Typist: Bethany
Over many years of dog training, I have learned that the most important things for a dog to know are the most difficult to train. The reason for this is usually that the most important things for dogs to know take massive amounts of patience and consistency to train. The degree of training difficulty for paramount dog behaviors can apply to many, many issues, such as barking, jumping, and recalls, but today I am tackling loose leash walking. I have also learned through trial and error (mostly error) that not only does training polite walking take obsessive consistency and saintly patience, individual dogs learn loose leash walking in their own way. My three very different dogs have each thrived learning loose leash walking with three separate positive reinforcement loose leash walking techniques.

Pause
The "Be A Tree" positive reinforcement loose leash training method is simple, in theory. When the leash is tight, stop walking. When the leash is loose, walk. It sounds so easy but it takes a lot of patience for many weeks of consistent walking and training. Though like all training done positively and well, it works! This was the method I most used in teaching Wilhelm to walk with a loose leash. He is my most consistent loose leash walker but he does have a whining problem when I stop and it isn't about training him. Of course I have conditioned him to believe if he is good we will get going again. This ends up being difficult when we stop to chat with a neighbor or go to an outdoor event that involves just standing there. Wilhelm doesn't like being a tree, he wants to move! I have found that if I do some sort of other tricks with him as soon as we stop for a reason that isn't a tight leash, the dachshund forgets that he was supposed to be rewarded with more walking.

Redirect
Huxley will quickly forget what it is that made him pull on the leash when I turn around. This positive reinforcement loose leash training method is also very simple and requires massive amounts of patience, consistency and a need to never actually get anywhere. This is probably why Huxley still frequently pulls on his leash. But with a 90lb dog at the end of the leash, I have ended up being a fallen tree. And no treat in the world has yet proven more interesting than his need to mark a certain tree. Fortunately, I know that when Huxley starts to drag me, a quick turn around rapidly gets his attention back on how to walk politely... most of the time. I used to click and treat as soon as the leash got loose again and now I expect his attention to come back to me and our walk. As I look back over the years, my collie does redirect quite quickly now and we can even do a relatively fast 360 to continue on our way.

To anyone who knows my dogs, the loose leash walking training techniques that match their personalities make perfect sense. While I am proud that my dogs are unique individuals, it does make training even more difficult. Loose leashes, the most important thing for my active, traveling dogs to know, continues to be a patience and consistency test for this trainer. However, I love learning as much as my dogs do, so we're in it together. It's a good thing we love our daily dog walks!

How does your dog do at loose leash walking?
What positive reinforcement training technique works best for helping your dog walk politely on a leash?

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Typist: Bethany
When I want to teach something new to the dogs or I am stuck in understanding how to train a behavior, the first thing I do is search for a positive reinforcement training class or workshop to attend. I know there are tons of resources online but I always prefer the hands on, community and personal adjustments available with a qualified positive reinforcement instructor at a dog training school. It has, however, been a long time since the dogs and I have gone back to school. When out on a walk earlier this week, we ran into two classmates from several classes and workshops I once attended and I realized that I missed them, their dogs and the dog training class environment. So although I have a long list of behaviors to work on, and I don't currently feel like I need a lot of assistance in training, the dogs and I are missing something. That something is a class. Even though I live in a big city, it isn't easy to find positive reinforcement training classes with instructors I like. Obviously. travel is far from something I am opposed to so I think it is time I work a little harder at finding enrichment classes and workshops for the dogs and I. After all, there are so many awesome reasons to attend positive reinforcement training class with a dog:

Bonding: With multiple dogs, class time is perfect one-on-one bonding time. But even with an only dog, training classes reinforce bonds already forged in training. Positive reinforcement training classes remind the human and the dog about the focus on each other, respect for each other and heart-to-heart teamwork learning together creates.
Community: As a trainer, it is always very reassuring to know that I am not alone. There is nothing quite as empowering as sitting with a group of other positive reinforcement training enthusiasts, lamenting difficulties and cheering triumphs. Plus, I have never taken a class in which everything I learned was from the teacher. I have always learned from other students as well.
Accountability: Wilhelm, Brychwyn and Huxley work on manners and social cues every day. But we don't do formal training sessions as often as I would like. Attending a class or a workshop means I have to make time to practice. I want to get my time and money's worth out of the class and I want the dogs lives to be enriched as well.
Personalization: A few of the times I have most respected my dogs intelligence and work ethic is when I have seen them work with the teacher of a positive reinforcement training class or workshop. They have often worked better with strangers than with me! The best part of a taking a class or workshop is being able to ask question specific to my training needs. Classes may be more expensive than a book and less convenient than a YouTube video, but personal professional advice is often priceless.
Socialization: Training classes are not the same kind of fun as a trip to the dog park but any and all new experiences are excellent socialization for dogs. Dogs of any age benefit from new smells, new noises, new surfaces, new people, etc. and the added benefit of learning something makes a positive reinforcement training class the perfect socialization opportunity.
Accomplishment: Not all dogs and humans are interested in winning ribbons and earning titles. Completing six weeks of a class or a weekend long workshop is an amazing accomplishment. Best of all, there's the effort made together, human and dog, to learn something new.

I would hope the above list is helpful to anyone mulling over the pros and cons of attending positive reinforcement training class. But mostly I compiled these reasons for attending dog training classes to inspire myself. It wasn't just me who was excited to see our former classmates during our walk. The dogs were too. I got the feeling that they also miss their human and canine classmates. So back to school we go! If the dogs and I can't get into any new classes or a workshop together this fall or winter, I will at the very least sign us up for some upcoming workshops. There are a few out of town workshops I'd like to check out. Any excuse for a road trip... maybe this list should be seven reasons? I could combine the bonding of pet friendly travel and positive reinforcement learning! Nothing could be more awesome than that.

Sorry we are so late to join in the Positive Reinforcement Pet Training week fun this month. Don't worry! All is well here in Cascadia and the dogs did in fact get to eat some of the apple used in these photos. Not the pear though. Yet...

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Typist: Bethany
In every dog training class or workshop I have been in, at some point all of the participants end up in a conversation about the ways we wish to be be better as trainers. Since we are all in the workshop or class to improve our positive reinforcement training skills, it makes sense to chat about working towards being better trainers but many of these discussions turn into complaining. One person will share how a certain lack of knowledge ruined a certain cue in a dog and state that for the next dog it will be different. Another person will tell a story about how a training mistake embarrassed them in competition. Eventually, everyone within ears reach is beating themselves up about their total and complete lack of training skills and knowledge. I have done it. I still do. And I don't need a crowd of other trainers to get started on the massive list of ways I can improve my positive reinforcement pet training skills. Yet when I was recently lamenting the bettering myself as a trainer list, Leo stated from his near-by play tree "I love you." Genius! How can I best improve as a trainer? By loving what a great trainer I already am. 

Happiness
Everywhere we go, I am barraged by compliments about my well cared for, well trained and happy pets. So even though I am not the best trainer that I think I can be, others notice and comment on what they see as my successes. I think I need to more often take some time to do the same, learning from the good example of my happy and content pets.

I am certainly not saying I don't want to improve as a trainer. I devour books and articles, sign up for every workshop and class I can, and I never plan to stop learning about positive reinforcement training.  I think part of being a positive reinforcement trainer is the desire to be a better trainer and to do better for our pets. What I have discovered, though, is that while I want to be a better trainer, I don't need to be a better trainer. I am perfect just the way I am.

How are you a better trainer?

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Please don't misunderstand this confession of my faults as a trainer and visualize me beating my pets for disobeying. I am simply admitting that I am not a perfect trainer. Pet training is forever a learning process and one of the places I am at in this process is losing some bad habits I picked up along the way. In an effort to keep this positive reinforcement training post positive I will first proudly share that one of the most difficult aversive training habits I desperately needed to rid myself of is long gone; the leash pop. Anyone who has been training a long time might remember the leash pop, a negative training technique of a quick pop on the leash when a dog pulls while walking or to correct a broken sit. Unfortunately, this pop had become a habit for me that I literally didn't even know I was doing. Once I became aware of how I was unconsciously leash popping, I spent countless walks undoing my own bad habit with the clicker. When the leash was taut and my instinct was to pop, I stopped, waited for a loose leash and clicked. Indeed, I clicker trained myself at the same time as the dogs! Not only is this method of teaching a loose leash walk massively more effective than the pop, it was another step on my journey to be a better trainer. A 100% positive trainer.

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