Dear Critter Corner: Our pup just turned 4 years, and we are still struggling with a few behaviors that we have been working on for some time. We’d like to reduce his barking at the neighbor dog and have him walk in our downtown area on a loose leash rather than tugging. Do you have any tips to help us achieve this?
These are two areas that many owners struggle with. First, take a look at what your expectations are and whether you can uphold that on a day-to-day basis. As with all training, we need to be consistent with our feedback to our dogs, and if you have a multi-person household, this is especially important.
When working on getting your dog to come away from barking at the neighbor dog, you will do a lot of training in less distracting areas that will be easier for your dog to succeed in, and gradually work up to reducing the barking. You will also need to actively manage your dog while he is in the yard to prevent unwanted behavior. A typical set-up may look something like you and your dog walking along the fence line while you have him practice checking in with you. You can also teach new words or ways for your dog to come to you, such as ‘here’ or ‘touch.’ Both are fun new ways to get your dog to come to you. You will gradually work on increasing the difficulty level of behaviors you are having your dog move away from until you can get the desired effect.
Walking on a loose lead in a busy downtown or new area can be challenging for some of our more social pups. There are so many new and exciting things for them to smell and see that they ‘lose their training.’ Most training needs to be done or practiced in the area or environment that you want your pup to perform in; this is called generalizing. We do ourselves or our dogs no good by teaching in a sterile classroom or same neighborhood walks and then expecting that to transfer to a busy downtown area. Set up times to work with your pup at off hours and in many new environments. Make the training fun so he is likely to keep an eye on you and want to be with you and focus on you instead of the new or surrounding areas. Gradually incorporate more distractions so that you can walk your pup downtown.
If you are still struggling with these behaviors, check out our upcoming classes or book a session with one of our consultants.