Stop leash pulling in 5 minutes | Solid K9 Training
– Cannot get her to focus
on me when she’s outside.
(dog whines)
She wants to focus on the
squirrel, she doesn’t come
when she’s called, she just trances out.
– [Instructor] When you walk
her, how does that look?
– She pulls like crazy.
– [Instructor] Why don’t
you show us at the walk.
– She’ll be good now.
Come on Piper, come on, come on, come on.
(blows kisses)
Come on, come on.
(blows kisses)
– That’s a good girl.
That’s good, you stayed still.
No.
– [Instructor] Can you come back.
– Walk nice, walk nice.
– [Instructor] So when I
make comments, I’m not trying
to pick on anybody.
– No, no, no, no, no, she’s
pulling me all over the place.
– So what we see here
is we see a dog, that
if you drop the leash–
– Bolt.
– That’s right.
To me, that’s what dog training is.
– That’s what we need.
– [Instructor] When we drop
the leash, where’s our dog,
and I want my dog to be
next to me and stopped.
– That’s my biggest concern.
– She won’t come back
to you, because it’s–
– Unless I have food in
my hand, she ain’t coming.
– Even then, squirrel, dog–
– Exactly, she focuses
on everything but me.
– Exactly, so the goal is to get the dog
to start focusing on you.
The problem is, is your
dog’s out in front of you.
– Right.
– So, um, most people
know how I work with dogs.
I’m not a huge fan of a
harness and I’ll tell you why.
Harnesses are made for sled
dogs, they’re made for pulling.
And obviously this dog can
pull as hard as it wants,
and it’ll never, it won’t hurt itself.
– Right.
– The reason why harnesses are there is
because they don’t choke,
I agree, they don’t choke.
But the goal is, is not to
get your dog to pull, so.
It’s really hard to get a
dog not to pull on a harness,
because this right here is the
strongest part of their body.
(dog whines)
the goal would be to get
the dog to start being
next to you, and not pulling, so.
– With the neck collar
obviously she pulls like crazy.
– She pulls even worse.
– Yes, that’s why–
– And you’d think the dog would learn
to stop choking itself,
again when the dog feel that–
(choking sound)
they actually wanna get away from it.
So, the goal would be to always
have a loose leash, okay?
So the goal is gonna be to
control the dog’s movements,
and once we start controlling
the dog’s movements,
we start getting that better
connection with them, okay.
So, if we can walk– every dog
here should be able to walk
perfectly on a leash, like, by noon.
That’s the goal, because
it’s not that hard to do.
Usually only takes a couple minutes.
So this is good, now–
– Piper.
– Are you open to other collars?
We all know I use prong collars.
(dog whines)
– Um, I’ve never actually–
– Okay, so lemme
introduce your dog to one.
– Sure, we can give it a try.
– Um, the goal of this is to
get every dog to walk on it.
And I understand some people
are uncomfortable with them,
and I highly respect that, that’s fine.
I use them on 90% of my dogs.
– Right, I’ve seen that.
– And it’s highly successful.
– She’s doin’ this now.
– So, could we get it as close as we can?
– Mm hmm.
– Just so I give you–
– Are those the German ones?
– These’re the German ones.
– That are rounded out?
– So lemme give everybody in
a, if you’re uncomfortable,
no one is forced to do
anything I do today at all.
And I want you to know that–
and I’ve never seen a dog
harmed on a prong collar.
– Mm hmm.
– So is it happening?
Maybe somebody, but I’m
not seeing it, so, the ones
I use are from Germany.
– Mm hmm.
– These are rounded edges.
– Mm hmm.
– It’s impossible to choke the dog,
it’s impossible for it
to pierce the thing.
So, um, it’s at an angle.
If it was one prong, it
probably would impale.
It’s a row of prongs.
The concept is that it
gives a universal, even
on a flat collar, and I’ma
use your dog as an example.
When a dog is pulling on
a flat collar like this,
notice how there’s space behind the back?
100% of the pressure is
from here to here, 100%.
We’re actually choking
our dogs, we’re actually
causing harm to our dogs.
It’s not a choke chain,
choke chains actually
you can kill a dog with.
This only goes so small.
Everything now, when everybody’s
walking I notice we’re
using a lot of our, um,
almost our whole body,
a lot of hand manipulation.
With a prong collar, we’re
gonna be going like this.
So obviously if someone’s
uncomfortable with that movement,
you’re probably going to be
uncomfortable with what I do.
Are probably going to be responding to.
It’s, now: the goal is
to get the dog to listen
without a collar, but we
can struggle for months,
and sometimes years.
How long have you had this dog?
– 10 months.
– Okay, so we can struggle
for 10 months, we still
can’t walk the dog–
– Yeah.
(truck noise)
– So, this way takes 10 minutes.
The goal is not to always
have any collar on him.
I wanna have it off for a
straight jog, that’s my goal.
(truck noise)
(dog whines)
So what we’re gonna do is,
pass this around and feel this.
– [Student] Yeah.
– [Student] Cause they’re round.
– [Instructor] So the way
we introduce the collar
to the dog.
(dog coughs)
– I never imagined she’d–
(laughs)
– So now, so now all I’m gonna do is this.
(dog huffs rhythmically)
The dog is just gonna do
all the work right now.
The way we introduce
the collar is I’m gonna
stand over here, and I’m
gonna do gentle pressure.
Good! Good, good, good, good,
(dog huffs rhythmically)
good, good, good, back up a little bit.
Good, good, good, good, good.
So, I’m just gonna let the
dog do all the work right now.
Good, good, good, good, good.
All I’m doing is, when the
dog starts coming to me,
good, good, good, good, good.
Not schoolgirl good,
because that’ll probably get
the dog to jump on me, that’s
another thing about energy:
it’s like when we do this
high-pitched, enthusiastic stuff,
if I was an agility trainer,
that’s what I would do.
If I was a search-and-rescue trainer–
walking down the street, it’s not a trick.
So again, so I’m just gonna go like this,
good, good, good, good, good.
Okay.
(dog whines)
Good, aaagh!
There you go, good,
good, good, good, good.
Hard to look at, and there’s
a great video I put up,
from a shelter in
Charlestown, where a dog was
jumping up at the leash,
because it did that with
anytime it had a leash on at all,
is all it wanted to do is
go where it wanted to do.
It’s more of an objection, like that was
a little objection right there.
– [Student] Mm hmmm.
– Good, good, good, good, good.
(murmured approval)
So now, when we walk our
dogs, the goal is to have
our dog next to us.
Like, we’ve all ridden
bicycles, so just down
low like this, we’re
not carrying handbags.
You know, just like this, and
I’m gonna keep about 18 inches
of leash right here.
So if I feel any pulling from my dog,
I’m just gonna go like this.
Can’t start a forward motion,
the dog’s gonna be like,
oh, geez, I’m not supposed
to be rushing past this guy.
So I’m just gonna start,
I’m gonna do the same walk
that you just did, we’ll see how it goes.
(truck noise)
And I’m a pretty fast walker,
but I’ma take it slow.
And you’ll notice, I’m just
doing minor little wrist taps.
(dog whines)
When I turn, and I’m not gonna say
anything to the dog at all,
and if my dog wants to just
put the brakes on or go right
or go left, I’ma do my best
just to keep my hand right
here and talk at the same time.
Now notice how I’m not
focusing on the dog.
I want the dog to focus on me.
Okay, I want this dog to, and
don’t walk around like this,
like everyone’ll make fun of you.
(students laugh)
But I’m just showing that
we’re not, like, I’m not
white-knuckling, I’m nice and relaxed.
And when I come to a stop,
I don’t tell dogs to sit,
I just put ’em there.
When you, you’re older,
when you get in the car,
what’s the first thing you do, besides put
on your headphone and play a video game?
It’s, what do you do?
– [Child] What’d he say?
– When you get into a car, what do you do?
– [Student] What’s the
first thing you do when
you get in a car?
– [Child] Put my seatbelt on?
– Bingo, thank you.
When you were two, your mom
used to have to help you.
You know it now, you
don’t have to be told.
I want this dog to know that,
hey, when I’m walking around,
you’re at my side.
When I come to a stop, we’ll politely sit.
Why?
Because maybe I’m talking
on the phone, texting,
looking at an outdoor
restaurant menu, giving somebody
directions, I’m at a parade,
I’m at a football game.
I want this dog to just sit there.
Now, if anybody has a hard
time looking at a dog like this
and thinking, oh my good,
he looks so sad, well, then,
we’re not going to have
much success today.
If people are looking like,
holy shit– I’m sorry,
holy moly–
(laughter)
Your mom’s there, so– holy moly,
(laughter)
um, I’ve never seen a
dog so quiet before, ah!
Maybe I’m the guy for you.
So, this is what I’m looking for.
To me, this is dog training.
(truck noise)
When we can all stand around and we’ve got
a nice, obedient dog,
and when I’m ready to go,
I just go.
I’m not gonna ask the dog, you know?
You notice how, again, if
you get any objection at all,
just your forward motion,
your forward motion does it.
You don’t remember the
Jeffersons, George Jefferson?
– Ya huh.
– Walk like George.
(students laugh)
Always walk like George.
(student laughs)
George was a powerful man.
When I come to a stop–
now eventually, I’m doing
a little bit of leash pressure
up, and a little bit of
pushing down, don’t use your whole hand.
(kissing)
Don’t– I’m sure the dog
will sit if I do this,
but don’t push your
hand on the dog’s back.
Just like how the dog pulls,
(dog whines)
and we pull, and they pull more?
Historically if you push on a
dog’s back, they’ll actually
back up on it.
Two little fingers?
Like you can walk a 100-pound
dog, two little fingers, boom!
The butt goes down.
So, hanging out like this.
You know, just keep moving, I
mean I’m not running around,
I’m just walking around.
And you’re gonna do a
lot of this, this motion.
And you don’t need to look at your dog.
Why, because if I feel–
(dog whines)
(murmured approval)
That’s another thing about praise, is,
since I don’t give dogs
tons of praise for really
simple things, just going like this
means a lot to a dog.
To some people that doesn’t
mean a lot, but when you,
when you don’t shower dogs
with a lot of affection
or praise, just going
like this, they’re like,
Oh, wow, good, I did a good job.
They don’t need, like,
you’re doing so good, that–
cause if anything, if you
give most dogs a lot of praise
when you’re first starting
training them, what do they do?
They get excited and they jump up at you.
Great, what are we training them to do?
Are we training them to jump up at us, or
are we training them to not jump up at us?
So, it’s really important
that we understand that
we have to create calmness.
When dogs are calm, they
tend not to misbehave.
They don’t bite, they don’t
bark, they don’t growl.
So.
And, a little lower.
Just…make him come.
There you go, that was good.
Good dog, now you turn.
Good, good, good, good, good.
There we go, good.
Nice and calm, and you
wanna get to the point where
if you feel your dog getting
a little bit ahead of you,
you just give it, we’re
talking minimal pressure,
minimal leash pressure you’re doing.
And then come to a stop, and little bit of
leash pressure up, and sit,
down, there we go, good.
So let’s do that one more time.
And now you can also tell,
the dog is not on this
search and destroy mission, either.
– [Student] Um huh.
– That was, again, they’re
gonna look now, if you drop
the leash the dog would
possibly stay a little bit
closer to her, than it was before.
Don’t drop the leash,
but this is how we start
getting dogs to actually focus more on us.
One of the things you said was
your dog doesn’t focus on you.
And, a little bit of
leash pressure, and, boom.
How does that feel?
– Great.
– Good, so this is, so when
I say we can get dogs to walk
in five minutes or less, we can.
Now, how long are you
walking your dog a day?
– Actually they’re usually in the yard.
– Okay.
– I take them for walks–
– So, another thing is you
gotta start walking them more,
but you know, the average dog–
– I usually get fed up
after like, five minutes.
(student laughs)
– Well, I bet you could walk
for 10 minutes right now, so.
So, that’s the basis
of a lot of what we do.
If we can’t walk our dogs,
if we can’t train his focus
to us on the walk, why
would they come back to us?
Why would they do a one hour down-stay?
Why would they listen to us,
like getting off a counter?
They won’t even respect the walk.
– [Student] That’s why we’re here today.
– The walk, the walk is huge, so.
Everybody knows Solomon, right?
– [Student] Yeah.
– Solomon’s that dog that
I rescued that was gonna
be scheduled to be killed,
the black and white dog?
– [Student] Yeah.
– So here’s a dog that, it
bit nine kids, highly nervous,
highly active, scared like
crazy in his crate, what do you
think the first thing that I did with him?
This right here.
– [Student] Take him for a walk.
– This is the exact same
thing I did right here.
And then 12 hours later, he
lost all his nervousness,
(train whistle)
he lost all of his bad energy, and I can
finally start working with him.
So the concept of, you
know, when we’re in rescue,
we always think, oh my
god, the dog was abused,
the dog was left in a shoebox, the dog was
in a dumpster, the dog
was the drug dealer’s dog,
the dog was kicked down the
steps, the dog– I know,
whether it’s true or not,
whatever, we can’t change it.
It sounds really heartless
when you say that.
But what does that have to do with today?
I’m not gonna let the
dog carry that baggage,
and I don’t wanna carry
that baggage from the dog.
What I’ve gotta do is say,
listen, I know how to train you,
I gotta stop you from this
nonsense, and guess what?
We’re gonna start going for a walk.
So.
– [Student] Excellent.
– That’s the walk.
You wanna try?
(dog whines)
