Pulling on the lead and running away!!

[staceyarie26]

I have a problem cocker! We rescued Dylan when he was 18 months old and he has never been able to walk nicely on a lead.  He will continue to pull until he makes himself sick.  If you let him off he'll run away and it's really frustrating.  Does anyone have any advice for me?                      

[Silver Surfer (indiesnan)]

http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/forum/viewt...b92d6c66467a1cf



http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/forum/viewt...d19fb66cea275cf



Hi Staceyarie, ive just found these links for you, i hope they  help                      

[PennyB]

I taught mine to stop pulling by teaching them to walk to heel—using the stop-start method; i.e. every time the dog pulls you pull him back to the sit position make them sit calmly for a few moments and start again and each time they pull you yank them back to sit until they get fed up of sitting all the time and not going anywhere. Always move off with dog on left and left foot forward 1st and give the command 'heel' and try all the while to keep the dog's attention on you (focus them) as when they just charge ahead pulling they are probably not listening to you anyway. I focus them with a squeaky ball or treat and try to make it a positive experience rather than negative. When walking to heel they must be on a loose lead rather than one friend's version of it which is keeping the dog on a tight/short a lead as possible so he's constantly pulling against you.

As with everything you have to practice rather than do it while you're rushing off with your dog. I was taught (among the other things he taught me) by a 1-2-1 dog trainer so I could see exactly how I should be doing it.

As for recall training buy yourself a longline or washing line and work from there. Often I've found that part of the battle is won by making sure the dog is focusing on you when you want them to do something. Practise intitially in a safe area and then work your way up to where you have a few distractions. Praise and reward (treats, toy, etc.) every time he does what you want them to. Even praise or treat for just looking up and responding to you. After a while you can run them with the long line behind so that at least you can jump on the rope if they are about to run off. Again its practise (5-10 min a day even helps).                    

[mum of kimmi]

Have the same problem with Kimmi, a 17week old blue roan girl.

Went to our lcoal pet store for advice, and they suggested a 'comfy leader' which goes around the back of the neck, and around their muzzle and when they pull, it presses on pressure points behind the ears, and releases a relaxant hormone.

We have been using this for approx 3-5 days now, and Kimmi is much better on the lead.
 
As for off the lead - well we have yet to try this one!!

Hope this helps.

Sarah and Kimmi                    

[PennyB]

Sara its still worth trying to teach your dog to walk properly as she's only still very young and has a very short attention/concentration span and so isn't going to get it right.

Its worth practising off lead now as well so you don't have problems later on when adolescence sets in. I started my two off very young offlead (12 weeks old) by letting them off while I stood in the middle of the park and they didn't go too far from me because while they were curious about their new surroundings they didn't want to go too far from me. As they get more confident I then play recall games—hiding behind trees, calling them back at regular intervals for treats or games. If you're really worried I'd get a long line and use that for starters. I stil occasionally use the hiding games just to make sure they don't get too complacent—you usually see a very worried face running back to find you.

A lot of it is about the bond you have with your dog and getting them to listen to you (works for recall and walking to heel). Even just rewarding for looking at you when you are at 1st trying to get them to focus on you helps. Rewards get less and less as the dog gets older for these sort of things as you have to make them earn them but now you reward them for stages as well as completing the task.