!
 
OntarioSheltie said:
For a reactive dog I'd stick with the gentle leader. Of course he doesn't like it, it forces him to behave himself when he otherwise is able to do all of the naughty stuff he loves to do. :smile2:

If he's not completely over the top I practice the 'look' game with him.

When he's in a full blown explosion I do what SheltieChe said, when he's reacting to something I slide my other hand (the one that wasn't first holding the leash) down the leash till I have the loop that the leash attaches too. Its easier to slide your hand down the leash than just try to grab it without first holding on, when your dog is bouncing all over the place.

I then make him sit and/ or lie down and play the 'look' game with him to distract him, until he's calmed down enough to continue.
Click to expand...

We have had our GL for awhile, but really were lazy when it came to using it. Now that we have moved, we are forced to use it 100% of the time on walks. Our neighborhood is full of dogs, and the barking gets Bentley worked up so much that he can barely contain himself.

Using the GL makes our walks so much less stressful for everyone. I am hoping that some day we won't have to rely so heavily on the GL...but for now I am just happy that we can go on family walks without it being a frustrating ordeal.

(And I quoted Melissa because that is exactly what we do with Bentley!)
 
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