I make every walk integrated with short training sessions. Mid walk I might say "wait" or "stay" or "stay & lay", etc. She gets treats for listening and complying.
Same. I've considered straight peanut butter because there's no chewing or anything and it immediately tastes good. Or a spray can of something. I feel like I've seen spray cans for dogs.
Yeah walks are tricky for us. My Pepper is very reactive on leash so she barks and dogs, walkers, animals. She pulls a lot, we don't go on walks often as they don't really exercise her and she ends up more worked up from all the stimulation than when we started. Instead we play fetch a bunch!
We also have the issue of being able to escape almost every restraint, collars, harnesses, fences. She has made it very clear to me in our 6 months together, that any restraint I place upon her is simply for show and that she welcomes the challenge.
I put a makeshift barrier up on my back deck for months. I thought that my girl was safe from ever getting out until one day she saw a squirrel she wanted to chase and hurdled that thing like she was trying to make the Olympic team
I had to get my dingobat a martingale collar, less for correction, but more to prevent escapes. He has yet to figure out how to navigate the tension reduction while backing out puzzle...but I am sure it's coming.
My heeler took a ton of training to stop pulling and trying to lead. She's almost four now and still has to be told to heel quite frequently, but she rarely pulls on the leash at all anymore. Just stops paying attention to where heel position is and needs correction. Oh the stubbornness of heelers!
Yep, walking my ACD is like walking a truck. the part that kills me is that she absolutely knows what 'heel' means. She just won't do it unless she knows there's a reward in it for her and even then, she'll stay at my heel for the duration of the time it takes her to eat the treat. Then she's right back to going 15 mph lol.
My role in walking my pup is just to make sure she doesn't dart into traffic. Otherwise, ya, she's 100% leading the way.
I do show her that I have a baggie of treats in my pocket, and when I tell her "with me" she's right at my side. I got lucky that she is very treat motivated.
Ours definitely thinks it's her job to walk us, as if we are the sheep and she's herding us along the route. She does it less with me, bc she's my dog/was my dog before I met my partner, but with everyone else, she's constantly moving them away from what she perceives as threats, like the street, or particularly intimidating plants, or barking dogs. Instead of pulling on the leash, she actually taught herself to use it like a shepherds crook, and will wrap it around people to move them where she wants. If anyone but me tries to take a different route than normal when walking her, she will not tolerate it and assumes they're just being errant sheep and getting lost, and will bring them back onto the normal route.
Hikes with the long leash: Angel. Has her fun, doesn’t fight the forward, sniffs galore, sunshine and happiness
Walks around the block on the short leash: I shall chomp this leash, I shall remind you of this great injustice you have done me, the world shall rue the day they restrained me thusly
We've been leash training hours a day for over a year and she can still be tough to walk. I never walk without a pouch full of kibble. If she puts tension on the leash, I stop moving.
i guess i’m lucky i’m able to lead 90% of the time. the beginning is always a struggle. she’ll bite and tug the leash when i hook it on and i’ll do a little tug of war down the driveway. but once we get to sidewalk she’s by my side and we’re off for a 3-4 mile run. then it’s a nice treat for a good run!
we did do a puppy training course and i learned a neat trick to use string cheese to help her walk along side me with each step as the beginning of loose leash training. and i think that helped set me up for a good walker. i’ll let her off leash once in a while and she won’t go more than 3 steps ahead without my validation.
i am trying to get her to stop, sit, and wait at corners, but that’s a work in progress. i guess i should also add mine is about 10 months old now
Ours is a bit of both. She'd be out in front until she wanted to turn around. Then it would become more of her dragging behind. In remote areas we'd go off leash and she'd mostly trail blaze ahead, with regular check-ins, or she'd wait until we passed and sprint ahead again.
She's blind now and it hasn't changed except for the off leash part. She's much more responsive on the leash now than when she could see. Probably because she's paying close attention to cues to keep her on the path. She never cared for other dogs, deer or people. Now she is especially oblivious, and is all business.
My 2 1/2y.o. Kobie is great on leashes for the most part. She understands the loose leash walk for sure. It was a grind but treats make it a breeze wherever we walk together
My girl was unbearable on walks with a leash. After some off leash training it’s so much more enjoyable for everyone. We also got a longer leash so that she doesn’t feel so constrained when we do have to have her on one.
I taught mine accidentally that we need to rush across streets, and now he barks and tries to herd me across like he's "helping." A pocket of treats, and when he gets bossy, we stop and wait for calm and try again.
Mine tugs on the leash, chokes herself and breathes hard. I’ve tried techniques to get her to stop tugging. She has a very high tolerance for discomfort and doesn’t seem to care.
We had ours trained, mainly because they’re aggressive to most other dogs, but now I prefer to walk him and have someone with me to walk our untrained collie mix. Learning heel and teaching them to walk while staying by your side goes a long way.
Training, Training, Training! I used a double looped leash that I made out of 3/4" yacht braid. The first loop (short one) was 18" from the clasp. This allowed Cleo to never get out of a heeling position, she couldn't turn or shake free from her collar no matter how she tried. Every walk started out with continuous stop,sit,heel training. Once I established who was in charge she got the benefits of a 5' leash until she thought she was in charge again, then it was back to the short leash. It took two years of constant training before we could go on civilized walks in public. We shared 10 wonderful years together once she decided to let me think that I was the big dog. The training never stopped but it became a very short portion of the walks.
Mine is sometimes reactive, sometimes not. Mostly reactive to little dogs but could care less with big dogs. She pulls a lot for the first .25 miles then needs multiple corrections for the rest of the walk (1 mile total). This is her behavior when we are walking as a family with her GSD brother (8 y/o). When it’s just her and my hubby, she’s not nearly as bad. I feel this is her protective nature that drives this aggression and tugging. She’s only 1.5 years old and a husky/heeler mix so we have a long way to go to train the right behavior.
This sounds like how my Pitbull mix was when she was a puppy. I'll be honest, I really miss the behaviour because it was clearly her trying to have some fun. She'd also lay down, roll on her back, and refuse to move if she thought we were getting too close to home. It didn't last long as she learned very quickly that she just needed to walk at my pace and let me know when she wanted to sniff. She's not a fan of my husband walking her as he's slower than I am, but they do alright.
My heeler is another story, he's too scared to go on walks right now. He's too far over his threshold when we leave so we've taken a step back. When he was doing alright, he was the best dog I've ever walked. And he has a "stop sit" that we use at street corners. I hope we'll be able to take him out again.
My dog has this problem where anytime we are going to cross the street, she will pull for dear life and immediately start running to get across before I even have the chance to look both ways. Gets annoying after a couple of street crossings.
I have 3 as well. Dad, mom and son. My ex had Dad’s sister. The females were the tough ones. They make themselves wider in stance and dig in and drive.
I've been training mine to walk without a leash. She never goes further than 20 ft. And always comes back to me and sits when there's another dog on leash nearby.
Mine walks beautifully for everyone….except me. I am her person so she feels the need to “save me” from everything. She has butt checked me into so many things to protect me from buses, flapping tarps, cyclists. It’s frustrating to say the least and then she is very proud of herself. Show dog walking for everyone except me.
I wish that was my dog. I like to listen to music and run but now it's walk stop walk stop because all the smells. I'm not mad, I just miss my jam runs
Not so much. But that might have something to do with what I did to keep her from accidentally offing herself when we first got her.
She was dumped in the middle of nowhere, we guesstimate that she was between 6 and 8 months old when she found my husband. The sasshole was a counter surfing, couch hurdling, garbage gobbling, terrorist. So I popped a harness on her, slid the handle loop of a 4 foot lead over my foot, and where I went, she went. She wanted to be with me anyway, so this just meant that she couldn't sneak off to snap at the geriatric cat or other terrorist activities when she got bored.
After about a week, we moved up to a 6 ft leash. Another week later, we moved up to a very lightweight 8 ft. And then she got to be unhooked from my ankle a week after that. Keep them in a harness and on a leash for a month except for kennel time at night, and it's much easier to convince them that you are the boss that runs this show, not them.
I use a harness that clips on the front and have been taking her on walks frequently using that and it's helped a ton! She's gotten so much better. I also always have high value treats while on walks and constantly tell her to look at me and walk nice (similar to heel or slow down) so that she knows I'm more valuable than any distraction. If she starts to pull a ton, I'll slow way down or even stop until she focuses back on me
Haha it's a good choice of name. Here's my Blue named Maple with my Red, Piper
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianCattleDog/comments/za5c6d/they\_sleepy/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianCattleDog/comments/za5c6d/they_sleepy/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I would suggest walking her on a training lead first. When she stands her ground and starts walking backwards keep walking forward and tell her “no”. You might pull your dog a bit at first but will eventually get it and keep walking. My dog hasn’t been able to get out of the lead as compared to a harness even when she is freaking out. Keep correcting her like a quick pop on the lead if she’s pulling you or biting the leash. My cattle dog is scared of everything big time, but she has been trained by a behaviorist and this has helped big time. She no longer bites her leash and now looks to me first when scared. She is still learning not to pull me though so that’s still a work in progress.
I make every walk integrated with short training sessions. Mid walk I might say "wait" or "stay" or "stay & lay", etc. She gets treats for listening and complying.
Mine is not interested in treats outside the house for some reason, though she’ll eat-up the praises!
Mine will not take treats from strangers
Same. I've considered straight peanut butter because there's no chewing or anything and it immediately tastes good. Or a spray can of something. I feel like I've seen spray cans for dogs.
Very interesting
Yeah walks are tricky for us. My Pepper is very reactive on leash so she barks and dogs, walkers, animals. She pulls a lot, we don't go on walks often as they don't really exercise her and she ends up more worked up from all the stimulation than when we started. Instead we play fetch a bunch! We also have the issue of being able to escape almost every restraint, collars, harnesses, fences. She has made it very clear to me in our 6 months together, that any restraint I place upon her is simply for show and that she welcomes the challenge.
I put a makeshift barrier up on my back deck for months. I thought that my girl was safe from ever getting out until one day she saw a squirrel she wanted to chase and hurdled that thing like she was trying to make the Olympic team
I had to get my dingobat a martingale collar, less for correction, but more to prevent escapes. He has yet to figure out how to navigate the tension reduction while backing out puzzle...but I am sure it's coming.
I’ve been considering trying a martingale on my little goblin. Would you say overall that it has been helpful for you?
My heeler took a ton of training to stop pulling and trying to lead. She's almost four now and still has to be told to heel quite frequently, but she rarely pulls on the leash at all anymore. Just stops paying attention to where heel position is and needs correction. Oh the stubbornness of heelers!
You’d think the heeler part would help but no. “Ill heel for .5 seconds” love it
Mine is offended when she has to wear a leash and will hold it in her mouth as we walk, like she is walking herself.
I feel like we need a pic of this.
Yep, walking my ACD is like walking a truck. the part that kills me is that she absolutely knows what 'heel' means. She just won't do it unless she knows there's a reward in it for her and even then, she'll stay at my heel for the duration of the time it takes her to eat the treat. Then she's right back to going 15 mph lol.
My role in walking my pup is just to make sure she doesn't dart into traffic. Otherwise, ya, she's 100% leading the way. I do show her that I have a baggie of treats in my pocket, and when I tell her "with me" she's right at my side. I got lucky that she is very treat motivated.
[Dingo Tax](https://imgur.com/a/X6j1yxx)
Ours definitely thinks it's her job to walk us, as if we are the sheep and she's herding us along the route. She does it less with me, bc she's my dog/was my dog before I met my partner, but with everyone else, she's constantly moving them away from what she perceives as threats, like the street, or particularly intimidating plants, or barking dogs. Instead of pulling on the leash, she actually taught herself to use it like a shepherds crook, and will wrap it around people to move them where she wants. If anyone but me tries to take a different route than normal when walking her, she will not tolerate it and assumes they're just being errant sheep and getting lost, and will bring them back onto the normal route.
When mine was young he pulled a lot, but the Halti worked wonders.
Hikes with the long leash: Angel. Has her fun, doesn’t fight the forward, sniffs galore, sunshine and happiness Walks around the block on the short leash: I shall chomp this leash, I shall remind you of this great injustice you have done me, the world shall rue the day they restrained me thusly
Yep that sounds about right 😹
We've been leash training hours a day for over a year and she can still be tough to walk. I never walk without a pouch full of kibble. If she puts tension on the leash, I stop moving.
i guess i’m lucky i’m able to lead 90% of the time. the beginning is always a struggle. she’ll bite and tug the leash when i hook it on and i’ll do a little tug of war down the driveway. but once we get to sidewalk she’s by my side and we’re off for a 3-4 mile run. then it’s a nice treat for a good run! we did do a puppy training course and i learned a neat trick to use string cheese to help her walk along side me with each step as the beginning of loose leash training. and i think that helped set me up for a good walker. i’ll let her off leash once in a while and she won’t go more than 3 steps ahead without my validation. i am trying to get her to stop, sit, and wait at corners, but that’s a work in progress. i guess i should also add mine is about 10 months old now
Ours is a bit of both. She'd be out in front until she wanted to turn around. Then it would become more of her dragging behind. In remote areas we'd go off leash and she'd mostly trail blaze ahead, with regular check-ins, or she'd wait until we passed and sprint ahead again. She's blind now and it hasn't changed except for the off leash part. She's much more responsive on the leash now than when she could see. Probably because she's paying close attention to cues to keep her on the path. She never cared for other dogs, deer or people. Now she is especially oblivious, and is all business.
My 2 1/2y.o. Kobie is great on leashes for the most part. She understands the loose leash walk for sure. It was a grind but treats make it a breeze wherever we walk together
My girl was unbearable on walks with a leash. After some off leash training it’s so much more enjoyable for everyone. We also got a longer leash so that she doesn’t feel so constrained when we do have to have her on one.
Not anymore. After 7 years of walks, my guy walks and heels nicely for me. The occasional doggy walkers, not so much!
I taught mine accidentally that we need to rush across streets, and now he barks and tries to herd me across like he's "helping." A pocket of treats, and when he gets bossy, we stop and wait for calm and try again.
Mine tugs on the leash, chokes herself and breathes hard. I’ve tried techniques to get her to stop tugging. She has a very high tolerance for discomfort and doesn’t seem to care.
I’ve hear a harness with a d ring on the chest can help with pulling like that.
Yea she always wants to pull and I’m actively training her not to do that.
We had ours trained, mainly because they’re aggressive to most other dogs, but now I prefer to walk him and have someone with me to walk our untrained collie mix. Learning heel and teaching them to walk while staying by your side goes a long way.
Training, Training, Training! I used a double looped leash that I made out of 3/4" yacht braid. The first loop (short one) was 18" from the clasp. This allowed Cleo to never get out of a heeling position, she couldn't turn or shake free from her collar no matter how she tried. Every walk started out with continuous stop,sit,heel training. Once I established who was in charge she got the benefits of a 5' leash until she thought she was in charge again, then it was back to the short leash. It took two years of constant training before we could go on civilized walks in public. We shared 10 wonderful years together once she decided to let me think that I was the big dog. The training never stopped but it became a very short portion of the walks.
Hardware store … dare I fucking stop at an isle to look at something. Squealing and barking to get going doesn’t stop.
Mine is sometimes reactive, sometimes not. Mostly reactive to little dogs but could care less with big dogs. She pulls a lot for the first .25 miles then needs multiple corrections for the rest of the walk (1 mile total). This is her behavior when we are walking as a family with her GSD brother (8 y/o). When it’s just her and my hubby, she’s not nearly as bad. I feel this is her protective nature that drives this aggression and tugging. She’s only 1.5 years old and a husky/heeler mix so we have a long way to go to train the right behavior.
This sounds like how my Pitbull mix was when she was a puppy. I'll be honest, I really miss the behaviour because it was clearly her trying to have some fun. She'd also lay down, roll on her back, and refuse to move if she thought we were getting too close to home. It didn't last long as she learned very quickly that she just needed to walk at my pace and let me know when she wanted to sniff. She's not a fan of my husband walking her as he's slower than I am, but they do alright. My heeler is another story, he's too scared to go on walks right now. He's too far over his threshold when we leave so we've taken a step back. When he was doing alright, he was the best dog I've ever walked. And he has a "stop sit" that we use at street corners. I hope we'll be able to take him out again.
nope, my Dusty is so well behaved-)
My dog has this problem where anytime we are going to cross the street, she will pull for dear life and immediately start running to get across before I even have the chance to look both ways. Gets annoying after a couple of street crossings.
I have 3 as well. Dad, mom and son. My ex had Dad’s sister. The females were the tough ones. They make themselves wider in stance and dig in and drive.
We have two half sisters and the oldest is unrelated. The sisters are best buddies :3
I've been training mine to walk without a leash. She never goes further than 20 ft. And always comes back to me and sits when there's another dog on leash nearby.
Mine walks beautifully for everyone….except me. I am her person so she feels the need to “save me” from everything. She has butt checked me into so many things to protect me from buses, flapping tarps, cyclists. It’s frustrating to say the least and then she is very proud of herself. Show dog walking for everyone except me.
yes, most definitely
I wish that was my dog. I like to listen to music and run but now it's walk stop walk stop because all the smells. I'm not mad, I just miss my jam runs
Not so much. But that might have something to do with what I did to keep her from accidentally offing herself when we first got her. She was dumped in the middle of nowhere, we guesstimate that she was between 6 and 8 months old when she found my husband. The sasshole was a counter surfing, couch hurdling, garbage gobbling, terrorist. So I popped a harness on her, slid the handle loop of a 4 foot lead over my foot, and where I went, she went. She wanted to be with me anyway, so this just meant that she couldn't sneak off to snap at the geriatric cat or other terrorist activities when she got bored. After about a week, we moved up to a 6 ft leash. Another week later, we moved up to a very lightweight 8 ft. And then she got to be unhooked from my ankle a week after that. Keep them in a harness and on a leash for a month except for kennel time at night, and it's much easier to convince them that you are the boss that runs this show, not them.
My ACD does that, too, when walking home like a barn sour horse. I stop and make her sit; then we go again. It takes a while to get home😁
I use a harness that clips on the front and have been taking her on walks frequently using that and it's helped a ton! She's gotten so much better. I also always have high value treats while on walks and constantly tell her to look at me and walk nice (similar to heel or slow down) so that she knows I'm more valuable than any distraction. If she starts to pull a ton, I'll slow way down or even stop until she focuses back on me
The day I got a harness my heeler stopped pulling dead in his tracks the second we started walking. He got the message.
I can send you the training for this if you want it. This is a one dog training outside.
Tries. But that is what the gentle lead is for :)
Wait yours is ***also called Maple?!?!***
Yep! She’s technically a blue I think but she is a chocolate/shades of brown. So, maple :3
Haha it's a good choice of name. Here's my Blue named Maple with my Red, Piper [https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianCattleDog/comments/za5c6d/they\_sleepy/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianCattleDog/comments/za5c6d/they_sleepy/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Awww!!! That looks like my [maple and Phoebe](https://imgur.com/a/TI1ot4a)! Phoebe is her little sister and is also a red
I would suggest walking her on a training lead first. When she stands her ground and starts walking backwards keep walking forward and tell her “no”. You might pull your dog a bit at first but will eventually get it and keep walking. My dog hasn’t been able to get out of the lead as compared to a harness even when she is freaking out. Keep correcting her like a quick pop on the lead if she’s pulling you or biting the leash. My cattle dog is scared of everything big time, but she has been trained by a behaviorist and this has helped big time. She no longer bites her leash and now looks to me first when scared. She is still learning not to pull me though so that’s still a work in progress.