How to train your dog to stop pulling on the leash

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How to train your dog to stop pulling on the leash

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Hi!! i love your blogs and posts! so great! question... any suggestion on how to get a huge dog to stop pulling?

(From Megan on Facebook)

Hi! Thanks for writing! It can be pretty frustrating training a dog to not pull, but if you have the right training tools and patience, you'll be able to train him in no time! Do you have an Easy Walk Harness or a Gentle Leader halter yet? If you have an extreme puller I would get the gentle leader. It acts like a horse halter, because you'll have control of your dog's head and and it works like a charm on most dogs. However, some don't like having something strange on their nose and will try to scratch it off so be sure to attach a positive association. Make sure that you use lots of good treats when you put it on and when you walk him around with it for the first time.

You'll also want to get a leash that you can attach around your waist. Make sure it's short enough that he can't walk more than a couple feet ahead of you, but long enough that he can reach down to the ground to smell and check his pee-mail. With the leash around your waist you can stop every time your dog pulls and "be a tree". Wait till your dog calms down and takes the tension off the leash himself and then say, "Good! Ok!" and then take another step. If he pulls either stop and be a tree or turn and go the other way. Make sure that you're walking at a brisk pace because dogs walk along side you a lot better when they're in a "traveling" trotting mode. They are less interested in smelling and pulling you towards something when they're trotting along. It's good if the leash is around your waist because your dog will know the exact length in the leash that he has until it goes taunt. You can help him out a little bit, by making the interrupter kissy noise to get his attention when he starts to reach the end of the leash. You'll be able to get his attention and he'll have to lessen his step to look up at you. If he does drop back to you without ever putting tension on the leash in the first place, click and treat and tell him "Good heel!" every time he's traveling by your side. You want him to start realizing that a tight leash means that you stop and the fun stops. You'll know that he's getting it when he starts to automatically take the tension off himself because he wants to get from point A to point B as fast as possible and he's realized that a tight leash means he goes nowhere. He's probably learned like most dogs that pulling gets him where he wants to go and when he gets to smell the bush he wanted to smell or the other dog down the street. It's like getting a big reward and as a result the pulling behavior will increase and he's going to try pulling even harder next time, which is another reason that it's extremely important to be consistent in stopping every time he pulls. Just like slot machine gamblers, if he gets to win only once in awhile, it'll keep him hooked enough to keep trying.

You can also start teaching him what heel means by clicking and treating him for keeping his head right next to your side. When his head is by your side, click and then treat him right near the seam of your pants. Once he starts realizing that good things happen when his head is near the sweet spot, he'll start cruising right along beside you. When you first start to teach him this, take one step at a time and click and treat him each time.

Then take a couple of steps and click and treat him. Keep doing this until you are only reinforcing him for staying by your side every 50 steps or so and so on. If he's trying to turn sideways and face you, use a wall to keep him parallel to you as you walk, click and treat. If he pulls ahead when you do this, stop and be a tree and wait till he goes back to your side-- don't click and treat though, because he'll be thinking, "I'm going to pull, then stop, then get my treat." You have to be careful of chaining behaviors. Instead, just stop and wait for him to come back to you then tell him, "Good, Ok" and then take another step. If he keeps his head by your side, click and treat. If you are super consistent and patient, he'll be walking wonderfully by your side and he'll know exactly what heel means. And you'll be able to quit the game of tug o' war once and for all!

Happy training!

Peace, Paws and Love,

Zen Dog Girl

Is it ok to leave my dog by himself overnight?

Ask Zen Dog Girl Overnight pet sitting

Is it ok to leave my dog by himself overnight?

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Dear Zen Dog Girl,

I have a 10 month old golden retriever puppy who is house trained and is pretty used to being left alone for long periods of time when I go to work during the day. Is it alright for me to leave him overnight for a quick trip up to LA. I'll be gone from 6pm on Saturday and I'll be getting back in the morning at 9am. Do you think he'll be ok or am I being a neglectful dog owner?

Dear Concerned Golden Owner,

Thank you for writing! Unfortunately, we can't take our dogs everywhere with us even though most of us wish we could. Leaving your dog by himself overnight can be risky. In the event that an emergency happened (a fire, gas leak, flood, etc.) your dog would be trapped in the house and wouldn't be able to get out. It's important that if you do choose to leave your dog by himself that you alert a neighbor and make sure that you leave a spare key and emergency contacts with them just in case. It's also important to have a friend, neighbor, or better yet a professional dog walker or sitter to walk and feed your dog at the usual times that you would at night and in the morning. For example, if you are leaving at 6pm in the evening, schedule to have someone come by at the usual time that you would potty your dog at night, say 8:30pm and then have them return no later than 8am in the morning if your dog is used to holding it this long overnight. If your dog is crate trained this may be too long of a time and an overnight pet sitter who sleeps at your house may be necessary. If your dog is hardly left alone during the day and/or suffers from any degree of separation anxiety he should not be left alone overnight. Also, ten months is still pretty young and your puppy might get into trouble if he's left for a long amount of time. If you're going to be gone for more than one night at a time, it's very important to hire a professional dog sitter or to have a friend that you trust with your life to stay with your dog overnight because it can be very stressful for most dogs to be left alone for a long period of time. Stressed out dogs show signs of depression and anxiety by not eating, excessive chewing and scratching, salivating, lethargy, listlessness, pacing, destructiveness, scratching on doors, digging, barking, whining, etc. If your dog shows any of these signs of separation anxiety it's very important that you don't leave your dog overnight for any period of time because they can do great harm to themselves. With a loving, caring, compassionate pet sitter, they will feel right at home, safe and secure, and you will feel at ease knowing that your dog is having fun, getting lots of exercise and has someone to snuggle with at night. If you have any questions or if you'd like to schedule a free consultation with one of our professional loving pet sitters please feel free to call us at (858) 349-5700.

Snap, crackle, pop! Why is my dog scared of certain noises?

Ask Zen Dog Girl

Snap, crackle, pop! Why is my dog scared of certain noises?

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Dear Zen Dog Girl,

This is Danielle (Wally's mom) we were in your puppy class almost a year ago now. We are close to moving into a house and once we do we would love to schedule individual training sessions. I really want to teach Wally that the street is a bad place. He is very good about staying close to me, but if he were to ever get out for any reason I am very scared he would go in the street. My brother in law lost his puppy about 6 months ago in the street because the landscaper opened the gate. We will definitely be extremely careful, but as a part of that I want to spend more time doing training with Wally.

However, the reason I am emailing you tonight is because Wally has developed a new fear. Any time we make a crackling noise he runs like the wind into the closet and hides in the hanging clothes. When we cook something on the stove, open a bag, or crack our knuckles he runs in there. He also does it when we put his food in his bowl, even if we try to do it quietly.

I am not sure what has spurred this behavior because we have only seen it for a week or two. Several months ago (about August or September) I roasted vegetables in a glass Pyrex dish, but I accidentally placed it on a hot burner, and it exploded all over the kitchen. We are thinking that may have scared him- but he has not been so scared of these little noises until recently. He is terrified of fireworks and thunder, which is understandable and we keep him away as best as possible. I am just baffled by this fear of opening a chip bag or his food bag, or cracking knuckles. Some noises, like opening a soda can he is not scared of. I hope you have an idea of what we can do to help him because he runs into the closet more than 10 times a day, just by us doing our normal things.

Thank You!

Danielle, Steve, and Wally

Hi Danielle, Steve and Wally!

So good to hear from you! Sounds like poor little Wally does need some therapy! We can set up a training session for whenever you like. In the meantime, here are a few things that you can start doing immediately. Begin by desensitizing and conditioning him to very "quiet" noises. It takes a lot of patience and time to desensitize dogs to scary, stressful stimuli, but Wally is still young and you are the perfect owner to work with him because you are patient and willing to do what it takes to make him confident and happy. Follow these three steps and Wally will be loving snap, crackle, pop noises before you know it!

Step 1: Even though it may be tough, resist all urges to coddle, cradle, pet and/or coo, "It's okay Wally!". It's our natural reaction to want to comfort our dogs when they are scared, but doing so gives them lots of attention for the behavior that they are displaying. When Wally is scared, he finds comfort by escaping into the closet and then probably waits for you to follow him there and tell him that 'it's okay' to act that way. His behavior will be positively reinforced if he gets attention for this. You want to make sure that you don't give any attention to his scaredy cat behaviors and you never ever want to follow him to the closet so that he can learn that tiny little noises aren't going to kill him. Also, make sure to observe your own reaction to a noise. By this time you have also probably been trained to hear a certain noise and then unconsciously look over at Wally worried that he will have a bad reaction to it. This small act may even be cuing him to react fearfully. Make sure that you always smile, be calm and be confident. When Wally doesn't display any fearful behavior to a noise, you can give him all of the love and attention in the world!

Step 2: Learn to recognize his threshold or tolerance levels to certain noises and then set up situations to work with him slowly by using clicker training. For instance, take a piece of paper, crinkle it a little bit and see what his reaction is to it. If he isn't startled, this is a good thing. You don't want to stress him out at all at this point. You want to start with a noise that he is very tolerant of and then build up the loudness based on his progress. If the piece of paper crinkling doesn't set him off, crinkle it, set it on the floor, and if he steps forward to investigate, you will click the second he takes his first step and then treat him by dropping the treat away from the paper so that he has to turn away from it. When he returns to investigate it again, click and treat away from the paper. Then crinkle the paper again and drop it on the ground. When he steps forward towards it, click and treat again. Keep doing this until he is able to walk all the way up the paper. Attach a cue to this, by saying, "check it out". Then you will be able to slowly increase the intensity of the noise by doing this type of exercise with other items that make noise. Make sure that you do not 'up the ante' too quickly and that you only proceed if Wally's body language is calm and happy. Look for good eye contact with you, tail held low and wagging, ears forward and not back. There should be no wincing, backing away, tail tucking or nervous signs like excessive panting, salivating or yawning. Set him up for success and just do a few repetitions a couple of times a day. You will have more success with several 5-10 minute training sessions spaced out throughout the day than you will with an hour long one once a day.

Step 3: Once Wally is feeling comfortable and confident with the slightest noises, start walking around your house making small noises like a small snap of your fingers, lightly setting a book on the table, touching a plastic bag etc. and randomly make the noise and happily say, "check it out!". Then nonchalantly drop several high value rewards (pieces of chicken, cheese, or any type of super smelly, yummy, soft treats) at your feet. Keep your treat pouch on you at all times around the house or place treat jars strategically around your house where you can easily grab some. Also, whenever you hear a noise that you know Wally is comfortable with, praise him and give him lots of attention for not reacting to the noise. Also, practice your basic commands (sit, down, look, touch, stay, leave it, go to bed, crawl, back etc.) with him everyday for at least 15 minutes. Get creative and play games with him or teach him a new trick everyday. Ask Steve to make a few quiet noises in the background while Wally is preoccupied with you playing the games. Build up his confidence all around and pretty soon Wally will be running towards noises!

It's great that you want to street train Wally and we will easily be able to teach him this during our session together. Go ahead and check out my article "Doggy Street Smarts in 7 Steps" for some helpful tips in the meantime. Looking forward to working with you more and I can't wait to see Wally's progress! Happy training!

Peace, Paws, and Love,

Zen Dog Girl : )

Update:

Thank you so much!!! We have been working with him the last few days and Wally is doing much better. Still nervous but he hasn't run into the closet at all! Thank you very much for responding! We will hopefully schedule a time with you very shortly!!!

Happy new year!!