I have a 9 month old Standard Poodle. He is relatively well-behaved (but still has a long way to go before I'd consider him well-trained). In the house, he does everything I ask, and will soon progress to distraction training.
I feel like his training is going very well (I made lots of mistakes in the first few months, but since getting the groundwork dvd, things have gone much better.)

My problem is, no matter what I do, I cannot get him to release the tension on his leash when walking. He doesn't pull hard or lunge, but there's always that little bit of tension, and it drives me crazy! I've consistently corrected him for it (I use a flat collar), but I can never get more than a few seconds of slack. I can't reward him with treats during a walk, because he completely loses focus. He'll either stop walking, or forget to look where he's going and smack into things!
I've also tried using higher correction levels, but it makes him shy away from me, skip out sideways, and generally just lose his motivation to pay attention. He's sensitive to high correction levels, but completely ignores low or medium levels. Aargh!
What should I do? I've tried using the search function here, but I can't seem to find anything similar to Dillon's problem. Perhaps I'm using the wrong search terms?
I'd appreciate any help you can give me.

Have you taught him to heel, or another command for loose-leash walking inside, when there aren't a lot of distractions? Is he ignoring a command when he forges?

No, he isn't trained to heel. In the house I can tell him to wait (which means wait for me to pass in front), but he can't do it with distractions.

I guess what I need to ask is if I am expecting too much from him. Should I just allow him to pull until I teach him to heel? Won't it make his training a lot harder if I let him pull for months and months, and then suddenly try to teach him not to? What is a reasonable expectation for this sort of thing?

You are going to get different opinions on this, but based on the information on Leerburg's site I purchased a prong color for my six month old GS, since the flat collar was useless. The prong collar acts just like Ed says - it is power steering on dogs. I don't need to yank or jerk on the collar; it pretty much "self corrected" the pulling. Falcon is learning to heel and is doing great in that department, but when walking through the woods he still at times wants to forge ahead.

I can assure you that the more time you can devote to training positively - with markers and treats, you will be able to maintain his attention more easily when on walks. I'm finding it is really, really helpful to use numerous short "training" sessions throughout the day (or when ever you are home with the dog).

Don't be afraid of the prong collar; just use it wisely in conjunction with positive training/rewards.

 Quote: Savannah Shirkey

I've also tried using higher correction levels, but it makes him shy away from me, skip out sideways, and generally just lose his motivation to pay attention. He's sensitive to high correction levels, but completely ignores low or medium levels.

Chances are, your lower level corrections are just perceived as nagging, and the dog has been conditioned to ignore them.

Corrections should always be administered from a slack leash. Otherwise, the dog learns to block them out.


A prong collar is liable to cause the same avoidance behavior you're experiencing on the flat collar at high level corrections.

Marker training is probably your best bet here.

Thanks, Barbara. I will try breaking it up into smaller sessions. Maybe by his second or third walk of the day, some of the novelty will wear off, and he'll be able to focus.
I'm afraid to use a prong on Dillon, he's quite sensitive to strong corrections. Perhaps I'll give it a trial run (gently) and see how he handles it. I just don't want to damage my bond with him, so I'm trying to stay as positive as possible.

 Quote: Savannah Shirkey

No, he isn't trained to heel. In the house I can tell him to wait (which means wait for me to pass in front), but he can't do it with distractions.

YET.

As with everything else, distractions/duration/distance are added after the behavior is solid with no distractions.

While this definitely is not the only way, here's one method you may wish to consider:

1. Get some very high-value treats and put them in your pocket
2. Go outside to a low-distraction area (such as your backyard), with your pup on leash
3. Stand still in the middle of the yard. If the pup starts to pull on the leash, correct with a "no" and then a leash pop at the appropriate level for your dog. (how hard? see http://leerburg.com/corrections.htm )
4. When the pup is not pulling and/or immediately after administering a correction, call the puppy to you and reward with a treat and praise.
5. After the pup has learned that pulling results in a correction and he gets nowhere, while being right next to you gets him a treat, he will stop pulling. Take a few steps, and repeat steps 3 and 4.
6. Once you have mastered taking a few steps, step it up to a few more. Eventually he will learn that being next to you is where he wants to be; not pulling on the leash.
7. Add more steps, speed, and eventually distractions (going outside the back yard, other people around, dogs barking from behind a fence, etc).

The key is being very patient and consistent, especially in steps 3 and 4. Ed illustrates a method very similar to this in a few of his videos if you want visual instruction.

http://leerburg.com/302.htm