http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP_aYT9KsbM


Most of you see videos about my 3 dogs Bommi, Helga and Kaiser. I have an other dog Kari. He is 18 months old and kari was supposed to go to my friend's house and I was holding him for a friend of mine. It turned out that he stayed with me.

When he was about 7 months old, he came out of my yard running into the street, because he wanted to join the other two dogs I was taking out. This can get him killed in minutes because I live in a very busy area and dog's lives are not valued, especially mongrels. He is a mongrel. I was so upset with him that in a fit of anger, I smacked him with a leather switch I carry when I go for walks. His world was shattered and from then on he would cower when I went near him etc. I stopped training him for a few months , mostly because I knew I did not have the skill to train him. Even before this he was a dog who would quickly shut down even with a slight verbal correction. All this slipped my mind when I hit him and the only thing I had was my anger.

I knew that I was asking too much from him (in comparison with my other 3). I train him for only 30 minutes per week and 1-2 minute session every day. Just a Sit, or a down and some praise. Just a sand up or high five and reward. Slowly he has been "playing ball" with me with out shutting down, but any thing more than a firm "nope" and he will shut down.

Anyway, I have been training him to heel for the past 3 or 4 months, As you can imagine, it can be a very slow process. Over the past week, I noticed that he was able to heel with almost zero corrections.

Today, I got the courage to take him off leash while on our walk and asked him to heel. He Heeled with me amidst barking dogs and street dogs and cats. I was so happy. It was such a small achievement, but it seems very big to me considering that I had broken his trust.

As you can see things did not go quite as well as we would have hoped.
here is a video of us heeling. It may not be the best heeling video, But it is the best I have done with kari.

I did not notice the broken trust. His body language was positive...tail up etc. Distracted at times but I would expect nothing less from a pup his age. Nice work!

You guys look fantastic, Ram!

Very nice! And Kari is a good looking dog. Do you know what kind of mix he is? Also, what breed is Bommi? She's a great looking dog as well.

Kari's mom was a pure sight hound and Kari's dad must have been a village dog. He Loves to run and he has a deep chest and slim body.

Bommi is a Rajapalayam. She is a native Indian breed. You can google Rajapalayam Dog and you will find the details.

Very nice, Ram

With that many distractions and only praise for reward he is doing very well!

Ram he is coming along beautifully. You are braver than am I to have him off leash at this point in that environment, but thankfully he came back before he got run over. Great looking dog... I love the sight hounds!

Ram, your body language is fantastic! I watched the video without sound and you are emanating this calm, secure energy. Kari is a very lucky dog. I want the little street dog. She looks gorgeous, too, and so sweet.

I did not think he was going to take off. Now I know better. I will train some more before I take him off leash. But that is the environment I have to work with. There are no low distraction areas where I live. My street is considered low distraction.

Ram, this is very helpful for me. I want to work more on Jethro's off leash walking and I now have a fenced yard. Your example shows me how to start with very small steps outside the yard, and I am going to practice with him more diligently. I am going to take baby steps to move out through the gate and back into the yard, never straying far from our familiar haunts. Then, day by day, I can add a bit of distance, building from the familiar to the new.

You have distractions! My street is relatively calm compared to yours.