Dog Blog

What is the purpose of a leash?
By Jon Dunkerley

“A chain, rope, or strap attached to the collar or harness of an animal, especially a dog, and used to lead it or hold it in check.” – Webster’s Dictionary

Hmmmm…

- A chain, or rope used to hold an animal in check?

- A chain, or rope used to lead an animal?

First of all, the purpose of a leash is not to hold an animal in check. The purpose of a leash is to connect the dog to the owner. Furthermore, last time I checked horses did not wear leashes, and it is these huge misconceptions of the leash and its proper roll in the lives of the owner/dog team that prompted me to take the time to write this article.

The leash is a great invention due to its simplicity and its purpose. Without its invention, we would not be, along with our faithful four-legged companions able to take advantage of strolls on nice summer days, or brisk morning walks, yet the inability and ignorance of the common dog owner when it comes to using the leash makes me wonder why they do not come with instructions on how to use them.

As I said above, the leash was invented to attach you, the owner to your dog. The purpose of the leash is not for the owner to be the anchor behind the pulling bull, which 9 times out of ten is the actual scenario. Thousands upon thousands of dog owners would enjoy walking their dogs ten fold if they only knew and applied proper leash techniques when doing so.

The purpose of the leash while walking with your dog is to allow you the owner to have constant control over your dog, it is not to sentence your dog to a boring dull walk! Allowing your dog to venture to the boulevard for a sniff, or venturing off course to be lavished with affection by passersby, is simply your dog being a dog
I understand that in most cases it is simply a case of the public just not knowing any better; however, taking the time to find out the correct way to use the most common dog product ever made would help to know end, the relationship, and overall ambiance between dog and master.

Common Mistake

Letting your dog pull you around, is just teaching him/her that having a taught leash is cool and you do not mind being jerked from one place to another. The biggest fault with the taught leash scenario, is that the owner tends to pull back when the dog pulls, thus encouraging the dog to pull thus initiating a tug of war that the dog usually wins.

Solution

The dog must understand that you are in charge of the situation and they are not. Walking with you should be a privilege with acting out of control an undesirable and unacceptable act. By maintaining a slack leash while walking with your dog, you are giving yourself that extra foot of leash, as well as an extra second to react to your dog’s incessant forward lunges.

Technique

Pulling dog

First of all you the owner need to know the correct way to handle your dog’s leash. Always make sure that your leash arm is not straight but bent. By doing this, you are not putting stress on your arm, and you are giving yourself an arm length of leash to use when reacting to unwanted action from your dog:

- When your dog lunges forward from a loose leash to a tight leash, he/she will experience a level of discomfort. This in itself, may be enough to discourage the behavior.
- If your dog continues to pull, this is where the bent arm theory comes in:
By suddenly straightening your arm and backing up, you are delivering a loose leash, to taught correction to your dog’s forward lunging, thus putting a surprising and abrupt halt to your dog’s forward progress.
- The third option is to straighten your arm while turning and walking in the opposite direction. By doing this you are providing a loose leash, to a hard correction, that is ongoing and only ceases when the dog complies with you.

The idea behind this approach is to make an effort to convey to the dog that this type of behavior is unacceptable and you the owner will not tolerate it. You the owner want your dog to make the association between lunging forward, and the resulting discomfort that accompanies that act. If proper leash technique is used correctly and consistently, one can put a stop to incessant pulling of any kind whether it be pulling forward, or pulling sideways. Always make a point to praise and reward the dog upon compliance! By doing this you are only strengthening the dog’s understanding that good behavior leads to good results. By relaying the message to your dog that unwanted activity will lead to discomfort, while compliance will lead to a good outcome, walking your dog will soon become a pleasure not a chore.

www.dogflu.ca/11292005/10/leash_training

By David the Dogman’s

If you plan to travel with your puppy, have rushed, hectic mornings or simply don’t relish standing in the rain while Rover takes his sweet time going potty, you should teach him to Eliminate on Command. Not only will it speed up the process of having him empty out, but it provides you with the convenience of being able to control when and where he will eliminate.

That you can teach your dog to eliminate when and where you tell him might, at first, sound miraculous. But, a command, even one that tells him to do his business, is nothing more than a stimulus to get him to perform a certain behaviour. Although elimination is a natural, biological function, dogs also eliminate to a wide range of visual, auditory and olfactory stimuli. Very young puppies are stimulated to urinate and defecate by their dam licking their ano- genital area. Older puppies respond to both pressure on the bowel or bladder as well as to the sight of their littermates eliminating. Adult dogs use feces and urine to mark territory. It is not at all unusual for resident dogs to mark droppings left by strange dogs that have wandered through their territory. Many dogs, especially males, will mark their territorial boundaries at the sight or sound of a strange dog.

The process of teaching your dog the command to eliminate is straightforward and simple – have him hear the command as he performs the behaviour. Then reward the behaviour. When you determine that he needs to eliminate, take him on his leash to the spot where you want him to use as his toilet area. Command him to go and continue to repeat the command until he does. As soon as he eliminates, praise him profusely and reward him with something that he wants.

Step one. Determine that he needs to go.

Predicting when your dog needs to eliminate is fairly easy. He will need to go shortly after he eats or drinks. The younger he is, the shorter will be the time between ingestion and elimination. He will need to urinate almost immediately after waking from a nap. If crated, he will need to eliminate after any length of time in the crate. In fact, putting your dog in his crate for an hour or so will almost insure that he will eliminate quickly. A play session when Mum, Dad or the kids arrive home is sure to cause him to need to go. And with young puppies, you are safe in considering that he will need to be taken outside about once an hour during the day for each month of his age.

It is imperative that a responsible adult watch the puppy while he is loose in the house. They will each give you a signal that they need to go. This signal will vary from puppy to puppy, but they will, all, if you’ll watch them, tell you of their needs. The signal may be that he starts to sniff the area. Many start turning in a tight circle. It’s a sign that you need to scoop him up and take him outside.

Step Two. Have a designated toilet area.

From a cleanup point of view, it is best to choose one specific area as your puppy’s toilet. Dogs are creatures of habit. If you take him, each time, to the same spot, it will, in a short time become a signal to him that it is potty time. It will also, later, help to prevent him from choosing your steps or patio as his bathroom. This is a good idea from a strictly training point of view as well. The scent left by his previous visits act as a powerful olfactory stimulus. It is necessary to clean up after your puppy’s visit as many dogs refuse to walk in an area fouled by feces. An easy way to do this is to insert your hand into a plastic bag, scoop up the feces, turn the bag inside out and seal it.

Step Three. Keep him in the area.

Most puppies, unless they are restrained, will spend their time outside in play. They will chase butterflies, sniff where the mice have scurried through the grass, anything except doing what you have brought them there to do. When you give up and take them back inside, they will suddenly remember their need. It is advisable to take your puppy out on his leash. Let boredom remind him of why he is there.
Step four. Limit his time.

Allow your puppy not more than five minutes to do his business. The entire point of this training is to teach him to go quickly when you tell him to. Standing around for long periods of time teaches him that you have nothing better to do than wait for him. If, after five minutes, he has not eliminated, simply put him in his crate. Leave him there for fifteen minutes. Then try him again.

Step five. Reward success.

Reward is the key to all successful dog training. When your puppy goes within the allotted five minute time span, immediately praise him. Reward him with something that he wants. This last is the tricky part. The reward must be something that he wants, not just something you think he wants. For many puppies, being taken off the leash is sufficient reward. House dogs, that are inside all day, might consider a long walk adequate reward. For some it might be a tasty food treat. For others,a chance to chase a ball.

The opposite of reward is punishment. Inadvertently punishing your dog after he has eliminated can quickly condition him to hold it as long as possible. Most of us adhere to a tight work and social schedule that sometimes makes an extra fifteen or twenty minutes to spend with our dog hard to come by. If you are going to succeed in teaching your puppy to eliminate on command, you absolutely must make this time available.

When you rush him back inside as soon as he has eliminated, what you are teaching him is that he will get to stay outside longer if he holds it longer. To teach your puppy to eliminate on command you must avoid inadvertent punishment. You can do this by observing a simple rule:

Always give your puppy ten minutes of reward time after he has eliminated.

FROM: David the Dogman’s A-Z Guide to Dogs
ISBN 84-89954-08-09 available from Bookshops

www.canadasguidetodogs.com/training/training10.htm