Walking on Loose Lead and Recall

Before I continue with Sadie's first class I would like to clear something up from my last post. When I said that I did not believe in treat training what I should have said was that I do not believe in using treats as a reward for good behavior. However, I am not opposed to using treats as a last resort to enticement the dog to perform a new behavior. For example if I am training a dog to crawl I will use a low table and try to talk the dog into crawling under it while repeating the command. If this fails I am not opposed to using a treat or his favorite toy to entice the dog to crawl under a low object while repeating the command. The treat will however be eliminated at the earliest possible opportunity. I want the dog to perform the behavior because he wants to please me not because of some artificial stimulus. Now let's return to Sadie's first class after being so rudely interrupted with my little tirade about treat training.

The next exercise that the class was ask to perform was walking on a loose leash. Everyone got up and was told to walk in a circle. Some of the dogs were being pulled around, some refused to move, some jumped all over the place and others were being lead around with a treat in front of their nose. Sadie was the only one that walked next to me and actually watched to see what I was going to do next. My point here is that these dogs had 3 weeks of training and are still not able to walk on a loose lead. Up to this point Sadie had had one 10 min lesson on how to walk politely on a loose leash. The more I see of this class the more frustrated I am becoming.

Next the instructor ask everyone to return to their chairs and take a seat. I had released Sadie so she was free to do whatever she wanted and the instructor did say take a seat which is exactly what she did. Now Sadie is 50 lbs of puppy and she did not quite fit in a plastic lawn chair. Her but was sticking under one arm rest her feet under the other and when she laid down she rested her head on the arm rest. This drew a big laugh from the rest of the class. It was like she was sticking her nose in the air to the other dogs saying I deserve this because I am so superior to the rest of you that I should not have to sit on the same floor with you. Being the strict disciplinarian that I am I went right over and grabbed..............another chair and sat down beside her and waited our turn to be called for the Recall.

The instructor started calling us up one at a time for recalls. Since I was last in line I had to watch while about a dozen dogs and owners went thru the process. The procedure for this was to have an assistant hold the dogs leash and then have the handler go across the room and call the dog. This process would have been fine, however with the handler 10 to 20 feet away and no way to get the dog to come to them other than voice, treat or toy these dogs quickly learned that if they were not in the mood there was nothing the owner could do to make them come if they did not want too. One owner finally gave up went back and picked up the dog and carried it to where she was. This was evidently OK with the instructor because noting was said. The other dogs ran the gambit form totally ignoring their owners to running around the ring in circles. When it was Sadie's turn she stayed with the assistant, which was all I really cared about since she does not usually like strangers. I bent over and said "HERE" and she came running. This was her first recall in public and I was very happy with the results. After one night I could see that she was way ahead of the other dogs. I would have quit the class at this point if it were not for the socialization issue.

Because of the socialization (passing the dogs around) I decided to complete the next 2 classes and see if she improved. The next time we went I allowed her to be passed around as I observed and she was fine only looking back occasionally for reassurance and by the third week she had no trouble at all with the strangers handling her I think she was actually starting to enjoy it. In any case she finished the class head and shoulders above the rest of the dogs, which is pretty good considering that I did not work her at all between classes and the other dogs had been attending class for 6 weeks instead of Sadie's 3. My next dilemma will be what to do with her next, I can not take another six weeks of untrained dogs and owners. If I do take her back I will skip at least one level.

Next time Winter arrives.