Luna Bear

Loose lead walking

As many of you will know Luna Bear is in kennels. She is only 1 year old and thinks the world is an incredibly exciting and sometimes worrying place. When we first started going out for walks we concentrated on getting her comfortable around passing cars.

Then we began going to quiet places like car parks and eventually to the park to practice a few skills. She has picked up the training so quickly and is a delight to go out with. Of course, she does pull a little on lead and gets quite excited and bouncy but she is now very connected with me and quite easy to manage. She will still pull quite hard to get to a smell!

If she was in a home we would start the loose lead training in the garden but she is in kennels and the walks are a real highlight for her so we need to find somewhere quiet to do short training sessions.

She loves getting out for walks and learning about the world but trying to get her to walk on a loose lead for these walks would end up being quite frustrating for her so we wait till we finish the walk and do a few minutes training in the car park area before she goes back to the kennels. Here is a little clip of what we have been up to.

As she comes alongside me and the lead is loose, I quietly say Good and place down a small treat and keep walking. This means she will come alongside me again, providing an opportunity to mark and reward again. I don't call her or try to get her to look towards me - I just wait quietly until she comes back to me and then mark and reward.  She is really starting to get the hang of it.

We do need to be really careful about holding treats in the hand - you can see what happens when she thinks I have a treat for her! Also, we place the treat on the ground rather than delivering to her mouth, simply because she would likely do a snatch and run! At this point I am not worried where she is as long as the lead is loose - after all, it is her walk, not mine and she needs to be able to be curious :)