You can lead a dog to water....

A few nights ago I called Yvette and asked for some advice.   Abby knows how to walk really well on a leash but every few walks she gets really stubborn about being on the look-out for little critters rather than pay attention to the walk.  I have tried 3 different collars that I have and several different techniques to get her attention.  I was getting somewhat frustrated.

Yvette always has good suggestions, however as I was talking to her and telling her all the things I’ve tried already a light-bulb went on in my head that perhaps my expectations were too high.   Some training just isn’t going to sink in on the first few tries or even the first few weeks.   Dogs can’t always give you instant results.   They might learn to sit or shake a paw quickly but asking them to ignore their prey drive is a tough one.  So, out the door we went and I was determined to have the patience of dog rescuer with 30 pups (any ideas who I’m referring to?).   Every time Abby got ahead of me I stopped.  She would get to the end of the leash and she would take her time looking around ….I’m sure she was thinking how nice it was of me to stop so she could get a good look at everything.  Once she realized I was waiting she would hop back into place alongside me.  I still would not move forward until she was exactly beside me and she looked up to make eye contact.   Only then, did we move forward again.   We did this our whole walk.   She figured it out quickly that we wouldn’t move until she looked at me but I could see her almost resist the urge to look at me too quickly, almost like she didn’t want me to win the battle.   She would look almost everywhere but at me.  I out-waited her and what should have been a 15 minute walk took just over an hour.   Probably very mentally tiring for her.  

So… last night we went for a walk and man was she ever good on the leash.  I also took the clicker and some treats with me and for the first time I had enough of her attention to do clicker training outside on a walk.   So….patience has definitely been the key with this smart dog.