Word commands and leash walking

[Crystal]

Pulling on-leash has been the norm for me with my experience with the breed. I actually described above in this thread how I feel like I almost lost my mind trying to get my first Doberman to stop pulling on leash. I then told of the training book that turned it ALL around for us with heeling.

It is very interesting to me that Willow nips and growls when you run with her on leash. That sounds like high prey drive; yet tonight in another thread you showed Willow playing with your pet rat. I made a joke about her not being a candidate for barn hunt competition, implying she had no prey drive. I realize I may be wrong in my little joke and it may just be some weird connection between Willow and your rat.

At any rate, on the surface, growling and nipping while running sounds like high prey drive. Oji, my current male, is the first Dobe with which I've experienced this. It should be noted that he only really does it while he is on a heel and I run. It's like frustration plays into it. When he wants something but he is being restricted it frustrates him. It really concerned – well more than concerned – me. It shocked me. It still seems wholly unacceptable. Rule number one should be never bite Master. A dog that is prone to biting Master is unfit and should be gotten rid of – makes sense in theory, right? But I guess it's something that happens in some high prey drive dogs.

I don't know for sure if that's what's going on with your Willow, but hopefully we can get to the bottom of it. The reccomendation, by the way, from my breeder was to carry a bite/tug toy with you while you run with him on a heel and let them bite that instead. I modified this to: Hold the tug toy up high at my chest to try to keep his attention/gaze there. Require him to heel with precision, and when I stop and he hits an acceptable automatic sit, then I wait a few seconds as he sits and stares at the toy then I give the command to bite it. We have a brief tug session and, since I'm interested in effective biting and holding, if he has a nice full-mouth grip and he displays adequate aggression in trying to wrest the tug from me, I let him win it.

Treats: You can use treats to entice her to walk acceptably, but treats only go so far. Maybe use them in conjunction with other methods.

I'm glad you got a prong collar. There are threads here about how to use a prong collar. I'm glad you recognize that there is a right way to use a prong, instead of just putting it on the dog as their collar and hopefully letting it cause them to pull less.

Yep exactly I thought it was a high prey drive also, but she's so good with small animals and rodents. I do play with a tail teaser with her and she loves it. She is honestly such a smart dog although she confuses me on a daily basis sometimes I think yes I've made a breakthrough and then bam it's like she's reverted back to the previous behaviors. I know lately my 2 year old doesn't sleep so I'm pretty much a walking zombie that might be a huge issue with my lack of patience. Im going to look into the book you stated above and try the steps doberman gang suggested. I've never had a dog before that got overly excited when jogging I will try the tug toy as well although sometimes it's overwhelming when you're not sure if you're doing it right or sending mixed signals. Thank you so much

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Yep exactly I thought it was a high prey drive also, but she's so good with small animals and rodents. I do play with a tail teaser with her and she loves it. She is honestly such a smart dog although she confuses me on a daily basis sometimes I think yes I've made a breakthrough and then bam it's like she's reverted back to the previous behaviors. I know lately my 2 year old doesn't sleep so I'm pretty much a walking zombie that might be a huge issue with my lack of patience. Im going to look into the book you stated above and try the steps doberman gang suggested. I've never had a dog before that got overly excited when jogging I will try the tug toy as well although sometimes it's overwhelming when you're not sure if you're doing it right or sending mixed signals. Thank you so much

Well, it's clear that you care a lot. Everything will be fine.

 

[NikiL02]

Don't go faster until she learns the normal and even slow speeds. Going faster is getting her excited and she's playing vs paying attention.

There have been a few posts on here on how to use a prong collar and I know the leerburg website has a small tutorial video as well. Keep it up high on the neck. It may seem too tight but that's better than slipping down. Quick short pops. If you have to do more than one, that's okay. It's better than a long pull which can either cause pain, or cause a dog to ignore the collar; neither of which you want. When a dog pulls, stop forward motion. If you keep going, then pulling is okay and it's not. If a small pop doesn't bring her back stop until she does and is in the right spot, then proceed. Like Doberman Gang said, you may not make it far, but this is a mental stimulation thing, a learning thing, and she will get tired from it none-the-less. Have treats to reward when she's doing well. When she can walk, then you can do a light jog for short bursts. Any unwanted play behavior or pulling means stopping and walking vs going faster. Eventually she will figure out, I get to be left alone to look around, and we can even go faster which is fun, but only if I don't muck about too much. Exuberance during a daily walk is fine, biting and growling at your legs is not.

At this point, at 8 months old, Nero will feel the collar tighten when he goes too far and automatically slow himself down. The ideal is that he would never go out far enough to do that but he's 8 months old. Certainly not an expectation I have. Even my GSD who would go offlead 90% of the time would surge occasionally but an "eh!" would bring him right back. On our walks we stop, start, change direction, circle in both directions, figure eight etc... Sometimes I even serpentine down the sidewalk where I'm sure people watching think I'm either high, drunk, or an idiot. LOL

Leerburg Dog Training | How to Fit a Prong Collar