Hiya, all. I've been hanging around the site for awhile, but this is my first post. There's so much good info here, but I haven't been able to find just what I need for my particular problem. I've searched the site, the message boards, and I have the 8 Weeks to 8 Months and Basic Obedience DVDs.

I have a 13 week old bull terrier. She's crate trained, housebroken (except for the occasional accident overnight) and has learned sit and down through 3-5 minute play/training sessions we have a few times a day. I've tried teaching come with a 20 foot lead and lots of good treats, but she's not quite getting that one yet. And she doesn't like the leash. That's my problem right now.

I'd like to walk her down to the end of the street and back, just to get her used to being out of the back yard and let her experience new things, but I can't get her to walk on the leash. As soon as I put it on her, she grabs it and runs. When she gets as far as I let her go, she turns around and starts tugging. I've been taking her out on the 20ft lead, and letting her take it in her mouth and drag it around, and I just never tighten up on it so she doesn't get into a game of tug. I figured she'd get used to it, but so far, no go. She's crazy for the Zuke's treats, so I show her a treat and she'll walk along (with the leash in her mouth and as long as it's slack) eyeing the treat for a few steps, but as soon as I give it to her, she's back fighting with the leash. Do I lure her all the way down the street holding treats in front of her face and her fighting with the leash every second she's not actually eating the treat?

I've tried walking around and around the backyard, pretty much dragging her, but she's hard-headed and just doesn't give up and walk along. All my other dogs through the years (shepherds, mutts, Jack Russell, Rat Terrier) started off pulling on the leash, not fighting it.

My other dogs have been pretty well behaved sweet dogs, but none of them were well-trained, and I want to do better by this one. I've tried to find a local trainer to work with me, and teach me how to better train my dog, but they all seem to be the "take them away from you for a month to get them started" or "puppy classes" trainers. I just want some common-sense trainer (like Ed seems to be) to show ME how to handle my dog.

edit: I forgot the clothes part. She does go after our clothes, pants legs, shirt tails, anything that flaps around a bit. I can get her to calm down and stop that, but she'll start it up again the next day, of course. She's playing, it doesn't seem at all aggressive. Now, with the leash, if I physically take it out of her mouth, she grabs for a pants leg or a shirt or anything close until she can find a way to grab the leash again. She doesn't grab at my hands, just my clothes.

mj shenk



Edited by (05/30/2007 04:25 PM)
Edit reason: Forgot a aprt.

Welcome!

The recall: You might want to start calling the dog for everything good and make the recall a very positive experience. Call for meals, call for rides, call for petting or games or brushing or anything she likes.

You might consider attaching a piece of a light leash (or a shoe lace or something like that) during some kind of enclosed play when her attention is on something pleasant and fun, taking it off and on casually and having it on when good stuff is happening, and moving up to having a whole light drag line attached in that kind of situation, etc.


My experience is mainly with green or badly-trained adults, so I hope the puppy folks will chime in too.

For recall, try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyNMbriD-cw

You can get a really quick recall this way. This is adding distraction. The puppy spins on a dime when called.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC6qy_AnCGw

The result is an attentive dog that WANTS to be near you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHS3MvNYCGc

I have no experience here, but I am wondering about a chain leash? Just so you could get the dog out and about. Maybe it would not feel so good to tug. Once the dog gets how walking on a leash is supposed to go, you could go back to a reg. leash/longline?

Cheers,

Don't use a chain leash, you will end up ripping out her baby teeth. Also with the weight of it it might smack her in the face and shoulders a lot, causing her to grab at it more.
My first step would be to get some bitter apple or other taste deterant and spray the heck out of the leash and see if that helps.

 Quote:

Don't use a chain leash, you will end up ripping out her baby teeth. Also with the weight of it it might smack her in the face and shoulders a lot, causing her to grab at it more

I certainly did not mean to rip a chain leash out of a pup's mouth, or to continue using it if the pup was still interested in chewing it. I only thought it might be worth a try if it very quickly made chewing not fun for the young 'un. Kinda like how people use metal tie outs to keep a dog from chewing, metal feels yucky on the mouth to most dogs.

They also make very light guage chain leash as well.

Hope I was not misunderstood.

Cheers,

I apologize, I did not mean to sound harsh. I was rather tired when I wrote it. For an older puppy, the chain leash idea would certainly be worth a try. I have seen well meaning owners do this exact thing and the pup grabs the leash, yanks and out comes a tooth. Also, the teeth can get caught in the chain, scary situation and panicky for the pup.
Personally I would probably start teaching the pup to walk beside/with me, using marker training (clicker would work well with a distracted bully pup) without the leash. And I would also put the leash on in the house and let her drag it around. She won't be able to tug with no one holding it. Offer her other toys to play with and keep her busy, so that she is not focusing on the leash.
Good luck and hopefully someone with more expertise will be able to offer better advice

Thanks everybody, your info has helped me with the recall (especially the videos, Anne) and we're working on that. She's much better coming to me when we're working on it, but if we're just out in the backyard, not so much... if she see's anything interesting (the neighbor's cat sitting like a statue on the other side of the fence, a leaf, etc.) she just ignores me, and I have to go get her.

I used Connie's idea and I made a short leash (about 16") out of a light nylon line. She's been wearing that around the house, and she wants to fight with it the irst few minutes, then she ignores it. She actually walked on leash when I took her to the vet a few days ago. She did so well that later that day I was going to try and take her for a walk, but she went crazy when I put the leash on her the second time. I took her out yesterday, and she fought all the way down the driveway, then she actually walked most of the time down the street. We stopped about every driveway, and I had her sit and get a treat.

I've been thinking about clicker training. I used "yes" as a marker for sit and down, and she's got those really well, but a clicker might be better and more consistant since sometimes I forget and say "good" or "right" or something. But I don't know how to teach her to walk along with me using the clicker. Do I just walk around until I can get her to walk with me, then click and treat? She needs to know what the click means before I try that, right? Should I start using the clicker with sit and down, so she understands?

She's getting a little wild and mouthy now, too. I'll ask my questions about that over in the puppy biting area.

Thanks again everyone