Cocker Specific Discussion > Puppies

Puppy pulling on lead

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vixen:
I have never used a harness on Maisie, 8 months today  :luv: I started with just a normal collar and lead.  We now use a slip lead and like Sophie worried a bit about the pressure on her neck as she ALWAYS wants to be in front.  I felt we were getting nowhere as she just didn’t seem to get the connection of gentle pull back when straining on the lead.  I then started to turn round when she pulled and walk in the other direction but the amount of times we did it on a walk made me go dizzy  :005:  So instead of me turning round, as soon as she pulled I stopped and then guided her (with the lead) round to be where I wanted her.  We have been doing this for several weeks now, really boring and I feel quite silly but yesterday it seemed something clicked with Maisie.  When I stopped, she turned round by herself or walked backwards to be where I wanted her.  :happydance: Just  waiting for the penny to drop now that if she didn’t pull, she wouldn’t need to turn round at all  :005:

ips:

--- Quote from: sophie.ivy on March 07, 2022, 10:16:14 AM ---I appreciate your comments on the tug back method Cazza and Jayne as I've been struggling with it a bit myself. It isn't a hard tug at all or a yank, I would never do that - it's more of a slight pull of the lead, but I still don't like doing it and have been worried about it breaking the bond between us (as well as it not actually being that effective!) In terms of it putting pressure of the neck, that's a concern too, but when she's pulling like mad and choking herself then that can't be good either. I've tried using a harness instead of collar/slip lead, but it makes the pulling much worse.

The thing is, she can walk nicely with just a simple 'heel' command and nothing else, but then she sees a bird and it's all out of the window and that's when the pulling/spinning/lunging starts. There's been quite a few times that I've found myself 'stuck' on a walk where I need to walk her home on lead, but her head is just gone and she can't focus on anything other than 'must. chase. bird' I have picked her up on occasion and carried her home as I didn't want to reinforce the pulling, but I must look like a madwoman!

I think we really need to tackle this bird obsession first, and then go back to heelwork as she can do it. I've been thinking about only taking her for a walk in the evening (when her feathered 'friends' have gone to bed) until we figure out a way to make ourselves more exciting than a seagull...

--- End quote ---

Sounds to me like you need to train a "gone away" command which is a pretty standard working gundog command (mine is actually a leave that but it means same thing) it's a spaniel and even if it's a show version it will have a built in high prey drive, you won't stop it but you can change the outcome from chase to "leave it" and lots of reward for not chasing, reward the leave it with a ball chase in opposite direction (a break away) and your sorted 👍

sophie.ivy:
Thank you ips! A reliable 'leave that' outside would solve a lot of our problems.

We have a reliable leave trained in the house, but it could really use some work outside. I started out using 'ignore' and when she looks at me instead of the offending bird she got a treat/fuss, but I realise now that wasn't nearly as rewarding as the chase. The only thing I taught her to ignore was me in the end! I've started using 'leave that' now and rewarding with a tennis ball and that works some of the time, but not always. I bought a couple of rabbit fur balls the other day for 'go find' games and she goes mad for them so they may be the key! Will try them out on the next walk.

I often wonder if I'm training her or if she's training me?

ips:

--- Quote from: sophie.ivy on March 08, 2022, 11:56:59 AM ---Thank you ips! A reliable 'leave that' outside would solve a lot of our problems.

We have a reliable leave trained in the house, but it could really use some work outside. I started out using 'ignore' and when she looks at me instead of the offending bird she got a treat/fuss, but I realise now that wasn't nearly as rewarding as the chase. The only thing I taught her to ignore was me in the end! I've started using 'leave that' now and rewarding with a tennis ball and that works some of the time, but not always. I bought a couple of rabbit fur balls the other day for 'go find' games and she goes mad for them so they may be the key! Will try them out on the next walk.

I often wonder if I'm training her or if she's training me?

--- End quote ---

The problem is that nothing trump's chasing birds, I trained it pretty much same as you, I actively hunted out pheasant and rewarded the none chase by chasing a tennis ball the opposite direction the theory is to reward not doing what they want ie a chase with what they want ie a chase but on your terms. Training a stop works similar dog hunts or quarters stops to command and is rewarded for stop by being released to hunt again....🙄
PS
There is a train of thought that a spaniel will comply better with a turn whistle than a stop as there is a better flow, 🙄

Firestorm:
Thank you for all your replies it has been very interesting reading. The training we recently completed used “cues” rather than commands, it relied on teaching your dog a cue (yes) to keep making eye contact with you then reward whilst walking on the lead by your side. This method was ok for dogs in the class that weren’t persistent sniffers, for Max it didn’t work as soon as he had any smells he pulled hard on the lead often rearing up to get to it. I have had many dogs in the past 50 years and all were trained on a slip lead or choker which was the norm. Yes it worked but now I wouldn’t want to risk doing any injury to my dog when there are other methods. So since asking the question I have incorporated a some of your advice. First I decided as he enjoys sniffing so much not to worry about trying to get him to walk nicely by my side. Then I used the stop method sometimes giving a little tug on the harness. After  quite a few walks the rearing up stopped and the pulling lessened sometimes I get a loose lead for a couple of meters which he gets plenty of praise for. He has also recently started to look back at me occasionally checking to see if I was going to stop when he pulled. I have quite a way to go but there has been definite improvements. 

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