I’ve found that these four simple steps get a well behaved dog faster & with out all of the struggle. Winston is a career change dog at Dogs for the Deaf. He’s an 80# yellow lab who loves to jump on people, grab & chew on leashes, destroy toys, jump out of car windows, and leap like a lizard on leash. Where in the world does the training start?
PREVENT & MANAGE dog problems so the dog stays out of trouble. The more Winston practices leash leaping– the better he gets. To prevent leash leaping Winston is wearing a front-clip no-pull harness. Now, his walks are a pleasure instead of a battle. To prevent jumping up I toss food on the ground to distract him while I start walking. He then follows me and calms down while walking.- REWARD BEHAVIORS that you like and you’ll get more of them. Winston loves and craves attention, food and the tennis ball so these are his rewards when he: sits, stands, walks politely, relaxes, doesn’t plant his front paws on me etc… He is learning that being good gets him what he wants.
- INTERRUPT BAD BEHAVIORS that you don’t like and you’ll get less of them. Winston likes to jump up on people then grab the leash and then play tug of war before he chews it up. If I interrupt him with a word or sound like “uh-oh” –before he latches onto the leash or makes contact with me–I can stop him and redirect him to a tennis ball or a sit.
- TRAIN THE BEHAVIOR YOU WANT instead of nagging at your dog to stop jumping or stop pulling or stop barking. Tell her what you DO want and practice it daily until she gets good at it. When Winston came to Dogs for the Deaf he knew nothing and couldn’t be left alone inside with out supervision. For example: we worked on “go to your bed” until it became automatic to lie down in the living room instead of jumping all over the furniture.