How do I get him moving when he wants to sniff everything...positively?

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Carbon is a very good lead walker in general but he gets in moods where he wants to stop and smell everything. His targets are fairly predictable (poles, tree trunks, corners, doorways) but also ubiquitous. If I know for sure he's going to go for something (a tree trunk), I use 'don't touch' and he gets a reward for continuing to walk. However, more times than not, he just wants to sniff some random thing. Sometimes it's just the air!

By the way, I train two walking modes: "Let's go" and "Relax". I handle the leash very differently for the two modes so that he knows the difference. For "Relax" he can sniff all he wants but isn't allowed to mark (that's a different command). If it's really looking like a 10 minute sniff and I have no patience, I'll do a vocal click, wait a couple seconds if he doesn't immediately respond (he does about 50% of the time) and then I give him a tug to get him to move on.

It's not a yank or a pop, but I still think there should be a better way than me slowly dragging him away from a wee-stained corner.

For "Let's go" I walk him on the hands free leash and we keep a stead, consistent pace. Not a fast pace because of my goofy foot, but consistent - NO sniffing. He's actually very good in this mode, but if there are still mega-yummy tempting things he wants to sniff or stare at where we both get tugged on (him on his harness, me on the my shoulder where I'm wearing the leash).

In either mode, how do I positively get him moving without a leash tug or using food as a lure? I can use food lures sparingly, but he's way too smart and quickly starts 'working me' for treats if he thinks I'm treating for not stopping. He's a savvy one, our Carbon!

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Not sure if it's also important, but I should probably also say that he's an incredibly slow walker and I often have to encourage him to get a move on. It's not an energy thing - he can run like the wind off leash - but I think he's just very much in tune with and fascinated by his surroundings.

Or he thinks I should be walking slower with my gimpy foot and he's trying to 'help'?

 

[Boogie]

I would keep the food behind your back and give it to him for choosing to move forward. Every time to start with then tailing off slowly.

So it’s not a lure but it is a reward.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I would keep the food behind your back and give it to him for choosing to move forward. Every time to start with then tailing off slowly.

So it’s not a lure but it is a reward.

If I have food in my hand (and he keeps an eagle eye) then he won't sniff. He'll just prance along next to me and look adoringly at my hand.

But I've got a treat bag on me at all times, so could quickly reach in and reward him once he moves?

Does that mean I wait to reward until he chooses to move forward without any pulling from me? I thought about doing that, but thought with the way Carbon's mind works, he would think he was getting a treat for sniffing - not for moving away - and then sniff even more.

I've said it before but it bears repeating: it's hard to train a dog who is smarter (and faster) than me.

 

[snowbunny]

Soooo... you have a cue for "do what you want now, sniff and enjoy your environment", right? And that's what he's doing. Sometimes, he is allowed to sniff until he's done, but other times you get to a point where you want to break it off. How is he supposed to know this? Sounds to me like you need to get that end of the proceedings on cue

There are many options, so here are a few.
Every time you walk on when he's finished sniffing, use a cue. So as soon as his body language says he's ready to go - but before he starts walking - say "walk on!" (or whatever), mark and reward as he moves. Capture this as much as possible and he'll start to associate the "walk on" with the movement and the reward.

Teach him to disengage from sniffing by first teaching him to sniff in a way that's under your control. If he doesn't already have one, teach him a sniff cue that will have him sniffing the ground even if he doesn't think there's anything there - for gun dogs, they get taught a hunt cue. You do this by using the cue over and over while you quietly drop pieces of food on the floor - he starts to associate the food with there being something there that he has to sniff out. You can then start using your sniff cue before there's food on the floor, so he puts his nose down to sniff out the food even though it's not there yet. Then you can start introducing a "stop sniffing now" cue. When he's had the three pieces (say) of food that you've dropped, let him sniff until he's satisfied that there's no more there and, just before he raises his head, say "all gone!" or something similar. Mark and reward him for raising his head. You can then use your sniff cue again and repeat. You don't want him to see you dropping the food; this means he's learning that you're stopping him while there's still food on the floor (even though there isn't really!) and he gets released back to continue. Double whammy - he gets a reward for stopping and also gets to continue. Amazing. Over time, you can start using your stop cue while there's still food on the floor. If you make a big deal out of him stopping and use a higher value of food for him stopping than what you're scattering, you should be able to build a good reinforcement history for stopping.

Be aware that sniffing uses a lot of the dog's brain, so it's entirely possible that he doesn't actually hear you when he's sniffing deeply. So you need to work on him keeping his ears open while he's sniffing and try not to get frustrated about him ignoring you - he may very well be, to all intents and purposes, deaf.

There's no problem with luring away from a particular <whatever>, but you have to have a training plan on how you're going to fade that lure. If it's a bribe and he is choosing between it and the environment, the environment will eventually win. So you need to think about how you're going to get around that. Use smells that aren't as enticing. Practice, practice, practice. You don't go sit an exam without practicing for it first, and you don't start studying a new subject by trying to do the hardest stuff before you've looked at the basics. So make it easy. Low value smell, high value reward. Lure him away with the food very obvious. Give him the food, send him back to the smell. Repeat a couple of times, making the lure less visible each time (making it smaller, closing your fist, whatever). Eventually, do it without the lure at all, just the movement, and make a big deal of showing him there was nothing int he hand he was following, but he still gets it from the other hand. Practice the mechanics of this. Change your "fake lure" into a visual cue you can use, because that's more likely to work during a really good smelling session than an auditory cue.

There you go, a few of the many options available. Pick and mix. It doesn't hurt to train a few different methods so you can see what works best for your dog. Just always remember: you don't go into an exam with no exposure to the subject matter and expect to pass. You have to learn the subject and then practice in less demanding scenarios first.

 

[snowbunny]

Also, dogs have a thing called an "opposition reflex". If you pull, he'll pull back. It's reflexive (hence the name). You can also teach him that pressure means move in the direction of that pressure: apply pressure, feed in that direction - repeat ad infinitum - but until you do that, you're more likely to trigger the opposition reflex if you pull.

 

[Boogie]

If I have food in my hand (and he keeps an eagle eye) then he won't sniff. He'll just prance along next to me and look adoringly at my hand.

But I've got a treat bag on me at all times, so could quickly reach in and reward him once he moves?

Does that mean I wait to reward until he chooses to move forward without any pulling from me? I thought about doing that, but thought with the way Carbon's mind works, he would think he was getting a treat for sniffing - not for moving away - and then sniff even more.

I've said it before but it bears repeating: it's hard to train a dog who is smarter (and faster) than me.

I would just make sure he can not see the treats. So you’ve always got one in your hand but your hand is always behind your back. So you having a treat in your hand is not at all visible or obvious.

He gets it for choosing to move on. Looking longingly, prancing along hopefully get ignored, but moving on sensibly gets the treat (whip it out from behind your back and feed from the correct walking position, nowhere else.)

 

[Charlie]

I've just started training as @Boogie suggests, it's simple and they cotton on quickly. Hattie is a real sniffer but after a couple of weeks employing this training she now has a quick sniff looks at me and moves on at heal for a treat - great! xx

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Thank you, @Boogie and @snowbunny . Good advice/plan/strategies - now I need to go out and see if I'm to the task!

 

[Stacia]

I just taught my dog that he could 'go sniff' and at other times he was to 'walk to heel'. I imagine that life for Carbon in a city is so exciting with all those delicious sniffs.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I just taught my dog that he could 'go sniff' and at other times he was to 'walk to heel'. I imagine that life for Carbon in a city is so exciting with all those delicious sniffs.

Honestly, the biggest problem is the food on the ground. I never had any clue that there were so many discarded pretzels on the ground until summer in Regensburg with Carbon!

We've finally had rain and the end of our local version of Octoberfest, so hopefully the pretzel population will diminish.

Aside from sniffing, the other issue with not moving along is that Carbon has very set ideas of where he wants to walk. If we're just on a relaxed walk and I don't care where we're going, fine. He wants to go left, we'll go left. But if he's on a 'let's go' (your walk to heel), then he needs to go where I want to go. He stands in the road intersection and gives me the one eye brow lift stare of death! "I wanna go THIS WAY!!!" It's a battle of the wills sometimes.

He's such a good boy, though. He learned very quickly not to mark everywhere and I know from experience that's a tough thing. He also doesn't hold a grudge if I don't let him have his way. I've had dogs that won't 'speak' to me for the rest of the day if I didn't let them turn left when I wanted to go right. Carbon just kind of shrugs his doggie shoulders and keeps that tail wagging.

 

[Boogie]

I would always go where you want to go - I think the two modes could confuse him. If yesterday then why not today?

I’d have ‘sniffy walks’ for him as distinct from ‘moving on and getting on with it’ walks. But, in both modes, I’d make sure you are choosing the direction of the walk. I’d use different equipment for each walk so that he knows which he’s going on (They soon learn by the stuff you and they wear which kind of walk it will be).

.

 

[snowbunny]

I don't think it's a bad thing letting your dog choose the way, but you have to be very clear about when they get to choose and when they don't. Control is a very strong reinforcer, so it's a really useful tool in our arsenal and helps with confidence for dogs who are lacking there. Knowing they get a say in things is very empowering. Of course, it's not always practical, so you need to be able to say "in this context, you get to choose; in this context, you don't", and stick to that. It's up to you to describe those two contexts. Is it that on one he's walking to heel and the other he's not? Great, but what about if he's on a sniffy walk but you don't want to go the way he does? It might be better to have a "you choose" cue that you can use to indicate it's his choice; the rest of the time, it's yours.