Leash Reactivity

[Guest Giselle]

I understand. When I was first beginning and I was still dealing with that mentality, it was uncomfortable looking at a dog's eyes for minutes at a time. Silly, but I think a lot of people think the same way.

 

Another alternative, or the way to transition to a comfortable eye contact, is having your dog heel while watching your hands. If you walk holding your hands to your stomach and reward your dog from that position, he will comfortably heel while focusing on your hands. It's not ideal, but, if your dog has a very strong eye-contact-default behavior, he'll automatically transition to looking at your face when your hands no longer give food. You can then 'release' the dog from the strict heel position but continue to ask for a loose-leash. As long as you keep asking for a loose-leash, the dog will generally continue to check-in with you and give you eye-contact. Reward these in the heel position, and you'll be able to maintain your dog's focus for a looooong time on any walk. Then, when a dog comes or when you approach a distraction, you can simply move a step backwards and your dog should be able to give a strong focus because he's already been checking in with you for the entire walk! I can get a videotape of this, if you'd like. My filmer/helper isn't in town for a few weeks, so it won't be a great video but it'll show something.. Good luck! You're making a lot of progress for just a few sessions!

[christinepi]

I understand. When I was first beginning and I was still dealing with that mentality, it was uncomfortable looking at a dog's eyes for minutes at a time. Silly, but I think a lot of people think the same way.

 

Another alternative, or the way to transition to a comfortable eye contact, is having your dog heel while watching your hands. If you walk holding your hands to your stomach and reward your dog from that position, he will comfortably heel while focusing on your hands. It's not ideal, but, if your dog has a very strong eye-contact-default behavior, he'll automatically transition to looking at your face when your hands no longer give food. You can then 'release' the dog from the strict heel position but continue to ask for a loose-leash. As long as you keep asking for a loose-leash, the dog will generally continue to check-in with you and give you eye-contact. Reward these in the heel position, and you'll be able to maintain your dog's focus for a looooong time on any walk. Then, when a dog comes or when you approach a distraction, you can simply move a step backwards and your dog should be able to give a strong focus because he's already been checking in with you for the entire walk! I can get a videotape of this, if you'd like. My filmer/helper isn't in town for a few weeks, so it won't be a great video but it'll show something.. Good luck! You're making a lot of progress for just a few sessions!

 

Now that you mention Tracker making eye contact while heeling--I've never taught him to heel, BUT he already does this (eye contact) all the time. What he does is this: after ca 20 minutes of walking he'll have spent enough energy to have some head space for me. He'll routinely, continually check in with me. I treat him, like i said, NOT every single time, but ca. every third to fourth time he offers that (his offer is so established by now that I'm trying to cut back on rewards and keeping him on his toes, which seems to work great). The times I don't treat him, he keeps making eye contact for many many steps, hoping so badly he'll get a treat. So that seems the perfect place to actually practice prolonging eye contact! It's really MY getting hung up on extended eye contact, not his!! So would you suggest just milking his offer for what it's worth, c/t after so many steps and gradually increase time? I see how helpful this can be for all sorts of distractions.

 

If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to see a video on this, thank you.

[Guest Giselle]

Got a video! I asked an inexperienced friend to help me, so it's not as good as it should be. Also, it was raining the entire time, so my apologies for a very sluggish Ivy.

 

Since the bulk of leash reactive dogs' problems is during their daily walks, we have to teach them how to transition from a formal heel to a relaxed, focused loose-leash. This way, they learn to focus in all situations at all times - with or without treats. And you'll notice that I kept up a more formal heel during distractions because the criteria is more clear to Ivy.

 

So, I would suggest: Normal walk = relaxed, focused loose-leash, with intermittent rewards for eye contact. When distractions pop up, transition to a more formal heel with frequent rewards and simpler criteria. Above all, practice practice practice!

[christinepi]

Got a video! I asked an inexperienced friend to help me, so it's not as good as it should be. Also, it was raining the entire time, so my apologies for a very sluggish Ivy.

 

Since the bulk of leash reactive dogs' problems is during their daily walks, we have to teach them how to transition from a formal heel to a relaxed, focused loose-leash. This way, they learn to focus in all situations at all times - with or without treats. And you'll notice that I kept up a more formal heel during distractions because the criteria is more clear to Ivy.

 

So, I would suggest: Normal walk = relaxed, focused loose-leash, with intermittent rewards for eye contact. When distractions pop up, transition to a more formal heel with frequent rewards and simpler criteria. Above all, practice practice practice!

 

My Goodness, what a focussed dog... Thanks for the video, and all your advice--it helps clarifying what I'm aiming for. We'll try again tomorrow!