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Originally Posted by elle  I think you need to decide more of what you want from him, and teach it to him.
You don't want him to walk in front of you, but you don't want to teach him to walk next to you either?! It's a bit confusing, and if you send confusing messages to the pup he's never going to understand what you want.
I wouldn't disregard the idea of rewarding him for what you want altogether just because you don't want him in heel position... If you don't want him right next to you looking up at you, then don't reward him for that. Do you want him walking next to you on a loose leash without an attention heel? Then reward him for that. Feed cookies off to the side a bit further away from your body. You don't want him in front of you? Keep cookies in your back pocket and reward him behind your body... Be creative... You can reward him for what you want (if you know what you want) or you can correct him for what you don't want... Maybe try each and see which he responds to better... |
I know what I want but if I'm confusing you, maybe I'm confusing Zack as well.
I can't make him heel and I don't want him to pull. What I want : for him to be anywhere between by my side and about 2 feet in front of me, as long as he doesn't pull. That is what he is doing right now too. He will be right next to me or about 1 step in front of me.
BUT, and the BUT is, he walks at an angle, can't walk a straight line, so he's making it really hard for me to walk without tripping.
I've never worked with food with my dogs, never liked it. I don't know why, the idea of a dog doing something for me because I give him food just doesn't appeal. I'd rather have them do it because they want to please me, not get fed.
On the other hand, I want this matter resolved because I usually really enjoy taking walks with my dogs, but not so much right now.
I'll give the food a try, giving it to me away from my body, at the end of my arm. I'll see how it goes.
Thanks.