My New Guy Needs Leash Training

[robinw]

I just adopted a galgo named Iker. He is great indoors but needs lots of work on a leash. He's only been home since Monday, and he is still getting used to sounds, smells, etc. He wears a martingale collar, a spook harness and one of those leashes that attaches to the harness and the collar. When I first met him, he was extremely traumatized, but six months in a foster home in Spain did wonders. He is still afraid of men and kids, but I understand that he is much better than he was.

 

I would like to help him improve his leash walking. My greyhound, Treasure, is very calm and confident. I was thinking of two options, or a combination of both:

 

1. Continue to alk him with Treasure so he can learn from her. He pulls like crazy, but I stop and turn to bring him back to me, and reinforce with treats. That is very difficult to do with Treasure.

 

2. I can walk him without treasure, using lots of positive reinforcement. That will help, but he won't have the benefit of his confident friend.

 

Or I can do a combination of both.

 

Does anybody have suggestions or advice? I know this will take time and patience, but I'm looking for the best way to help him.

 

thanks

Edited April 4, 2012 by robinw

[JAJ2010]

I would forget the treats and just focus on lots of walking with a calm buddy.

 

Sunshine wasn't a huge puller but she would pull to get back inside to the safe house. We did a bunch of different things to gain her leash manners.

 

As soon as she would pull I would just freeze in one spot until she eventually got bored and glanced in my direction. Then I would say call her back to me, re position and start walking again. Sometimes it would take us 30 minutes to go 30 feet!

 

Another technique was as soon as she walked in front of me and was about to start pulling I would sing out "This way" in a very high pitched happy energetic voice and we would quickly change directions and fast walk/jog for a few steps. The increase in pace was fun for her and it reminded her to check back in with what we were doing. I think she saw it as a fun challenge to make sure I didn't leave her in the dust as I darted quickly in the opposite direction. Obviously you would start out slow until your pups caught on to the new game.

 

Of course throughout all of this Rainy had the patience of a saint!

 

The more leash time you can log the faster he will improve. We lived in an Apt so it wasn't long before Sunshine caught on. Now if they start pulling I just say "get back here!" and they both happy jump back into a heel like it's a game.

Edited April 4, 2012 by JAJ2010

[greytpups]

Is he pulling because he's afraid or because he's not used to leash walking? If it is poor leash manners, Stanley Coren always just walks and turns and walks and turns until the dog stays with him.

[robinw]

Is he pulling because he's afraid or because he's not used to leash walking? If it is poor leash manners, Stanley Coren always just walks and turns and walks and turns until the dog stays with him.

I think it's a combination of the two. You will love him, Jan

[MaryJane]

Do figure 8's - the twisting and turning helps to train the dog to stay by your side. Make sure that you use a tight leash and then as he gets better you can loosen up a bit.

 

While having a confident buddy is good - I'd probably hold off walking two so I could just concentrate on the one that needs the leash training.

[XTRAWLD]

Kasey helped Ryder walk well (I'd like to think I had a hand in it too!) At times, I will admit Ryder is such a handful that it's difficult to walk both boys at the same time, especially at the beginning and especially when Ryder needs alone leash training - Iker will need some alone leash training, but not all of it should be just him.

 

I like them to walk on the sidewalk and not go to the bathroom on people's lawns, so Kasey has learned this rather well and I put him on the side Ryder is not allowed to walk on so Kasey "steers" him away from that side of the sidewalk. He learned how to walk straight with Kasey's help. I would walk both boys evenly just a little bit ahead of me, because the sidewalk is only so wide - although I do practice one on each side now and again. He will not push up against Kasey and just go through him, Kasey walks right beside him like he should, so it is ideal for me. Having him as a calm greyhound really is a helpful aid and I'm sure Treasure will be happy to help.

 

As far as pulling goes, Ryder still pulls, but not as much as before and it's constant work. In relation to your question, I worked on the pulling part of walking with him solo and with treats. When walking them as a pair I would keep treats handy, but would not reward as much, because I really was using Kasey for help. I also found that I did not have to correct Ryder as much with Kasey around, but most certainly you should be doing a combination of 1 and 2.

 

Ryder is fearful of bangs on our walk, and the reality is, Kasey cannot help him with this. I have to. I don't think that Ryder has learned how to do things FROM Kasey, but by me using Kasey as an aid to help Ryder, absolutely. Have fun with Iker and Treasure - the next few days ahead will be stressful, but have fun with it as much as you can. I remember how badly I wanted to pull my hair on during the first month!

[macoduck]

Do you need to leash walk him? Maybe let him get a bit more settled in before venturing around the neighborhood.

[Guest Mom2Shiloh]

I think I would practice some leashwork in the fenced in back yard at home, short sessions of happy voiced, direction changing. She can be out with you, watching to give you confidence. Give him a little more practice in a safe setting.. and then, when he's starting not to view that as alien I would alternate short walks with her with short training walks with him only. But I would keep both kinds short.

 

It's always good not to strain the attention span, but in his case he is dealing with a new country, new language and past trauma as well.

[christinepi]

Turid Rugass wrote a nice little book called "My dog pulls". What do I do?". I know this doesn't answer your questions exactly, but it might be still useful.

[Brandiandwe]

Another option: could you walk with a friend who would take Treasure while you manage Iker? That way you can focus on Iker, but he has the benefit of a copnfident friend?

[cleptogrey]

have you considered using a leash inside, the umbilical cord meathod, keeping him with you? if you do that you can start rewarding positive behavior and he will start to get the hang of being attached to you and responding to you. remember he's also just learing english and commands! all should be pretty easy as long as there is a reward involved. so, inside you are establishing a connection to YOU, establishing some vocabulary and establishing that being with you in a pretty good thing(definately yummy). then naturally go from inside to out- the yard suggestion is excellent but a connection needs to be made first.

 

remember everything is NEW!

congrats and enjoy- and pick up a couple of spanish praise words- muy bien! for a start...bueno, excellante. vamanos- let's go! and get out that spanish english dictionary or google translate and have a blast!

[Guest Gemma]

I would walk him with Treasure until you feel he is building confidence, and then try some short solo walks.

 

We fostered an abused grey from Guam once and she was a menace on the leash to begin with. She had the same get up as Iker: spook harness with a coupler attached to the collar. She was terrified of non greys (she almost got out of her collar when we met at IG: so embarrassing!) and had a crazy high prey drive (she once tried to attack a piece of fur we had up on a Native totem on our wall).

 

It took time and patience to get her to a point where she walked nicely. I walked her with my calm male, Peyton, during the week and on weekends my DH took Peyton so I could walk Sybyl. If I remember correctly, we saw an improvement within 2 weeks but it took over a month until she had good leash manners.

 

Good luck! He'll get there.

[jetcitywoman]

Is he pulling because he's afraid or because he's not used to leash walking?

 

Given his past, I would assume it's more of this and have extra patience and go extra slow with him. My Ajax is a spoiled American ex-racer (by comparison to a Galgo), but had a lot of anxiety and fear on leash walks when I first got him. It took me a while to figure that out, and that he wasn't just an undisciplined squirrel brain. Once I figured out that he was panicking, I shortened his walks to about 50 yards down the street and back, and kept him on a short leash right next to me. We were pretty quickly able to expand the walk distance as he slowly learned the neighborhood (and me). And I also learned by trial and error that he was much calmer when Capri was with us, than working alone.

[Yamaha_gurl]

Robin, what about walking him at NCR Park...no distractions (cars, people, houses) there, you could see it that works.

[Guest IrskasMom]

Robin ..... Iker is gorgeous and he stole my Heart :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

[robinw]

Robin ..... Iker is gorgeous and he stole my Heart :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

Thank you! He is very, very sweet and well behaved. Just a real pain in the ass on a leash.

[Brandiandwe]

Just a real pain in the ass on a leash.

 

This is NOT a criticism, but something about that bothers me. I'm sure you don't mean it negatively, or rather, I'm sure he is a pain on the leash, but sometimes I think we are very quick to label behaviours that we don't like quite negatively which assumes that the dog is not behaving just to wind us up. Which affects how we respond - with frustration or even anger. I really have to work on reminding myself that the pup isn't doing it to annoy or be a 'pain' but rather because they don't know what else to do. Again, not having a go, just more reminding myself that the way I label, think about or discuss a behaviour affects how I behave.

[robinw]

Just a real pain in the ass on a leash.

 

This is NOT a criticism, but something about that bothers me. I'm sure you don't mean it negatively, or rather, I'm sure he is a pain on the leash, but sometimes I think we are very quick to label behaviours that we don't like quite negatively which assumes that the dog is not behaving just to wind us up. Which affects how we respond - with frustration or even anger. I really have to work on reminding myself that the pup isn't doing it to annoy or be a 'pain' but rather because they don't know what else to do. Again, not having a go, just more reminding myself that the way I label, think about or discuss a behaviour affects how I behave.

Most people in this thread have provided really good, practical useful information without feeling the need to comment on my wording. Believe it or not, I am aware that he is not pulling on purpose, but is pulling because he spent Sunday and Monday in the cargo areas of two planes flying from Madrid to Toronto, after having spent six months in foster care because he was severely abused. Everything, including me, is new and different to him and he needs time to adjust. See? I don't think he is doing it on purpose

Edited April 7, 2012 by robinw

[Guest Gemma]

I think you can see something is a pain in the ass whilst still understanding that it's not an intentional act to drive you crazy on the part of the dog.

[Brandiandwe]

I think you can see something is a pain in the ass whilst still understanding that it's not an intentional act to drive you crazy on the part of the dog.

 

Sure, which was kind of my point.... which is why I tried to make it clear that I wasn't having a go at the OP. I'm sure he is a PITA - I have two of those myself. I guess my point was that I'm working on changing the way I say things, which do affect how I react to things because they express how I think about things. Kind of shifting my attitude. So this rang a bell with me. Sigh.

 

Good luck with Iker. I'm out. Obviously I'm too tired with other stuff going on to cope with this.