Would you say something?

Whispered

Ashbx wrote: »

Hi Whispered, sorry to here about Phoe. I do hope he gets better soon! (Is this short for Phoebe by any chance? I have a border collie called Phoebe too!).

It's short for Phoenix. It's a girly name for a little boy isn't it but he's comfortable with his sexuality and doesn't feel the need for a butch name to assert his masculinity :pac:

Ashbx wrote: »

At this point I joined a training class and tried their techniques (guiding her with food, stopping when she pulls, crossing the road when she pulls, getting her calm before leaving the house) but none of these worked.

This is one of the techniques I used to try, but if your chip is anything like my harley it ends up being a waiting game? As in dog at the end of the lead and you there waiting for them to back up. The few changes the trainer made to this for us were: When the dog pulls say "uh-oh" or "whoops" or other sort of marker and start walking backwards. When the dog catches up with your backwards walk mark the good behaviour and continue on your walk. There were other bits like talking to your dog and rewarding eye contact and nice walking with treats but the main thing that helped us was the walking backwards. The constant motion kept harleys attention much better than just stopping dead and the "uh-oh" became a cue for Harley to slow down or he'd be going backwards. Now if he pulls we don't have to step back, just say the word and he backs up to us. It's a fricken miracle because he was TERRIBLE!

I agree with you re the head collars, I'd worry about neck injuries too.

How did you get chip to enjoy the harness? I got one for Harley but he doesn't really like it.

Ashbx

Whispered wrote: »

It's short for Phoenix. It's a girly name for a little boy isn't it but he's comfortable with his sexuality and doesn't feel the need for a butch name to assert his masculinity :pac:



This is one of the techniques I used to try, but if your chip is anything like my harley it ends up being a waiting game? As in dog at the end of the lead and you there waiting for them to back up. The few changes the trainer made to this for us were: When the dog pulls say "uh-oh" or "whoops" or other sort of marker and start walking backwards. When the dog catches up with your backwards walk mark the good behaviour and continue on your walk. There were other bits like talking to your dog and rewarding eye contact and nice walking with treats but the main thing that helped us was the walking backwards. The constant motion kept harleys attention much better than just stopping dead and the "uh-oh" became a cue for Harley to slow down or he'd be going backwards. Now if he pulls we don't have to step back, just say the word and he backs up to us. It's a fricken miracle because he was TERRIBLE!

I agree with you re the head collars, I'd worry about neck injuries too.

How did you get chip to enjoy the harness? I got one for Harley but he doesn't really like it.

So funny you say that because Chip is in fact a girl, and I think its a very manly name for a bitch!

I must try that technique you did! It sounds like it worked for you anyway and she definitely knows what "ah ah" means! With regard to getting her eye contact and that, it may just be a lazy excuse on my part but I find it hard doing these sort of techniques because she is so small. One trainer told me to walk with my hand infront of their head so if they go past my head, I stop and push them back so they know that they are not to pass my hand. This works for my collie no problem, but what can you do when you have a dog that goes as far as your shins....am I supposed to walk on my hunkers!? ha ha So I will definitely try the verbal no's and see if it makes a difference. Can I just clarify, do you mean that I take steps so that I am walking backwards (as opposed to turning and walking the opposite way)?

Unfortunately, I never had a problem with her wearing her harness. She's excited just leaving the house I could put a cone on her head and she wouldn't care! I did have some problems with the head collars though. She was constantly tryin to take it off so the first few times she wore it, I gave her sausages as a treat whenever she left it alone. She was so focused on tryin to get my attention for the next piece of sausage that she forgot she had the head collar on!

Whispered

Ashbx wrote: »

I must try that technique you did! It sounds like it worked for you anyway and she definitely knows what "ah ah" means! With regard to getting her eye contact and that, it may just be a lazy excuse on my part but I find it hard doing these sort of techniques because she is so small. One trainer told me to walk with my hand infront of their head so if they go past my head, I stop and push them back so they know that they are not to pass my hand. This works for my collie no problem, but what can you do when you have a dog that goes as far as your shins....am I supposed to walk on my hunkers!? ha ha So I will definitely try the verbal no's and see if it makes a difference. Can I just clarify, do you mean that I take steps so that I am walking backwards (as opposed to turning and walking the opposite way)?

The "uh-oh" the way I use it is less of a verbal correction and more of a marker, which I know sounds ridiculous - like what's the difference right? But I prefer to keep my tone light, it encourages eye contact too I find (along with the happy chatting). And if I'm fully honest, it stops frustration building in me, as I was saying it every few seconds at first. By making an effort to keep my tone light, it meant I couldn't get too annoyed.

Walk backwards rather than turn around. I'm not fully sure why this worked better for us than turning but it did. I'd imagine it has to do with focusing. You're not going too far, just enough for the dog to begin to walk towards you, say 4ft or so. I was hesitant at first to do anything that meant I was increasing the pressure on the lead but as they're on a harness I knew I wasn't doing any harm. I got a lovely video of my husband walking the two boys on perfectly loose leads with nice check-ins. I'm sure, since you have a chronic puller too - you can imagine how delighted I was. We've to still work on Harley every time we go out but the improvement is huge!

It took a new pair of eyes, and a very well experienced and respected trainer, to see what method works best for my particular dog and his owners particular training abilities.

EDIT: I love the name chip for a girl, I think it sounds sassy