I didn't say I followed all his advice, just the leash training. 😉
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoJPUH6ULLc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKf7bBZwQos
Ah, thank you for mentioning this! I see now that I've been very inconsistent in my attempts, so I'll try to start rectifying this!
Unfortunately, leash training is one of the most difficult skills for a dog to learn (at least in my experience). For some reason, it doesn't really click with a ton of dogs. So for now, I will focus on you being able to have an enjoyable walking experience (may not be quite loose leash, but close!)
First, teach a really good cue word, like "watch or look at me" This will focus your dog before you start the training. This is very easy to train. I'm assuming he knows his name (if not, that's another story), but a separate cue word will let him know that good things will come when you say this word in the context of training. To teach: reward him every time he looks at you during a training session (while specifically training this behavior). Eventually, he will begin to associate looking at you with good yummy treats (which is also a good thing by itself!) Introduce a hand signal of your choosing to let him know "watch" or "look". Then, introduce the word last (hand signal first, then word. This is also the way it should be done in actual training scenarios. Ie, you want him to look, first you give the hand signal and then say the word)
Once you've got that down pat, add distractions as before. This is a pretty easy skill for dogs to learn so it shouldn't take too long. Once you're about 75%, you can move on to leash training.
Put your dog in a sit on your left side, facing the direction you will be walking. Again, dogs will get confused because you are not standing in front of them (which is most likely where you trained the sit, so you will need to do a little brush-up course!). Once you've got your dog sitting next to your left leg, give a release word (I generally use "okay" for release and "yes" to mark a behavior I like <--this can also be done using a clicker.) You can tug slightly on the leash to get him to go with you if you haven't worked on the "okay" yet (you can do this with sit/stays, too!)
(Tangential: clickers are slightly better than cue words because your voice changes with inflection, tone, etc, which isn't great, but I use it because I don't always carry a clicker with me!)
So you've given your dog the release signal and most likely he will start pulling like a banshee. If you feel any pressure on the leash AT ALL, stop moving. When you feel some slack on the leash, start moving. Tension, stop. Your pooch will quickly learn to associate the pulling with the lack of movement (which they want to do!) so they will stop pulling to move the walk forward. If your pooch is not releasing slack at all, change directions (you have a split second advantage then!) I tend not to advise training the specific act of leash walking with treats. (Although you can practice this behavior inside with treats in the absence of a large walking space.) Rather, the reinforcement is the walking, which is reward in and of itself!
I suggest walking with some kind of harness in the meantime (E-Z walk harness works wonderfully!), and even through training and beyond. If your dog is a recurrent puller, he can damage his trachea from collar walking. Harnesses decrease pulling and also increase safety. If you have a terrier, you may have a harder time with loose-leash walking. I have two terriers at home, but one is completely not prey-driven at all (she walks wonderfully on leash!), but the other one will eat anything and everything, so I use his harness whenever I'm walking him. He doesn't pull nearly as much as he used to (ie, not taking my arm off) and the harness helps with any residual pulling. However, if he sees a squirrel, all bets are off for a minute until I can refocus him! (And that is where a good "look" would be wonderful! Also, "leave it" is helpful in this situation)
You may not get very far on the first day, that's okay! Remember to end on a good note and not push too far. I saw in your later post that you keep your training sessions short: that is EXCELLENT. (Think spaced effect vs. mass cramming in psychology theory when studying for tests. Cramming may lead to a greater success early on, but long-term spacing leads to greater success later.)
I'll try some hotdog tomorrow to see how he responds to that. I pulled his food today so he'll be hungry tomorrow (don't worry, he got a LOT of training treats today, so he's not starving) and hopefully more motivated.
Keep in mind that hotdog can give some dogs a stomach-ache. But it's very highly motivating. Also, training treats should be much smaller than the normal doggy treat used just to give your dog a special treat (You mentiond pup-eroni...are you giving the whole thing at a time?) Training treats should be no bigger than a fingernail. That way, you can get lots of training in without the dog feeling full. For a really good trial, you can give multiple treats.
I've been trying to work on "drop it" while playing with him, and its been going alright (although he'll voluntarily give me his toy anyway, so its hard to tell if he's learned anything, haha!). He's a very good retriever, lol.
If you think he's pretty good with toys, you can try something that would be a little more valuable to him, like bones or food items dropped on the floor. Bones work great for drop it, food works great for leave it.
You mean not using positive reenforcement for leash training? He's done very well with leash training, and doesn't pull NEARLY as much as he did even 2 days ago. If you know of a positive reenforcement method for keeping a dog from pulling I'd love to hear it!
Like I said, you may get results in the short-term with those methods, but you'll build a much better relationship with your dog and will have a much more enjoyable training session if you are both enjoying it (leash-jerking isn't really fun for him, nor is it, I expect, for you
😉
See above for the positive reinforcement leash-training.
Good points. Obviously I'm being unrealistic as far as his outside behavior. Right now I'll settle for a dog that doesn't pull (much, anyway) when I take him for a walk. Then I'll start gradually working on getting and keeping his attention while outside.
Sounds like a plan! Don't give up, you're on the right track, just needed some tweaks here and there.
Thanks a lot for your advice! It is much appreciated! If you can give me any more sage advice based on my responses I would be eternally grateful!
No problem! Glad to be of help. I think it's sooo important that veterinary student and veterinarians have some semblance of an idea about animal behavior once they start practicing. The number one reason that clients come to vets is for behavior advice! Unfortunately, the subject is that well covered in most veterinary schools
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And honestly, most of its my fault...its so much easier to just leave the leash at home, so we dont practice very much unless we're somewhere that requires the leash. If I really need her heeling, I just keep a couple cookies in my pocket and she's glued.
