# Leash training with a lot of passerby?



## ally1h (Nov 27, 2012)

My 6 month old puppy has been a nightmare to leash train. We bought an easy walk harness for him and a lot of the pulling stopped, and we started teaching leash manners. We tried switching back to a flat collar for walks and it was like trying to teach a bucking bronco with ADHD. So we again switched, but this time to a prong collar.

::Start rant:: The biggest problem is that we live in a high distraction environment. LOTS of cars, people, dogs, moose... Everywhere. He is an angel training indoors so now the time has come for outdoors. But it is a nightmare when you tell people walking their dogs not to come near because you are training... And they come anyway!! OR they don't have control over their dogs who drag their owner. OR dogs that are on retractable leashes. We come across any one of those situations and my puppy (who is still just a puppy) loses it and loses focus. Then we start from scratch all over again. ::end rant::


Long story short... Is there some universal way to let others know I'm trying to teach a highly distractible puppy without being rude or wearing a neon sign over my head? Some code? A fog horn? Loudspeaker? 





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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

I don't have much advice, but it does get better. I used to make Casper do a sit-stay while the people and dogs passed, but that just left him all excited after they walked by. So now I (try to) keep him moving. Sometimes talking and getting his attention will work. Other times I treat him as we walk by. He's much better than a year ago. He can pretty much ignore people, as long as they don't look at him, talk to him, or talk to me. He can also do a quick, friendly greeting with another dog.

I am afraid there is no hope in getting people to give you space. A woman with a dog-reative dog walked walked her dog right up to us a while back. Then after we passed, her dog turned around and bit mine (but missed). I mean, if a person with a dog like that can't figure out to give a dog some space, then there's no hope for the rest.


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## ally1h (Nov 27, 2012)

Bah, I was afraid of something like that. ::sigh:: I know it gets better. Just a bit frustrating in the mean time.  thank you for commenting


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## Vhuynh2 (Feb 13, 2012)

Today, I was walking Molly on a leash at the park when three unleashed dogs came up to us and starting running around us, making Molly super excited. The owner was too busy to call his dogs back because he was doing sit ups!!! Ugh!!! Seriously?!?!

When people and/or dogs come up to us, I usually put Molly in a sit stay. Over time she just became less interested.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Is it possible to train in a semi-distractive place like a driveway or a less populate street or the far corner of a pet store?

I had to learn to grow a voice when walking Bear. 90% of the people don't listen when I explain he cannot get pets unless he is sitting but then you run into those few people who take 20 minutes out of their day to work on it with you. 

Another thing is to avoid eye contact with an owner so there is no open invitation and if a dog gets close don't be afraid to say "do you mind giving us some space?" Or "we're training, maybe next time."

Bear and I are still working on greetings but we started with leave it. Get a solid leave it and a solid watch me so he knows you expect him to ignore these distractions. Be patient. 


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## Lobstrosity (Aug 11, 2012)

I started with this video from Tab289 and then modified it:

How to teach your dog to STOP pulling! (part 1) - YouTube

I didn't like having to change directions so much, so instead of completely changing, when my dog started to pull I'd turn to go the other way and correct him, then I'd continue to turn and end up making a full circle and be heading the same direction I was originally, and I'd treat him a second time when he was beside me and headed the right way. So far (only 3 or 4 times) it's working great - he makes awesome progress every time.


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## runawaytrain (Apr 3, 2013)

The only thing I can do is I pull him off the road....


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

This worked for me and Max - when a person or dog approached, I took him off the sidewalk, had him sit, and acted like a pez dispenser of treats until the person or dog passed us. Gradually reduced the treats, and gradually started to keep walking - if I think he's going to want to greet the person, I make him sit, but if he's not interested we keep moving. I tell him, "you know the routine" and he goes right to the side and waits. 

It took a lot of practice and I won't tell you it's 100% even now, if a Golden comes along, he HAS to go say hi, but otherwise it's pretty good.


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## mudEpawz (Jan 20, 2011)

It is frustrating and one of those things that you're going to have to work with everyday. I made the mistake of letting Chloe meet every dog and person when we lived in the condo (she was a puppy back then). Now I live in a house and she assumes that she gets to meet every dog and person we see... and when she doesn't she barks at them, gets frustrated and pulls on the leash. This was my mistake and I will know better next time, its better to train them early on to learn how to behave in crowds and around other dogs then when they are older. 

If I was you, I'd drive to a park and practise walking near people but learning to keep your focus on you


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