Please help me "reconnect" with my dog :-(

[tulpe]

Ruby is my 8 month old vizsla pup. She has always been "my" dog, iyswim. However, I had an op back in June, followed by strict bed-rest, and wasn't allowed to walk her again until 2 weeks ago. So for the last couple of months DH and a couple of good friends have been taking her for walks.

This might sound daft, but I feel as though I have lost the connection I had with her. Her recall is less than reliable, she pulls on the leash, when I have her out somewhere everyone else is far more interesting to the point where I cannot get her attention and so, inevitably, I lose my temper - which I know is a counter productive thing to do where dogs are concerned but I just feel so frustrated.

It is making me very miserable and I just don't know where to start with any of it. My tummy muscles are still weak from the op so her pulling on the leash has got to be stopped immediately as it is painful for me. I bought a halti last week whilst in Devon. It definitely stopped her from pulling quite so much but she is constantly scratching and rubbing at her snout when it is on and she is making her nose sore.

I am searching for a one-to-one trainer but in the meantime I would really appreciate some sage advice.

Just get clicker training. It wont hurt those tummy muscles at all but the dog will love it and you for it.

Say his name click and treat to start with and off you go.

Lots of clicker exercises you can do sitting down and to be honest the dog will prefer it to just being taken for a walk in no time you will have your bond back.

If you want examples of exercises to do just yell

Thanks Minimu :)

A huge "yes please" to examples of exercises! Particularly any "stop pulling" exercises.

The clicker - are they all the same? Or are there different brands/superior brands?

By the way, I really appreciate this. I am feeling so sad about her. She is a really gorgeous girl and I don't want to feel cross with her :(

Can I suggest loads of "me" time with your dog too? When you go to cook, take her into the kitchen and give her a treat, talk to her all the time and fuss her. Take her with you when you, oh I don't know, polish the furniture in the dining room, get her to sit by you when you have a bath if you want to! Just give her an intense 1 to 1 where you aren't just in her company but exclusively hers and where you are talking to her, giving her strokes and the odd treat and re-gaining her attention and loyalty.

I find that this works 99% of the time with confused or scared rescue dogs I have dealt with and those I have fostered, my current boy included.

I'd second the clicker training idea. Here's a quick intro video: . You'll find loads more on youtube, though some aren't very good or the trainer's timing is out. If you know anyone who can show you in the flesh that's often a good way to get the hang of it.

Just remember to keep sessions very short (no more than 5 minutes at first - or even less if she looks bored sooner) and use really high value treats, keeping the size of the treats very small. I cut up liver cake or sausages no bigger than my pinky fingernail!

You can get posh ones* but I mostly use a plain box clicker (around £1-2 from pet shops or online) but have several around the house / rattling around in my handbag / in coat pockets so they're ready to hand.

*Good to look at these if your dog is noise sensitive as you can get ones which allow you to vary the loudness of the click. You can also get wrist straps which are useful as sometimes it feels like you're running out of hands!

The first clicker trick I learnt and taught our dog was 'wave' - good for amusing kids! Initially I got her used to the fact that the click meant a reward, by waiting till she looked at me and then click/treat(C/T). I did a couple of minute sessions just doing this. Once she had firmly got that the click meant a really good treat would follow I then started a new session where I waited for her to 'do something'! Her default action is to sit, so she did this and I C/T. After a few goes of this, I didn't C/T and waited for her to shift one of her paws ever so slightly. As soon as she did - C/T! I repeated this several times until she got the idea that something she did with her paw earned the reward. I then started only C/T for higher paw raises, and then eventually only for an up-and-down waving action! Once she 'got this' I added the command 'wave!', eventually putting the command before the action and even more eventually dropping the regular C/T.

I hope I've made that sound straightforward and not waffled too much! This video of an abused mule who was frighted about going into a box shows the shaping technique really well I think .

I didn't use a clicker to teach loose lead walking, so will be interested to read some details if anyone's posting their methods for this.

Any old clicker will do the box ones are the best you will probably need a few as I always lose mine.

I put a hair tie onto the clicker and wear it around my wrist so I can hold it easily in my hand and also be able to give out treats.da

Just start by clicking and then give a treat do this for 6 or seven treats several times through the day. You will probably already have a dog that does not takes its eyes off you.

Next day say his name and when he looks at you click and treat do this several times a day.

Depending on how quickly he cottons on (probably very quickly)

You can teach a hand touch put your hand out to him palm first he will sniff it click and treat. Start moving your hands into different positions and when he touches it with his nose click and treat. When he is really good at this you can give it a name eg touch.

Get him to sit and the minute his bottom is on the floor click and treat.

Get him to look you in the eye and click and treat. You can proof this by holding a treat out in you han and when he gives you eye contact click and treat.

Re pulling on the lead - once you have a really good touch command you should be able to get him in to the correct heel position by putting you hand in the right place click and treat. Practise this loads at home without a lead add the word heel when he is comfortable with the position and then you can add this to the outside walking.

Alternatively every time he looks at you click and treat if he does this on the walk he naturally falls into the heel position as he turns his head so click and treat away.

Obviously you will have to build on it to work with distractions but it really is very easy and quick.

Any trick is so much easier to teach paw when the dog lifts his paw click and treat.

Also once the dog gets the hang of clicker training they will start to give you new behaviours. Do just get a box and have dog and clicker and see what the dog does, click the behaviour you like eg sitting on the box, putting the front legs on the box. openining the box etc.

Teach the dog to tug on toys so if not a natural tugger put the tuggy toy on the floor if the dog looks at the toy click then if the dog picks up the toy click etc until the dog is happy to tug. Then you can teach loads of tricks emptying washing machine (tug command on the clothes) open doors tie a tuggy to the handle of the door and again the tug command, take off your socks and shoes, pull you off the sofa to look after those tummy muscles all with the tug command.

have fun!

You will have a dog so on to you that he will look at you all the time waiting for the fun to start!

Thank you everyone :o

I have a clicker (it has an integrated whistle too.......think I will leave that for some time later.....!).

Your instructions are so much more simple than the ones included with the clicker. The ones in the box made me feel as though we were failing if we weren't doing perfect recall with arm signal within 10 minutes!!

Valhalla - excellent suggestion re keeping her with me and giving her special time. I have given her loads of attention today and she is already looking up at me now & wagging her tail when I walk into the room - something she hasn't done for a while. I will definitely continue with this. I think her behaviour had become so erratic that I was distancing myself from her too. Poor little girl.

Laska - thanks for the Youtube links. Will definitely check them out. The C/T timing is obviously crucial.

Minimu - those instructions are clear as a bell and give me a good natural progression to work through. Thank you so much. With the pulling on leash, I took her for a walk this afternoon with her halti. She scratched like a loon at the thing. I removed it because I am worried about the damage to her v sensitive nose, and she walked much better to heel. Everytime she moved ahead of me I stopped and called her back. It was a much more pleasant walk and she seemed to spend longer at heel each time before moving forward. Bizarrely, she is better at walking to heel off leash than on

One more question: would you let a dog off the leash who didn't have perfect recall? She is such a high energy dog so I like to give her lots of time to run but it does worry me that I can be calling her for a while before she deigns to return (cue frustration on my part). Mostly I walk her in fields and woodland but would like to walk in the local park - just worried she wont come back and upset someone in the process. Should I just get a longer training leash for now until recall has improved and not let her off completely?

Tulpe, sorry for the hijack but you and I have the same problem and I'm itching to know why it is so.

My 3yo GSD has excellent "heel" command off lead... but despite all attempts to persuade him otherwise is a bugger ON a lead.

Just knowing why would help. :o

Tulpe, does she come back/pull on the lead for other people? I only ask because you say she's only 8 months, and I thought 8-10 months was when a lot of dogs hit an adolescent streak and start running off or 'forgetting' their training anyway - it may not have anything to do with your absence from walks for a while, if that helps you feel any less guilty.... Clicker training still sounds like a good idea though.

Vallhala it is funny but most dogs walk to heel better off the lead as their is nothing to pull against. I never teach any of my dogs to walk to heel on a lead for that reason.

It is because we automatically tighten the lead and then actually we teach them to pull.

It is the same thing with people teaching sit by pushing on the dogs bottom. If someone pushes you, you tend to push against them. So if someone is pushing your bottom to sit you are much more likely to push against this and stay standing.

Re letting the dog off if it does not have perfect recall - if you can choose the place then it could be alright. eg if you are on a quiet walk and when you call the dog does not come but if you run away screaming happily and the dog follows you then yes as this is reinforcing the recall. However if you are in area where their are distractions eg a park and the dog may not recall then I would not give him the opportunity of not recalling. You are teaching the dog to ignore you command and he will never learn. So I would keep on a lead a gentle tug if he does not come on the first recall command and again run away from the dog with either a toy or the best treat ever and he has to follow!

But the more training you do with your dog the more fun he will have with you so your recall will get better anyway as he would rather be with you (his chief entertainment manager!) than with anyone else.

Thanks minimu. That's one of those odd things I've always wanted to know crossed off the list. :o

If your dog will always come when called unless he has decided to go in the duckpond what does one do? I have tried not going to the park with the duckpond for walks - but in reality that is where the best walk is and the fun dogs are! He will come when called anywhere else - but if he has a run with his mates he wades in there, and encourages the others in too. And they go to their owners when called! In fact, it is because I don't want his friends getting into trouble I'd like him to step away from the duckpond...

Personally I would walk somewhere else or buy waders

But then I'd miss out on the local scandal from the other dog owners He refuses to go in the sea, nice mountain streams, or through flood water. Brat!

I'd let him in the pond (but then I have a dog who thinks she's a fish anyway!) but if you really want to be able to recall him, then you need to work on his motivation to leave the brilliant pond and come back to you.

Go along on a quiet day and wait quietly while he's in the pond. Every time he comes out of his own accord give him something wonderful (a really smelly yummy treat that he only gets at this point, or a fun tuggy game, or a fetch - whatever motivates him best) and then give him a 'go swim' command to go back in. You want to build the association that coming out of the water is fun, and better still, the fun doesn't always stop! You can then add a command when you see him coming out of the water (esp if he's learnt to ignore your usual recall word here) like 'dry land' for example! You can eventually put the command before the action and have a come out of the pond command that's reliable.

If you don't want him to go in at all then you need a solid leave command that catches him before he commits to diving in, or just put him on the leash.

tulpe - Maybe try a different brand of Halti? They vary quite a bit. I always use one on my dog as he's strong enough (big muscley springer) to really hurt me if he pulls suddenly and keeping him at heel requires a lot of work as he just naturally walks faster than I can!

Or there are harnesses you can get that tighten under their forelegs instead.

Clicker training is good though.

To rebuild the bond with your dog, make sure that you are the only one who feeds her, and insist on good manners at dinner time - e.g. sitting and waiting for food to be put down.

stleger - will your dog play fetch? Our dog is still a bit crap at recall some of the time but with swimming, he will come back to give us the ball (to throw again).

My dog doesn't fetch anything thrown for him, but he loves to find cigarette lighters and bring them to me . He has met a new friend who is also happy to go in the pond though. Little treasure!