[merlin00724]

as some of you may remember, my biggest obstacle with guinness has been leash manners and self control around other dogs. ive solicited advice on methods and collars. well, we went for our 1st real session of formal training last tuesday(the first night was more orientation than actual training). i told the trainer what my biggest problem was and she took the leash from me and took guinness out into the ring and had him walking loose in less than 10seconds. she came back and said "this is not going to be a problem". we did several exercises through the session. all with good results, but i was not convinced at that point. he's had moments of good leash behavior before. usually when worn out, which he was. but over the past week we've been out several times and it has stuck with him. and me for that matter. he is a completely different dog on leash now. doesnt matter if hes amped up or not. ive even been able to walk him on leash at our usual off leash play area. which was UNTHINKABLE a week ago! all of this with a flat nylon buckle collar! no prong, no choke!

so im pretty stoked:nicejob: what i learned was that i was not giving the correction hard enough and most importantly fast enough. i thought i was doing it quickly, but i was wrong. like i was doing all the right moves just in slow motion. it took seeing someone do it right to correct ME.

the moral of this story is: if youre one of those people who doesnt think you need formal help(like i was), you should still give it a shot. you might be pretty surprised. if nothing else, you can marvel at how much smarter your doberman is than pretty much every other dog in the class:roflmao:

 

[Dave_L]

What kind of correction did the trick?

I am having the same issues with my 3 1/2 month old girl.

Most often the walk OUT has been good, but when it's on the path home that's when she starts to pull. Or, when she spots another dog close she goes bananas.

I don't know what to do about the "seeing other dogs" issue, I'm sure she needs to be socialized more with them, which I plan to do at the dog park in the spring/summer.

For walking on a leash....I have been trying to immediately stop walking when she starts to pull the leash and not to resume walking until she offers slack. It's hit and miss.

I have tried stopping and getting her to come back to my side before we contuinue and choking down on the leash so she cannot stray too far from my side, but, for this method she will just lean forward choking herself everytime.

Not much luck so far. I'm not exactly sure at what age she will start to pick this up.

I will be trying the Kikopup method next (trainer on youtube)

Any other suggestions would be welcome though.

 

[Shelley]

Exact problem we are having. We are doing formal training too in a couple of weeks. Good to know it can be fixed. It's been killing me for a while now

 

[mmctaq]

What kind of correction did the trick?

I am having the same issues with my 3 1/2 month old girl.

Most often the walk OUT has been good, but when it's on the path home that's when she starts to pull. Or, when she spots another dog close she goes bananas.

I don't know what to do about the "seeing other dogs" issue, I'm sure she needs to be socialized more with them, which I plan to do at the dog park in the spring/summer.

For walking on a leash....I have been trying to immediately stop walking when she starts to pull the leash and not to resume walking until she offers slack. It's hit and miss.

I have tried stopping and getting her to come back to my side before we contuinue and choking down on the leash so she cannot stray too far from my side, but, for this method she will just lean forward choking herself everytime.

Not much luck so far. I'm not exactly sure at what age she will start to pick this up.

I will be trying the Kikopup method next (trainer on youtube)

Any other suggestions would be welcome though.

What is appropriate for an adult dog is not necessarily appropriate for a babydog. I would NOT be using this type of correction on your pup.

I would suggest you teach eye contact/attention... work it well and lots. Then, instead of stopping when your pup pulls, I would begin walking briskly backward just before she begins to pull and give her attention command (I use the dog's name for this). When your pup's eyes are locked on yours, do an about-turn (so you are walking the same direction as when you were walking backward, but now you're walking forward)... your pup will come from behind to beside you, and I would use a food reward exactly as she gets in proper position (it takes some practice to give rewards while moving, but it gets easier quickly). I reward LOTS for being in proper walking position... I want to teach a pup that that place right by your left leg is the single most rewarding place in the universe. I tell my students to reward any time they look down and see eyeballs looking back up at them. I have folks hold the leash in their right hand right against their abdomen and with LOTS of slack (the leash should loop down to almost touch the ground when your pup is in proper position)... this hand does not move. I have folks reward with the left hand (hold the hand up under your neck when not in the act of rewarding, or you will get bouncy dog)... the left hand does NOT touch the leash.

Your plan to start socializing in the spring sucks, big time. You should be starting tomorrow, since it is too late to start a month ago (when you should have). Your pup should go somewhere, meet someone, have an adventure, see new stuff every single day. This does not mean going around the block, and this doesn't mean going to the same pet store seven days a week. If you don't do it now, you will be making up for not having done it for a very long time or maybe forever. Seriously.

 

[mmctaq]

I am having the same issues with my 3 1/2 month old girl. Any other suggestions would be welcome though.

Oh, and I forgot the most important part: puppy class! It is time to take yourself and your girl to puppy class!