Walking sideways and jumping when LLW

[Karen]

Hi all,

We are practicing loose lead walking using click and treat for looking at me as she walks by my side and using a noise (pip pip pip) to get her to turn back to me when she pulls (I then walk backwards for a few steps and c&t for following me; then reset her position and walk forwards).

She just did really well walking around the block (about 10mins). The issue is that she walks slightly sideways such that her head is veering in front of me as I walk - I can see me tripping over her. She is also jumping up to get the treat at each click so the effect is of walking a small ginger kangaroo ( I do feed at knee level).

Will this jumping up stop as she gets less excited by the whole exercise (ie, should I ignore it for now)? I have tried putting the treats on the floor but they inevitably roll away or bounce and she dives for them.

Any suggestions on how I can get her to walk straight? Is it a function of looking at me? Or just looking for the treat? If the latter, then maybe it will decrease as I extend the gap between clicks? (currently clicking every 5 steps or so).

 

[kateincornwall]

Hi @Karen , its difficult for me to advise fully as I never used clicker training with any of my dogs but , I do think the principal is the same for whatever method you use , quit while you are ahead ! I always found that mine would begin to mess about after short periods of training, and this is the time to stop . I do think that every five steps is maybe too much , maybe extend the gaps ? xx

 

[MellowYellow]

Good morning Karen, I also have not used clicker training but I echo Kate's recommendation of keeping training sessions very short (10 minutes sounds ideal). I think that as you extend the gaps between clicks and as she becomes more aware of what is going on around her during her walks that the issue of not walking straight will correct itself, so I wouldn't worry about it too much for now. My Merlin has always been very, very good at heel walking, and I put it down to all the training we did when he was a puppy - it really pays out in dividends, so keep at it, but remember to make it FUN!!

 

[Selina27]

@Karen, I think loose lead walking is so difficult to teach!

@Joy sent me a really nice video by the IMDT school , I will see if I can find it , if she doesn't see this first!

I definitely agree short bursts of training are best.

 

[Joy]

I'm going to be tied up with driving home today but tomorrow I'll dig out some videos and info on LLW.

 

[Karen]

Thank you all. @Joy - the videos would be very useful, thank you.

We do some GoSniff stops along the way. I might also try and vary the speed, I usually walk quite fast so maybe it would make it more interesting if we changed speed occasionally.

 

[Selina27]

I usually walk quite fast so maybe it would make it more interesting if we changed speed occasionally.

She's very young isn't she, learning a new skill, maybe when you go out use it as a training opportunity and build up the duration slowly as she grows.

 

[Karen]

Yes, I agree….need to take it slowly. So far, we are trying to drive her to an off lead walk and just practice LLW on a short 10 minute walk where she gets her lunch kibble allowance. My original plan was to train LLW on the collar and use the harness for anything new where she is likely to pull but she has decided that she hates her Perfect fit harness. I am slowly trying to desensitise her to it but it looks likely to take some time.

 

[Atemas]

she hates her Perfect fit harness

Red took a dislike to hers (just after I had bought new parts to it to accommodate her growing ). I then went on to buying a Julius K9 harness but she didn’t like that either. Eventually I just accepted that a harness wasn’t the way to go for her. I agree with @Selina27 - LLW is difficult to teach but worth it as @MellowYellow says. Red walks very nicely on a loose lead…..unless she sees one of her buddies then it’s a different story

 

[Karen]

Good morning Karen, I also have not used clicker training but I echo Kate's recommendation of keeping training sessions very short (10 minutes sounds ideal). I think that as you extend the gaps between clicks and as she becomes more aware of what is going on around her during her walks that the issue of not walking straight will correct itself, so I wouldn't worry about it too much for now. My Merlin has always been very, very good at heel walking, and I put it down to all the training we did when he was a puppy - it really pays out in dividends, so keep at it, but remember to make it FUN!!

Thank you - it’s good to get an independent view. I am also hopeful that the walking sideways will correct itself.