Dog Owner Question: How to train a loose leash walk?

Boone, a client's dog, walking through York's Marketfest
with me.

I am sorry to inform you, I can't even summarize this in a short article with a quick tip.   That being said, if you are willing to do the work and practice it is not hard.  Loose leash walking is one of the most common things asked for by dog owners.   This is one of the fastest and easiest things to start in dog training, but you do actually have to train and teach your dog how to do it.   It is not going to get better if you try and wait it out (or you will only get there when your dog becomes geriatric).   When first training basic obedience, this is usually one of the first things we work on from day one.   Then it is practiced and maintained going forward as the rest of obedience is built upon loose leash walking.

What exactly is loose leash walking?   When people talk about this, they are not usually talking about the more formal command "heel".   However, it means that the dog can walk on the leash without going to the end of it and pulling or putting pressure on the leash.  The dog has learned and knows how to walk on a leash in partnership with their owner.

Good boy Boone enjoying Marketfest with me.

Loose leash walking is a very important skill for a dog to have.   It allows the dog to go to more places outside of the home, and makes the walks enjoyable to BOTH the owner and the dog.  It builds confidence and impulse control, which you will appreciate even more so if you have a reactive dog.

Trust me, the dog is not comfortable pulling or lunging against their collar.    Dogs in general are much happier when the owner is not frustrated with them as well.   By teaching this to your dog, you are only going to improve their life as well as your enjoyment of bringing them out with you.

As for methods (or parts of methods, as a method is the whole process of teaching obedience via a plan) there are many:

1. There is the old stand like a tree when your dog hits the end of the leash.   Most dogs need a little more than this when they get older.   I find it useful for very young puppies to get started on this (among other ways).
2. There is the Mike Ellis type method for which will rely on your building a relationship based on engagement for you and your dog.   I have used this with my dogs, but not as the only method yet.
3. There is the long line method that I use for dogs six months and older that is based off the beginning of the Koehler method.    Of course the use for this is to build whole obedience skills with this as simply the start.  Generally, I find this a great way of laying a foundation not only for obedience but impulse control as well.
4. Personally, I like to train a formal heel and then loosen that up at a later date.  I find (for me) that makes the process a lot less frustrating and ultimately faster.  Plus, I use heel quite a bit anyway.  I do start heel with the long line above.

The things to think about when choosing a method are the following:

1. What are your specific goals?  Different owners have different goals that could effect the method of training preferred (for example they may later want to work in agility, free style dancing, or maybe they just want a nice family pet).
2. What is the temperament of your dog and are you having any other problems that you need to address?   Sometimes you can take your time training your dog, and other times other factors may make training an immediate safety need.  You also may need to take current behavioral problems into consideration.
3. How old is your dog or puppy?   Adult dogs and puppies younger than six months old are generally trained in a different way with different expectations.  Young puppies are not mature enough yet to give the same performance or perform to expectations of a mature older adult.
4. What is your dog mellow, hyper, or fearful?   This may also effect the method you wish to adopt going forward.   
5. Who else regularly interacts with your dogs and do they have any special needs?
6. What is the dog owner's health and activity level like?  There are some training methods that require more physically of the dog owner than others, especially in the first few weeks or months.

My newest dog, Shana, has been brought up on two methods or two modified parts of two tweaked methods.   Here she is doing the more formal, fuss or focused heel.   This really helps with the more informal loose leash walking.  The video below is more the Mike Ellis type of engagement training.

There is a lot to think about when choosing the method for your dog.   It is best to have a professional dog trainer walk you through it, if you are not already familiar with some of these methods and concepts.

In the video link above, Boy was taught to do a loose leash walk in about 7 to 8 days.   Then his performance continued to improve as his training was continued and maintained.   Boy had some serious behavioral problems and fear in general.  So if a dog like Boy (who was fearful and moderately aggressive) can be taught and learn, then it is super easy to teach this to a dog without behavior problems.

The final outcome of loose leash walking should look something like this:)

Contrast, Engagement, Release Period, and Capping

What do these four words have in common?  These are all areas that my training with Shana have been focusing on in some new ways for me.  

So Shana is a bossy, highly driven dog from nice working lines.   She is the first for me as having been picked out for health, longevity, smarts, and the ability to perform athletic tasks repeatedly.   The high drive area has caused me to make some mistakes along the way, and therefore cause some challenges to our training in the past.   Getting back on track has taken some thought and focus on my part for the training plan that will bring us out and forward onto our training goals.  The parts of my training plan that I have been focusing on (besides the foundation that is always in my thoughts in a training plan), can be summed up by the words contrast, engagement, release period, and capping.

So what do the words in my title mean for dog training and my training plan for Shana?

1. Contrast-  Usually this is reward vs correction.   Of course both those terms in dog training are really pretty general.  A reward is anything that motivates or pleases the dog enough to want to repeat a behavior again to get it.  This can be anything from a dog treat to adventures outside of some sort.   So this can be instantaneous gratification or something they know will come or continue.   A correction is simply a means of correcting either non performance of a command or correcting the performance of a command to be more specific or on target.   A correction can be guiding, molding (although this can also be demonstration), body bumping, collar correction, or a marker like "no".   So in terms of working with Shana contrast to me has been more "I am so pleased with your performance" (shown many ways and ultimately the reward because that motivates her) or "Nope not what I am looking for at all." (a correction of sorts which could just be not handing off the reward or even put in a command for not behaving appropriately).  Shana is getting the contrast, and moving at all times towards earning the "I am so pleased with your performance" side of things.  Actually a recent online seminar that I took given by Tony Ancheta, made me think a lot about contrast in regards to Shana.   
2. Engagement-  This is a term that I first heard when starting to follow Mike Ellis.   This is about having interactions with the owner/handler/trainer become the motivating factor.   It is much more than giving a dog a toy or food for proper performance.   It is being that interaction becoming pleasing because it involves the owner/handler/trainer.  Engagement (done correctly because I made some errors here in the beginning) also allow things that were stressful to begin to become insignificant to the dog.
3. Release Period or Release Valve-  So when I first started training, I learned to do this in blocks of an hour or more.   These were very focused training sessions that involved repetition.   As I have been evolving as a trainer, I have been finding shorter sessions more useful especially as the dog gains more skill and more complex behaviors.   Not to say that every now and again, we might work for an hour, we do.   When I was at Tyler Muto's seminar earlier this year, one thing he talked about was after doing something difficult or stressful with a dog to let their be a short period of release, which can actually be within the training session.  I think this also goes along with methods of gaining engagement for your dog as well.  The example that I saw in the seminar was a dog learning the send to place.   If they then clearly wanted to stay on the place or hang out after released, they were allowed that space and time to take some breathes before starting up again.  This made me think about Shana, because often when she gets anxious she loads up, and through training her now I have found a period of release allows her to internally calm back down.  Also being around dogs that are here rarely or are entirely new, is stressful to Shana.   So with this in mind, I have been mindful of making sure that her time in that environment is limited.   
4. Capping-  The first time I heard this was again when I first started to follow Mike Ellis and his methods.   This concept has been the newer concept to me, because working a dog in drive in the first place is also a new concept to me.  This is something I have been experimenting with since 2011 with drive in mind.   This concept is basically about teaching a dog to control their behavior when in drive.   Shana definitely needs this, because when she tends to load up in drive she has a hard time not using her teeth to communicate that (redirecting her excitement to my leg or butt for instance).

Based on the changes in Shana's understanding of what to not do and what to do these last months, this effort on my part in really dissecting what we are doing is paying off:)   That is really exciting and very enjoyable for the both of us.  Obviously, it has also made public walks a lot less drama filled and stressful for the both of us.  

There is a lot more to the training plan and story.   These were easy to sum up though as areas of concentration for Shana.  I will be posting more on this in the future.

Shana Summer 2016 Update

Shana and her little "brother", Ziggy

I last blogged about my own personal dog, Shana, this April 2016.   We have been doing a ton of work since then, and it is paying off in spades.  Shana is becoming more confident and happy around strange dogs, her training is going great (when I work with her of course), and hence bringing Shana out in public is becoming a lot less stressful for me.   Not to mention, being on the right track training wise with Shana's training plan, which I measure through her progress and behavior, has me a lot less stressed.   I am much happier because I see that Shana is becoming much happier with her confidence and becoming less stressed.

As a dog trainer, it is a hard thing to realize you probably made this problem for your dog, and you need to figure out how to fix it.   It's taken a lot of trial and error in the previous two years to figure out the right training plan for her to fix this (I go over those highlights in my April 2016 blog).

Here are some brief video highlights of successful training moments:

1)  Finding a strange dog or a dog she hasn't seen for a year in the dog room used to mean a melt down no matter what.  Now we were able to walk into the room without any drama, bullying, or protest.



2)  I have just started to be able to use Shana s the "non reactive" dog in the room while walking clients through their dog's similar issues.  A small dog barking at her, is not something Shana would have tolerated calmly in the past.  Not at all.



3)  Walking on the beach  leashed or loose dogs at a much farther distance used to be very stressful.   Now we can get much closer, but I didn't want to intrude too much upon the family enjoying their leashed puppies the other day:)  It was a good enough practice for Shana, who was (though not showing it on tape) not totally unconcerned.



Plus many other good things have been going on as a result of our training plan.   These by far are making our life much easier and more fun.

Shana has a lot of will and energy, and refocusing it in a way that is mutually beneficial has been an education to say the least LOL.  

My Dog, Shana

Shana was purchased about six months after my dog, Leon, died in 2012.   Shana was born on 4/8/2013 which is the day after my husband's birthday:)   We got her roughly eight weeks plus later.

In planning to find a dog, my very first priority was health and longevity.   Our previous foster dog Stormy (who died at just shy of 11) came from Swift Run, as did Shana's mother, Cinders.   Shana, however, has come from Masaya Dobermans, who had purchased Cinders from Swift Run..  

Originally we were looking for a girl, but Brandi (Shana's breeder) would be selecting for us.   I do trust breeder's to select as they know way more about the puppies and the parents than I do.  I asked for the naughtiest, smartest one, that I planned for not only being our pet, our business partner, and my obedience trial competitor.   We had Jackie CD before who died at 6, and not only was I heartbroken but my plans to be able to compete with Jackie to the farthest of our abilities also were unable to be realized.   Jackie and Leon's deaths made me a little extra vigilant to be as sure as possible (you can only stack your odds there is never a guarantee) to have a dog that could live out at least the average number of years expected (given nothing happens in the way of a natural unexpected disaster et).

So at first we were going to receive a boy from this litter.   Robert was leaning more towards boy, but I had never had a girl to raise from a puppy.   My girls who were old with me, Jazz and Stormy, had both received previous training prior to coming to live with us.   They were bossy but fair girls.   I definitely always imagined as a puppy they gave their owners a run for their money (hence how they came to live with me after most of the hard work had been done).  Jazz was mine from age three, and when I became a trainer actually helped quite a bit in the pack dynamics and managing until she died at 16.   Younger though, she could be very hard on new strange dogs and people, but quickly matured and mellowed out at about after four years old.  Stormy was just a love when she came here at 10, feisty, and bossy.   Stormy was a constant loyal companion for my dogs, myself, and my client's dogs until she died a year later.   At this old age riddled with cancer that had gone untreated (who knew how long she could have lived if this was treated early on), she was still the first one to be exercised in the morning due to her wanting to be busy at all times  LOL.  I wanted this in my next dog.

As it turns out, someone thought the boy I was going to get would be better for Schutzhund than Shana was going to be.   So Brandi called up and asked if I would be okay with a girl.   Definitely I would be okay with a girl, plus I had been watching Shana on the tapes.   Shana was the first or second one to climb out of her pen.   Shana also was shown bossing her siblings from the tug LOL.   This was my girl!

She came, and everything went as expected.   She came smart, loving, sociable (if a bit bossy LOL), and very very strong for a puppy her age.  

She also came a bit different from other Dobermans that I have trained.  Shana was surprisingly strong even at a very early age.   I have worked large breed dogs green and untrained before, and some amazing strong labs.   Shana was the first puppy to try to use all her strength against me.  Also Shana was my first puppy who was not going to follow me everywhere and anywhere due to any insecurities she may have.   Shana is a very independent dog.  Shana is also the first one of my dogs to learn how to open every door in the place, except the round knob doors (and she has been working on that).  Shana also absolutely adores her family, is loyal, and a cuddle bug unless there is something more interesting for her to do.   She loves to be busy and work.

So let's go into the things I did wrong before we present Shana's behaviors:

• At this time, I was very interested in Mike Ellis's work (I still am interested and working with this, but Shana is older now and I understand it a bit better).   However, until this point, my dogs have mostly been brought up differently.   I was looking forward to more freedom and play using Mike Ellis's work.   Course, it was a very new method to me, and so ripe for mistakes to be made.  At the time though, it did not occur to me that ball play, tug, and treats might need a bit more finessing on my part and to be careful to understand it better.   Also Shana was probably not the best puppy for me to try this on green myself.
• I let myself get distracted a couple of times, and was not prepared for the strength Shana could put into a run towards the end of the line.   I also had not been concentrating (as I used to with other dogs) on eliminating that for our purposes and goals.
• I was too eager not to put some boundaries on Shana in the idea of just letting her be a puppy.
• Through my fault, a client's dog bit her in the face entirely too young (not that you ever want your dog bitten, but it becomes more of a problem the younger they are).
• Right after we purchased Shana land developers, Porter Holdings Inc and their various LCCs, moved next store and tried to close our business down (with the eventual cooperation of the Town of York).   Some important work was missed with Shana during this time, as we were stressed and saving our business.   Took more than a year to get this under control, and then after that time we were still experiencing the stress from this.  Had I known this was going to happen, I would have never gotten a puppy.   They can so sense what is happening and suffer due to lack of attention.  That went on from 2013 to 2015.  We were not emotionally in a good way, and had to concentrate on making money more than the well being of our family (human and canine) to get through it financially.

Other things that happened:

• Just as a viable training plan went under way, Shana got lyme disease.   That was horrible and put her out of commission for at least a month.
• Before that, a yellow lab attacked her on the beach.  Did not do harm to her (I put myself in between them), but it was just enough to freak her out and set us backwards on our training plan.
• This last winter my husband badly damaged his back.   He needed to go into surgery, and then got a septic infection that was not discovered until a month after the surgery.   This required him to go back into the hospital, and I had to cancel all my clients during that period of time just to travel back and forth and meet the needs of my dogs and husband.   The basic needs only, unfortunately.

Additionally, I should mention:

• While living the life of a dog with a trainer is filled with activity, it can be a challenge to even the most bomb proof temperament of dog.  Imagine strangers and unwanted family coming in and out of your house, and you are obliged to be around them and pleasant almost every day!  That is what it is like for the dogs that live here, and I do try to take them out of the fray as needed so they can decompress.
• When one of our dogs go out, strange dogs are not the novelty they are to other dogs who don't get to see them pretty much 24/7.   That is just naturally going to be so.

So the result of all this for my dog, Shana?   She has become very reactive to strange dogs, and she is also very slow to warm up to dogs that come here.   When she panics, she lacks bite control and impulse control.   Actually now, we have a pretty good handle on it, but it has been very challenging at points and hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.   I see that light now, but it's been a whole lot of hard work for the both of us.

So what did that plan start to consist of:

• First, in April of last year, I went back to my KMODT routed knowledge began training Shana in that way.   I am familiar with this method, but have only been to a seminar with one trainer, Margot Woods, that actually trained with the founder of this method.   This time I took an online course with Tony Ancheta, and learned a lot more about training under this method.  He also studied with the founder of this method.   This helped us to get the to the base needed to have us working together as a team.  Also being familiar with it, I was able to get us back to a place that I felt more comfortable working with her.
• Additionally, we implemented Margot Wood's sit on the dog exercise.   However, I have found that also working Shana on distance long down stays helps specifically with her attitude on this exercise (or it has seemed to).  Shana especially gets reactive when their is any leash pressure or she is close to me when a dog approaches.   So I am sure to cycle the sit on the dog (Shana close to me leash pressure) with Shana at a distance down stay (strange dogs close to me as she needs to exercise impulse control).
• We added back in the fun and games of tug, treats, and balls.   Specifically to get her more relaxed around strange dogs and doing something enjoyable when they are around, and therefore marrying that feeling as a reward to exercising a form of control around them.
• In order to prepare her for fully (no micro managing) off leash training, I cycle her in between training with metal training collar and electronic training collar.   This is to do a couple of things 1) know what her true state of mind is when not on electronic collar and how much that resembles her state of mind when she is not on it and 2) to have some control to work as close as possible to dogs to teach her how to be calm and to feel safe.  Also, very important in the beginning of the back tie training for sit stay, the electronic collar to stop her (not a problem anymore) from hitting the end of the line and potentially breaking her neck.   She used to break so hard and fast, it was a real problem and concern.
• If the electronic collar is on, I try not to use it unless it is for a calming or control reason.   This is to get her to feel comfortable as possible as close as possible to no equipment being on.
• Many more relaxed times for Shana where she is not required to be in or part of daycare or training.   Definitely some time off for her where she can just cuddle with Robert, laze with Boris, or play with Ziggy.
• Also a real attempt at Shana and I having some alone relaxed time as well as fun time.
• One thing that has really helped is not interfering with Shana when she wants to get away.  Sometimes she is making excellent decisions to avoid conflict, and there I am calling her back to spend time with me.  I am conscious of that and have noticed a big difference when she knows she can escape something stressful and I am not going to absently minded call her back into the fray.  
• Dog games with everyone Shana has a positive relationship with in the house and outside.   Hiding something or someone is a big favorite.
• Keeping a log of reactiveness or non reactiveness to follow what seems to be working, what seems not to be working, or what I have stopped doing (this is a complicated plan and sometimes hard to remember everything).
• Tricks have been used to get Shana comfortable performing around other dogs in close proximity.
• Freestyle dance uses these tricks for Shana plus our relationship to get her comfortable around other dogs in close proximity.   Plus I can really read how comfortable she is but how readily she is performing and having fun.  Shana loves doing this:)
• When snarking or bossing a dog is inappropriate, these are times that Shana will be practicing a 10 minute down stay.   This has been helping a lot in the reactiveness issues at the house.   Last thing Shana wants is to need to be still for any period of time LOL.   
• Being sure to get Shana out and about in public, particularly paying attention to crowds she can handle easily vs overwhelming her.   Although overwhelming her (ie Tyler's Seminar and road trip) also has it's advantages.   Without having carefully picked our destinations and distance from distractions though, I am not sure Shana would have worked as well at Tyler's seminar.
• Managing the dogs that come here, and do not respect or pay attention to Shana's signals.  In that, I will be sure to show them to keep away rather than automatically go to correct Shana's communication that she is uncomfortable.
• Using the muzzle so I can get close in without worrying about "speedy's" impulse control.   This way I can fully focus on what I am doing rather than worry about what Shana may do, because we are all safe.  Looking forward to not relying on it, but I am waiting for the loose look of Shana to appear feeling comfortable before attempting that in close proximity to a strange dog.  Also allows me to have her with daycare and strange dogs at home, yet keep everyone safe.  This helps Shana learn by being in a certain state of freedom to manage her reactiveness.
• We have some great advanced commands under our belt that allow me to instruct Shana where to go in stressful situations.
• I do not tend to obsess over canine body language all that much.  With Shana, it's more important because she can be less obvious about her state than most (right up until she reacts with gusto).
• Teaching Shana to walk away instead of react.   That has been ongoing and part of the advanced commands (send away for fetch) for instance that have been part of her training.

I am sure I have forgotten some of what we are doing with Shana.  I may update this article to go over anything I missed.   Here is the progress that we have enjoyed to date:

• So much more relaxed on our beach walks.  She only starts to get concerned now if a dog starts booking towards us.  This is much more relaxing for both of us, and now we can both enjoy much if not all of a public walk.
• She will now sit when asked if a dog starts charging towards us, and let me turn to confront it for us.   Not that she won't react if the dog manages to get to us...but she no longer tries to lunge instead of go into command and let me deal with it.
• At home, she does not bolt across the room to try and correct a dog for simply coming up the stairs.
• She has become kinder and less bossy to her daycare friends.   If Shana is stressed, she tends to take it out on her canine friends or a human stranger, if she can not get to her target.   I have taken this to mean she is getting more comfortable and thus has more control over her reactions.
• She has started to become somewhat interested in strange dogs.
• Other dogs are finding her more approachable.
• Her obedience around things she finds stressful is coming along so nicely.
• She listens more often to my husband:)

So now let's talk a bit about Shana's specific behaviors.   At first, their was nothing really concerning other than her strength which blew me away.  She was able to go to dog events and everything without being at all concerned.

Boris, Shana and I at the beach, no
]one is concerned.

 

Shana, Clooney and Dudley having a great old time.

Shana is not in this picture, but she is with me taking
the picture and is unconcerned.

Shana and I at a Kennebunk park, having passed dogs
all afternoon.

Again at the beach with an unconcerned
Shana and her brother Boris.

Somewhere, we also have a photo of Shana walking with us in a Pet Expo in town.  At one point, we were at a dog demonstration in town, and again Shana had absolutely no concerns.   

This is Shana today after much work with me, and at a recent seminar to practice some new ideas.  As you watch me, there are differences in how I would usually handle Shana in this same scenario.   I would tend to have Shana in a command going forward for one.  So this is very loose leash walking towards a strange dog she has never seen before.   This does make sense to me in this training scenario as there is a time that you need to make space for "the mistake" or "good decision" to occur.

Here are some videos of her during Tyler Muto's problem solving seminar (and I will most likely write a blog on the ideas being worked on here):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9PzFQIxj98

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj0Bj3bx_mk

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTTAiehvRLI

The above are long videos that I have not chopped up yet.   A good study in canine body language of a Shana Doberman though!   Things you can see in those videos:

• When she starts focusing in on a dog (front view in those videos).
• Tucked tail and sloped back when she feels very uncomfortable.
• Head position I was looking at from the back of her.
• Later you can see her looser more swingy walk as she feels more comfortable (I love when she does this, she is adorable).

On 7/20/2013 was when the dog bite to Shana's face occurred.   There was no immediate fallout, and in fact she is great friends with the dog that bit her.   However, it is after that where things began to change, and I was slow on the heads up.  When she started to get snarky, I thought it was just a growing phase of being a bossy girl.   Slowly it began getting worse though, until finally I realized we had a problem.

So the behaviors of concern have been:

• Very nervous and fearful around dogs even if they were from a great distance.   This has vastly improved between mid last year and now.
• Very concerned about new dogs that come here, or dogs she has not seen for awhile.
• She would (given the opportunity) deflect on a canine friend or human stranger when she is in this stress state.
• She used to try and go out of her way to boss me when stressed.   This consisted of barking, body slamming me, and nipping hard.   That is all pretty much extinct.  She trusts me more and will follow my lead knowing that I am going to make sure everything is all right, and that she has a job to do while I am doing that.  I pretty much ignored all that bossing by just following my protocol and training, hence she stopped doing it.   Also praising her for making the right choices when she would normally default to bossy.
• I could not even easily get down a street at one point, if Shana saw a dog come out of a house that was not doing anything.   That is no longer a problem either with me anyway.  I have not had my husband try walking her in public yet, and he is certainly more of a push over than I am.
• The automatic impulse to lunge in a manner that was not controlled and felt like she was using every single bit of her power.   Also not a problem any more, but certainly was at the time.

I felt extremely bad about these behaviors as they were interfering with Shana's ability to enjoy a good walk and an adventure.   Something I love to do with my dogs.  Something my dogs love to do, especially when they are not stressing over who/what they may see.

As a trainer and dog owner, you feel like kind of a loser when you have caused behavioral problems to come about.   I have raised two puppies (Leon and Boris) before, and had/have seven adult dogs  (Jazz, Neptune, Jackie, Stormy, Harley, Tommy, Ziggy) come to live with me with no fall out before.  Any issues they had came with them, and were made better.   The puppies of course began issueless and remained that way LOL.   So to feel like I have so failed Shana in the beginning, that is a hard guilt to get over and deal with.

Shana is the best BTW!  Loving, loyal, fun, athletic, and she will leave this period of her life behind so we can have even more fun and adventure.   In the future, I believe I am more prepared to take on a healthy and athletic puppy and not F up!   It's nice to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and remember in the future no matter how indestructible your puppy may seem....they need to be handled and cared for carefully.  Or one of you is going to pay the price in the future.   At this point, I was happy to take that load and do my work in training consistently and diligently to have a dog less concerned about the environment.

For instance, I am very doubtful that outside my own dogs and puppies their own age, my new puppy will be exposed to the adult dogs who come here for play.   Two, no matter what happens, I will do my utter best to be sure that I take care of my mental state to best take care of my puppy.   Hopefully that was just a fluke and will never happen again.   Three, don't coddle your dog but always be sure you are advocating for them to the best of your ability.

Review of Tyler Muto Problem Solving Seminar and Adventures with Shana

Recently my dog, Shana, and I took a road trip to Kingston Mass. Tyler Muto was putting on a problem solving seminar and has been a  trainer  I was curious about. Tyler was going to be in an area that is fairly close to me on a month that it was easy for me to attend.  That almost never happens, and so I made sure to clear my schedule for that weekend. 

 I will go into Shana's history in another post. Suffice it to say she is a well bred Doberman with impressive working lines in her history. Some early experiences made her extra leary and reactive around dogs. She is getting better with a training routine that I have figured out for her. Having new tools in the form of ideas is never a bad thing, and can easily be put into her mix. I hoped to get some of these for Shana, and also for other client dogs who come here. We arrived the night before at an airbnb.com I had found that was priced well for the weekend (and right across from the ocean).

This was in Plymouth Mass near a beautiful beach (see pics to the left).   Shana had been away with me once before, but her other canine and human family were in attendance.   She was very nervous, but the beach and the ability to have a yard outdoors helped out a lot.  It was a great experience to be with her over the weekend in comfortable digs.

The seminar was two days long from 9am-5pm each day.   It was seminar that you can bring a dog to work with.   I always prefer training seminars where you can do this.   There were about 10-11 working slots at the seminar, and about 37-39 people who interact with dogs in various ways (trainers, fosters, dog owners, rescue volunteers, and so forth).

In the facility, there was a large area where you could crate your dog until it was break time or your turn.   Shana was in there with other dogs.   No doubt this helped her be a bit more mellow when it was our turn, plus I am sure she was a bit shell shocked to be up in front of an audience working around strange dogs.

The beginning of the lecture period went over all the basic (to most experienced dog trainers) points on operant vs classical conditioning and other points that provide the base of dog training and behavioral ideas.  So the first half of the day was lecture, then break, and then onto the working slots.

Every good trainer is going to be both knowledgeable in dog training and behavior modification.  In my view (these are my words) you aren't a good dog trainer if you can't modify behavior, and you aren't a good behavior modificator (we don't call it that, just can't think of the right phrase LOL) if you don't understand where dog training can and does fit in.  Tyler is very interested in behavior and science, and I lean more towards the training side of things.   So I always love to hear from someone with a slightly different slant and interest than I may have.   As a dog professional, it more fully rounds you out to see and understand from different angles of a problem.

I did get a lot of new and fresh ideas (to me) from the working slots outside of my own:

• Tyler uses a different type of electronic collar conditioning (possibly entirely different) training than I had learned.  Really very interesting, I wasn't expecting that.   I would love to learn more about that, and whether it is a good fit for our programs.   My system is focused more on using the nick button after the command has been taught and proofed.   Tyler's focuses on the use of the continuous very low as a means to start the collar conditioning in a very different way.
• The idea of correcting the friendly dog who does not step back at prompting (by another dog's signals), rather than correcting your dog for reacting at pushy behavior.  Not saying that your dog wouldn't ever be corrected, just a different idea as to the focus of the effort.   This is an idea that I don't think I have gone forward enough with on Shana, although I do advocate for her.   Possibly I have not done this enough to make her entirely comfortable, and have not been listening to what she is telling me enough (and the specifics of this dynamic will be posted at a later date on Shana's history and training).
• The proper use of a pet convincer.   Still not totally convinced that this will be a tool in my tool box, but experimenting with it now to see if it makes sense in some cases (possibly Shana's).
• Watching how the restrained recall is used for training.   This is something I have not experimented with at all.
• Teaching a dog to sniff the ground as an indicator of discomfort by the way Tyler began a heel demonstration with some dogs.   The dropping the treat by your heel was interesting.   Since it involves lunging, not sure that is what I will be using nor showing to my older clients LOL, but very interesting nonetheless.  Food for thought later down the road.

Those were the five main ideas that were new and fresh to me.   It is hard to find new and fresh ideas out there sometimes.   Sometimes you are looking for information on the old ideas that you have been studying for years and still learning about, and sometimes something new and fresh to check out is just as stimulating.  I was expecting something new, but the above was actually not what I envisioned learning about.   So it was a great surprise, and I was not disappointed with the content that came forth.  I did not expect to be either, as I had watched many of Tyler's videos.

Videos and writings can only go so far of course.  I can't emphasize enough how much more you get out of learning when you can also go to a live seminar (and in this case with a dog to work, and dogs to watch work with their owners).   You can only put so much on tape, writings, and even seminars.   The next level of course would be the ability to be able to train with that person.

Finally, the attendees made the seminar enjoyable as well.   So many times you go to a seminar and a faction or group are there that make it very uncomfortable.  Those individuals will sometimes corner you at a seminar and have all sorts of advice on the equipment or rewards you are using without knowing you or your dog at all.   They are more about their beliefs being supported rather than actually learning at a seminar.  At this seminar, there was a very open minded and accepting crowd.   As a group they were supportive and curious as well.   That allowed me to fully participate in the seminar at a level that made me feel comfortable.   I was definitely able to take advantage of the information given, and explore with any questions that I wanted to follow up on.   That has been something very rare to find where I live (if at all).

So thank you Tyler Muto for a very informative and enjoyable seminar.   I hope you will come to the East Coast again sometime.

BTW, I will probably be sharing the clips of Shana at the seminar in the next post that will be all about Shana!