Could someone give me some suggestions on training off lease control. My GSD will sit, stay and down, even at a distance, off lease. But, when it comes to heel at walk, jog, ect. off lease, he doesn't obey. I don;t know how to teach him off lease control. All suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks Highlander

This one is easy,
Teach him on-leash until no corrections are needed, then try off leash.... I am going to assume you taught the sit stay etc this way.... something either changed in your training the heel or you are trying to soon off leash.

I also suggest you use motivation such as favorite toy to build focus first.. I have never taught heeling on leash period with my dog, you really never need to with good focus. I suggest you get the building drive grip and focus tape...it will help you learn this type of training.

H9ighlander,
Lonny's advice is sound.

A few questions for you????

How focused is he on you while on the leash and off??

Does he stay focused with distractions when on leash???

I would like to know how he responds with the leash connected to his collar, without you handling the other end.

If this makes a difference you can try using a short tab on the coller. (dog will think he's still connected to you)

Heeling off leash takes more time and proofing then the sit,stay,down.

Have patience, always end a training session with something that your dog understands completley.
This lets you both leave the field satisified.
Good luck

highlander:

Is he a PSD?

Thanks for the reply, Lonny B, Crabtree and Vince P.
Lonny, you mentioned that I might be doing something different on lease than off lease. You were right. When I tried Tigaro off lease I didn't try to get Tigaro's attention. I realized that this was a handler problem and not the dog's fault. I appreciate your observation.

Crabtree, I tried your suggestion today, pratice walking at heel with lease attached but, dragging. It worked great. After a few mintues, I took the lease off and he walked at heel good. A couple times he started to wander off a little during the turnaround but, I got his focus back on me and he did fine. Here again is an example of a smart dog with a trainer that has limited training knowledge.
I will continue this training. Thanks again for the help.
Vince, my GSD is in training to be a PSD. He alerts on several drugs and is performing good criminal apprehensions.
I plan to have him certified on narcotics by the end of May. As far as the patrol cert I working off lease control so he will be sure to pass the patrol cert.
My dept requires him to be certified before working the street.

Highlander,
Glad you two are back on track. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Most times we all over look the simple cures.

Question??
What do you use to keep him focused on
you?? Or how do you keep him focused ??

Good luck on the certification.

Highlander,

As a suggestion. When I start off lead, on lead for that matter, the thing that I find is that lots of turns will force the dog to pay more attention to what you are doing. What I tell people that I am teaching obedience is that if they take more than 5-10 steps in any direction prior to turning they are going too far. The other thing I tell people is that they should watch the dog, as soon as it looks away turn the opposite direction. It teaches the dog that if it doesn't pay attention to you it will get a correction for being out of position.

highlander wrote: Vince, my GSD is in training to be a PSD. He alerts on several drugs and is performing good criminal apprehensions.

LC: By “criminal apprehensions” do you mean bitework? If so, shouldn’t your trainer be telling you how to get to off leash OB? It’s possible that you mean tracking as in some regions that’s called "criminal apprehension."

LC: If this is the case and all this dog does is detection (narco) and tracking, I wonder why you’re so intent on training him to walk at heel off leash. (If by criminal apprehensions you mean bitework, the rest of this paragraph doesn’t apply. Skip down to the paragraph after this one.) Usually off leash heeling isn’t a high priority for a dog that works just narcotics and/or tracks. Walking at heel focuses his attention on you and if his job is detection or tracking, you don’t want him focused on you to this extent. I recommend that he never should be walked off leash in any environment. He’s best worked on leash as you can better focus and direct him. I think the only OB command you really need is a solid recall, in case he gets away off leash or you drop the leash. If your patrol certification includes walking off leash, you should think about having it revised. When would you ever need this? If it's not needed for real life it doesn't belong in your certification.

LC: If by criminal apprehension you mean bitework, I’d suggest that you consult with your trainer. If the dog’s not walking off leash well, how do you control him during the bitework?

If on leash has not been imprinted well neither will be the off leash .Obedience has to be concrete. When you say down that is what it means,not get up and move around . Peter

The biggest mistake most people make is to take the dog off leash to see how good it is, or if it's ready for off leash work. Every time you do that and the dog makes a mistake, you do nothing but teach the dog he can ignore you. As a PSD your circumstances may be different, but I never took my dog off leash during training for competition. You will know when he is steady. Why set yourself up for a mistake. INMO, even with motivational methods, if the dog doesn't know the exercise well, keep him on leash. He can still be distracted.