How I teached my dog to walk in a leach the first day

@Rupertsbooks asked me in this thread: ”https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t55747-introducing-buddha-and-asks-for-some”, how I was able to make my dog walk in a leach in 1 day and the very first day I had him.

The answer is a bit OT in the original thread so I decided to start this one. I thought it may be a good ”first real thread” by my self that others could learn from and maybe exchange thought regarding my methods or lack of method.

A disclaimer, I don't know if all I'm saying here is the best way of doing this, I'm simply saying ”This is how I did it”.

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I started the training at the shelter the same day where it was really hard to lift his focus from all the other dogs and people walking around making different noises. It took about 4-5 hours before I was aloud to take him with me home so we had a lot of time together in this environment.

Buddha is a 2 years old rescue dog. He has obsession and over excitement issues. I decided that a first impression is very important in thees matters and had already made up my mind what sort of impression I wished to show Buddha. I was going to be calm/patient and consistent, express my self as the leader by ordering demands. Buddha was going to follow me, not the other way around.

When I first walked him he didn't listen at all. I took him out of his cage and he immediately started pulling. My direct action to this was to show Buddha that this was not aloud. I did this by simply stopping, told him to sit down and wait by touching his rare. If he didn't listen to this we just waited until he finally decided to sit. Once he set down and was a bit calmer we started walking again. The pulling was there right away some times witch led me into correcting him by ”snapping” the leach, not dragging him, simply telling him that I don't aloud this. When this fails over and over I'm going back to a complete stop where he needs to calm down again. And so it goes on, I noticed it was harder when the personal at the shelter was present. I believe this has to do with a confusion in the dog about who's the leader between us.

After walking around like this for a while I noticed small parts of progress that made me continue. We reached a small dog park where I could let Buddha loose. Buddha recognized the park and immediately started pulling again, more then usual. The last 50m took a very long time where he even started to bark at me when I didn't alow him to go directly there in his own past. Once we reached the park there is a door, as the leader I was not going to let him in first so we started a battle about this right away. As son as I opened the door he wonted to go in, so I closed it again. After a short while when he stooped bumping the door I tried again with the same result leading him to once again closing the door. And so it kept going until he finally understood that he can not pass with out my consent. It took a long time but I had seen this been done before on youtube so I was sure I was doing the right thing.

While in the park I took out some dog candy. Buddha knows no tricks at this moment but I was going to do a basic exercise. I hold the candy in my left hand, had him smell it and then following me around. Each lap gave him a piece of candy. He didn't really like the play and wonted to do something else, so we stooped after just a short while.
Exiting the park in the same way we got there, took even longer now when he has just had been playing around. Patient is very important. I brought music for my self, it helped

After exiting the park we started walking back and forward doing the same exercise as we started out with – corrected him when pulling and stooping when needed. After a while he understood the drill, not perfect but still. I rewarded this with candy from time to time also directing his focus more towards me.

I decided to knock it up a notch and went passed a different rest area for the dogs. By doing this I brought Buddha automatically in an exiting stage that I could confront. After about 10 times walking pass the place I didn't need to correct him anymore. We continued passing the place anyway as a part of our walking path.

This is where our training stooped at the shelter. I signed some papers and Buddha could come with me home. Almost immediately we went out for a walk through the city. The walk consisted of about 6 hours of training him in the same way as stated earlier. When pulling, I correct him. Some times even completely stooped. I helped him come down by doing a white noise ”shyyyyy” and placing my hand on him in a calm way. I try to teach him to be calm by showing him that I'm calm. My mission was not so much teaching him to walk proper in a leach as it was to keep Buddha calm. The reward Buddha got for this was the fact that he got to please me. Never did I play with him or speak to Buddha with an exiting voice or started kissing and hugging him. This would make him happy, but also exited. When rewarding him I just started walking while padding him a bit on the side. You could see he was proud and felt accepted. I would argue that thees two feeling is much more important to inflict your dog with while building a foundation between you and your dog.

The first week I never played with Buddha. I had a lot of rules for him to follow regarding everything. By doing this he quickly understood that I was the leader and that he needed to ask for my approval before doing something. He needed to wait to eat his food until I gave the command. I wasn't aloud in different rooms of the house. He wasn't aloud up in sofa or on the bed. And so on..

Today we have established a closer connection and the above rules is no longer needed. I now allow him in all the places and he follows me everywhere. I state this to make you, who reads this, understand that if it feels harsh to do, be aware that it wont continue forever.
We are still in a training stage and still have a long way to go, the goal is more mutual respect and a partnership where I no longer need the leach at all.

Very similar to how I taught Daisy   

I'm doing that with Debo at the moment, just have to learn how to calm him down, he's a bonker when it's come to meeting people.

jola139 wrote:I'm doing that with Debo at the moment, just have to learn how to calm him down, he's a bonker when it's come to meeting people.

Do you live where there's just very few people in movement at the time?

This is so useful, particularly as it is so detailed.

I find it really helpful. Thank you.