So Ryuk and I have been working on all sorts of things recently (including how to behave around girls in heat *grumble*) and we've been doing really well.

Today I thought I'd bring him on campus (I'm a college student) to enjoy the lovely non-broiling weather we've been having. The car ride went great, getting out of car was nice, sitting in the grass while rowdy college boys rampaged around campus was fine...meeting people went great Ryuk sat politely for people to pet him (great people to, everyone asked before they approached!!!) , no jumping, a single kissing lick on the hand only when asked, did the stupid puppy tricks like paw and roll over for the squealing sorority girls, only marking every tree in sight when I told him it was okay...everything was great...until the actual walking part came....

Ryuk knows how to walk on a leash, but you'd never know it based on today's performance. Even with his prong on he had this relentless tugboat force on his lead. He wasn't even pulling at anything, just keeping the lead as tight as possible. He was listening to my other commands ("stop" which is stop and sit on the spot) thank god since that was the only way I could get him to stop dragging me around, having him stop and sit every other step. I corrected him multiple times but it didn't do a thing other than make him vocal at each correction.

Once we got home I took him out again ready to make sure he was going to walk nicely (where I didn't have my very radical PETA-ish animal welfare *cough* rights *cough* professor plotting my murder as my dog got vocal about the corrections on his prong). He was perfect around during our 2 hour walk, we even walked with our neighbor's dog for a while who's in heat (and yes, though he's a still puppy Ryuk's very aware he's a boy) since she wouldn't stop following us and he stayed glued to my side on a loose leash.

Any ideas what caused the sudden lapse in manners and how to prevent it next time? I've walked him in town which is a lot busier than campus and he's done fine so I know it's not the shock of a new place....I'd like to take him on campus again since he does enjoy the attention but I'm not going to put up with a tugboat....

Jamie,

Its called generalizing.....first time on campus; he doesn't know walk on leash there is the same as walk on leash in all the places he's been trained in the past. Forget the corrections, on campus. Bring him back and train him like you did when he first learned how to walk on leash. Good rewards with the right behavior should turn the light on that says "now I get it." In my experience if a dog already knows the behavior it gets it pretty quickly in new locations when working with a marker. Are you familiar with marker training?

What college campus you may be hanging out with my kids or their associates?

I do actually use marker training (ever do the "all the things you can do with a box" thing? really fun)

Well I've worked into my schedule he'll be on campus at least once a week from now on and I'll work on retraining him on campus. It's just I've brought him almost everywhere else in the world and he's behaved, it was just sort of a shock. I mean, I brought him 2 hours away to visit a friend in a small town he's never been to with all sorts of new distractions a week ago and he was perfect...now I bring him 10 miles down the road to campus, which he spent a week living on at the beginning of the summer and ack, where'd all the training go O_O in his defense I was more concerned with keeping him alive in that week than his on leash manners but still.....

I'm at UMASS: Amherst

What is the "all the things you can do with a box" thing?

Thanks,

Nora

It's a marker/clicker game called 101 Things To Do With a Box.

It's a shaping exercise. Google it and you'll find a gazillion references.

leih

Update: we've been back twice and general behavior is back...also figured out why he was so intent at pulling at...nothing

turns out he sound of er, ducks violating each other carries very far to dog ears....put him in his harness and let him pull his psuedo-cart to the pond (we're not ready for any weight yet and he's permitted to pull in harness provided he stops and slows on command)...once he found the source he stopped his tugboat routine and remembered how to walk on a leash....odd thing to attract him though XD. He's been fine ever since....