Hi everyone! First off let me apologize for my last post about aggression training through pain. I had a few beers that night and was feeling a bit arguemenitive. Sorry Ed!! However, I am looking for advice about my dogs attention heeling on leash. He seems to be slipping out of drive and loses focus while on leash and when I am using the tug for reward. He does much better, focus wise, when off lead with the tug. His focus with food is better while on leash as well and he stays in drive longer with the food. He is crazy for the tug and he only get it during training sessions. It is a firehose tug and it is about 12" long. It's not his favorite but it is easier to stick in my armpit than the 2' long jute one with double handles that he is most crazy for. I am walking at a pretty good pace now with him and I don't think speeding up is the answer. I would be jogging if I were to do that.

Off leash he is getting pretty good with maintaining focus and drive for either toy or food. I have been using only motivational techniques,(positive and negative reinforcement) and am using a fur saver collar doubled over when on leash so he doesn't get a slip collar correction but just a "pop", when he loses focus this is the only compulsion other than tone of voice I have used. He wears the prong during training sessions but gets no compulsive corrections with it for now. He is now 11 months old if anyone wants to know.

I have been using the word "fuss" to get eye contact while in the heel position and then start to move after he gives me a second or two of focus.

Has anyone ran into this and can you give me any advice? Is his slipping out of drive and losing focus due to me not keeping him "pumped up" enough through praise and facial expression maybe? What does everyone think? Thank you.

what are you training for? all dogs lose drive at some point on or off leash with or without favorite reward.Maybe it is me but i don't understand the problem. Had some drinks tonight.

Perhaps the dog's had too much to drink! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hey Ditch and Ted thanks for the advice! Can't wait to hear from you again. Keep up the good work whatever it is!

When you say he loses focus do you mean that his attention wanders off you when on lead? If so, and you're sure he knows and understands the command under whatever circumstances it's occuring, then you need to correct him for it. You can also try varying your speed and make mutiple direction changes without warning so that he learns that he better watch the crazy human at the other end of the lead. I hope this helps a little.