- Location
- Andorra and Spain
Most of us have experienced at some point our dogs straining at the ends of their leash, barking and/or lunging to get towards another person, animal or object. Whether through excitement, frustration or fear, it's not a great thing to experience. It can put us off balance, cause us injury and, of course, be embarrassing. It can even be dangerous in some situations.
We all know that we need to work on changing our dog's behaviour so that this doesn't happen in future, but that takes time and setting up training scenarios and in the meantime, life continues to happen around us. From people and their dogs appearing suddenly around a corner, to a cat running across the road, or maybe a person up a ladder where there never was anything like that before, we have to sometimes just manage our dogs in the environment we're in.
One of the best tools for managing this is the technique of A to B. Simply put, this is you and your dog turning 180 degrees and putting enough distance between you and the trigger so that your dog is comfortable. As with everything, the more you put into something, the more you will get out of it. Meaning, if you just try to drag your dog away without practicing the procedure in advance, you're not going to find yourself as successful as if you've put in the training time to get your mechanics sorted, and to get the pattern established in your dog's mind, too.
Here is my description of the training process.
Start this without any distractions, in your garden or somewhere else easy to get the mechanics. I am assuming your dog is on your left side.
1. Load your right hand with some treats.
2. While walking in a straight line with a loose leash, smoothly run your left hand all the way down the leash until it is right by the harness/collar.
3. At the same time, move your right hand with the treats to the dog’s nose and lure her around 180 degrees. Once you’re around, feed her. Work out which way is best for you to turn. With Shadow, it’s much more of a game and therefore easier to keep his attention if he turns on the outside. For other dogs, it’s better to turn with them on the inside. Practice both and learn what works best for your dog.
4. Practice these mechanics repeatedly until it becomes fluid, keeping the sessions short, fun and upbeat.
5. Once you are both moving smoothly on the arc, you can add a verbal cue, mine is a bright, “This way!”.
6. Fade the lure and start adding in a few steps before you feed - this prepares them for real life where you might have to get some distance from the trigger before rewarding.
7. Start adding in scenarios - as you walk, you might see a lamp post and "A to B" away from it. Maybe a car. Then a person. Do it immediately you turn a corner. Practice it with as many “events” that she doesn’t normally react to as you can so you become fluid, even when she's not expecting it. You can even get apps for your phone that will beep or vibrate at random intervals (within pre-determined criteria) that you could use as your unexpected trigger.
8. Gradually make those triggers in your training scenarios closer to the things she is likely to react to.
Here's a nice video from Absolute Dogs showing it in action. The demo starts at 2:30. I'd say start with the lure with your right hand first; Bet knows the game already, so she doesn't need that, but in the early stages, it definitely helps. And also, I know they are pushing for no verbal, but I like to add a verbal for situations where I may not have two hands available for running my left down the lead; that's my preferred cue, for sure, but I still want the dogs to respond to my "Let's go!" if that's not possible.
If you can't see the above video inline, click on this link to watch it on Facebook
Unlike most training protocols, you can start using this method in real life even before you've "finished" training it. You will get better results the more you train, of course, but it doesn't have to be perfect before you can use it for real.
This is a management tool, but I find it also helps to desensitise the dog to their triggers too, given time. When they learn that you will get them out of a stressful situation, those situations become inherently less stressful.
A note on fading the food lure. Normally with our behaviours, we go about systematically proofing and as we make the environment more difficult, we can go back to using the lure for a rep or two, just to be clear to the dog. Obviously the scenarios where you might need the A to B are often out of our control, so having the handful of treats to use in case you have to deal with a "level 10" event before you've even proofed to "level 4" is a really good idea! But also, as you're practicing with the lower levels that you know she's not going to react to, you can start to fade.
It's a good idea to keep on practicing all the time, using random objects as your "trigger" to turn away from, because otherwise she might make the connection that the hand sliding down the lead means there's something in the environment to worry about if you only ever use it in scenarios where she would react. An added bonus of it, I find, is that it helps lead walking. It adds to your spontaneity, so the dog is more likely to want to stick with you, even if you're only doing it once every fifteen minutes.
We all know that we need to work on changing our dog's behaviour so that this doesn't happen in future, but that takes time and setting up training scenarios and in the meantime, life continues to happen around us. From people and their dogs appearing suddenly around a corner, to a cat running across the road, or maybe a person up a ladder where there never was anything like that before, we have to sometimes just manage our dogs in the environment we're in.
One of the best tools for managing this is the technique of A to B. Simply put, this is you and your dog turning 180 degrees and putting enough distance between you and the trigger so that your dog is comfortable. As with everything, the more you put into something, the more you will get out of it. Meaning, if you just try to drag your dog away without practicing the procedure in advance, you're not going to find yourself as successful as if you've put in the training time to get your mechanics sorted, and to get the pattern established in your dog's mind, too.
Here is my description of the training process.
Start this without any distractions, in your garden or somewhere else easy to get the mechanics. I am assuming your dog is on your left side.
1. Load your right hand with some treats.
2. While walking in a straight line with a loose leash, smoothly run your left hand all the way down the leash until it is right by the harness/collar.
3. At the same time, move your right hand with the treats to the dog’s nose and lure her around 180 degrees. Once you’re around, feed her. Work out which way is best for you to turn. With Shadow, it’s much more of a game and therefore easier to keep his attention if he turns on the outside. For other dogs, it’s better to turn with them on the inside. Practice both and learn what works best for your dog.
4. Practice these mechanics repeatedly until it becomes fluid, keeping the sessions short, fun and upbeat.
5. Once you are both moving smoothly on the arc, you can add a verbal cue, mine is a bright, “This way!”.
6. Fade the lure and start adding in a few steps before you feed - this prepares them for real life where you might have to get some distance from the trigger before rewarding.
7. Start adding in scenarios - as you walk, you might see a lamp post and "A to B" away from it. Maybe a car. Then a person. Do it immediately you turn a corner. Practice it with as many “events” that she doesn’t normally react to as you can so you become fluid, even when she's not expecting it. You can even get apps for your phone that will beep or vibrate at random intervals (within pre-determined criteria) that you could use as your unexpected trigger.
8. Gradually make those triggers in your training scenarios closer to the things she is likely to react to.
Here's a nice video from Absolute Dogs showing it in action. The demo starts at 2:30. I'd say start with the lure with your right hand first; Bet knows the game already, so she doesn't need that, but in the early stages, it definitely helps. And also, I know they are pushing for no verbal, but I like to add a verbal for situations where I may not have two hands available for running my left down the lead; that's my preferred cue, for sure, but I still want the dogs to respond to my "Let's go!" if that's not possible.
If you can't see the above video inline, click on this link to watch it on Facebook
Unlike most training protocols, you can start using this method in real life even before you've "finished" training it. You will get better results the more you train, of course, but it doesn't have to be perfect before you can use it for real.
This is a management tool, but I find it also helps to desensitise the dog to their triggers too, given time. When they learn that you will get them out of a stressful situation, those situations become inherently less stressful.
A note on fading the food lure. Normally with our behaviours, we go about systematically proofing and as we make the environment more difficult, we can go back to using the lure for a rep or two, just to be clear to the dog. Obviously the scenarios where you might need the A to B are often out of our control, so having the handful of treats to use in case you have to deal with a "level 10" event before you've even proofed to "level 4" is a really good idea! But also, as you're practicing with the lower levels that you know she's not going to react to, you can start to fade.
It's a good idea to keep on practicing all the time, using random objects as your "trigger" to turn away from, because otherwise she might make the connection that the hand sliding down the lead means there's something in the environment to worry about if you only ever use it in scenarios where she would react. An added bonus of it, I find, is that it helps lead walking. It adds to your spontaneity, so the dog is more likely to want to stick with you, even if you're only doing it once every fifteen minutes.
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