#ground tether

[muddydogtraining]

Guide Dogs for the Blind calls this skill responding to Collar Cues. It is similar if not the same as the Silky Leash method. These are good skills to have for Loose Leash Walking.

The goal is to teach a puppy to respond to light pressure on the collar, to teach the puppy how to move backwards, forwards, sideways, downwards, and pivot into position.

This is a difficult skill due to the natural opposition reflex: when dogs feel pressure on the collar, they want to pull away from it. I will direct you back to my posts on Ground Tether part one and part two. Ground tether games set you up for automatic focus as well as an introduction to not pulling on the leash.

This is the fourth post from the Guide Dogs for the Blind videos. The first two are the Ground Tethers ones linked above. The third was on Loose Leash Walking.

[muddydogtraining]

This time, we are going to talk about Loose Leash Walking. This is a difficult skill for many dogs, and as you watch the video, you can see the difference in the puppies’ ages and how they respond differently. For example, they use some of the more mature dogs in the higher distracting environments.

Key points to look for:

Reward often--don’t be stingy with the treats! These are service dogs that will have to work in high distracting environments with their handler. They can’t depend on treats for their entire lives, so don’t worry about that for your dog. 

Reward before the dog makes a mistake

When they do pull, we will fall back on the ground tether skills. This time we will hold the leash with fixed pressure on our leg, instead of using the ground. Make sure you don’t have a “bungee hand.” Remember that we aren’t jerking the leash back; we are simply bracing the leash on the leg closest to the dog to make sure the puppy canNOT take even one more step

If it’s too much for them and your dog won’t stop pulling, take a step away from the distractions. If you’ve been at this for a bit, take a break from training, especially for those young puppies!

This is the third Guide Dogs for the Blind video that I have posted. Ground Tether parts one and two are here. Give me some feedback! Do you like these posts? What else would you like to see covered?

[muddydogtraining]

This is the next video in the Ground Tether exercises from the Guide Dogs for the Blind YouTube page. Here is the first. To recap, these videos are about using a ground tether to work on automatic focus and not pulling on the leash.

This one really focuses on adding distractions to work on impulse control and to help proof the behavior.

Using a ground tether is great for many exercises we’ll see in the future, including Puppy Greeting Manners.