You’re walking with your dog and you spot something ahead that you do not want to pass or meet. Maybe it’s another dog that looks like trouble. What will you do?
“This way!” is a cue that tells your dog to immediately turn around and follow you. It is trained by practicing this move with a treat as a lure. The key is to use the treat to teach your dog to walk in a small circle around you, rather than letting the leash get tight and pull him. This brief video shows me practicing it, including a mistake in the beginning where I let the leash get too tight.
Rocky is having a really hard time with the slippery floor, so I cut the session short.
Start working on this behavior in a low distraction environment and then take it on the road. Whenever you start working in a more distracting area, use treats and then fade them away after your dog becomes proficient.
“This way” is a very simple technique that can help you get out of trouble quickly. It also had the added bonus of redirecting your dog’s attention to you, keeping his mind off of the distraction.
Have fun!
3 Comments
Funny- I just realized that I have been doing exactly that with my dog for a while, including using the same cue (“this way”), without ever cautiously thinking about it or formally training it.
It's nice that for a change, unintended training can actually teach something useful
Funny- I just realized that I have been doing exactly that with my dog for a while, including using the same cue (“this way”), without ever cautiously thinking about it or formally training it.
It's nice that for a change, unintended training can actually teach something useful
Sometimes just plain common sense is all you need. There are no secrets…..
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Deborah Flick and April Lani, dogspelledfwd. dogspelledfwd said: This Way! – Avoiding Trouble on Leash http://bit.ly/JmAXp #dogs #dogtraining [...]
[...] dog expects to be able to greet other dogs on leash, you have already set him up for frustration!If you see trouble avoid it. Discretion is the better part of valor. It only takes one bad experience!How can you alleviate it? [...]