# Why so angry on walks???



## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

Since Cosmo was 8 weeks old he's disliked walks (he was a pretty grumpy puppy overall). He can't wait to get off leash to go play so he spends the entire walk looking angry. All other dogs I've come in contact with seem to enjoy their walks, looking happy, looking at me occasionally, eventhough they have to be on-leash, but Cosmo pulls and pulls and pulls and huffs and won't look at me even once. It's like he's in avoidance mode for the whole walk (sometimes 2 hours at a time). Then spontaneously he'll get the zoomies and bite at his leash and go crazy, and when I have to calm him down again he just gets frustrated and huffs along again.

I don't use any punishment. I've worked tirelessly at teaching him to walk loose leash with gentle methods, but to no avail. He even pulls on the halti. He actually looks at when the leash will be taught and then lowers his head and tilts to the side to counteract the halti. If I use treats he will walk nicely but only for 10 second at a time and only if you bribe him. As soon as he takes his treat he runs to the end of the leash. If you change directions, you have to literally drag him the other direction, as soon as you turn around again he runs to the end of the leash. 

This has been going on for 10 months now...any advice? I want him to enjoy his walks but they've become the worst part of mine and my husband's day (oh yea, he does it with everyone who walks him). 

He's 1 now and I know he's an adolescent but he's always been like this since he was tiny.

Oh and one more thing, he can't do treats anymore (not even kibble right now) because of a sensitive GI system.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Can you share a video of a training session (1-2 min or less)?

What is he eating right now?

It sounds like he's gaining reinforcement from the environment and enjoying the exploration/pulling/working he thinks he is doing. 

What has your training process been like? Really...if youre not seeing progress, we need to adjust what you're doing, as the plan just isn't working.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

hmmm...don't have any video but will try to shoot one.

I also think that the pulling has been reinforced, potentially from doing tracking. But why does he not appear happy even when he is pulling. He looks super happy when he is tracking.

Unfortunately we haven't always been consistent with one method of training at a time and went back and forth with different methods since none seemed to be working. 

When he was really little (until 3.5 months) he didn't pull ahead, he actually always pulled back. Then all of a sudden he pulled ahead and to the sides like crazy. 

For the first few weeks we used a martingale and would stop whenever he pulled. He would just wander off and start sniffing things and chewing sticks - so we stopped doing that rather quickly. 

Then we continued with the martingale simply shortened the leash up to only about a foot and hoped that he would get sick of the sensation of pulling (he would just pull ahead anyways and I think that probably is what reinforced it most). It does not matter how short or long the leash, he will always go to the end of the leash right away and he will always try to counteract any tugs.

So then we would stop and make him come back into a sit beside us - he always huffs and takes his time getting back to us, sometimes even stopping to pee or mark on his way back to our side, never looking at us. 

We tried changing directions for a couple month (we spent one week never making it more than 2 blocks and we walked him for 2 hrs a day!). This method seems to have no effect at all.

Most of the time, however, I worked with treats but unfortunately my husband doesn't want to do that so we never had consistency there. 

Lastly we got the halti. I still used treats but he still pulls. It's just more manageable.

We've gotten to the point now where my husband simply refuses to walk him so at least now I can be consistent if I find something that works...

He definitely knows exactly what he's supposed to do. When I feed him dinner he can do heel exercises like a pro and looks at me the whole time. Same thing when we pass a park. But if we don't go into the park he gets rather worked up and then pulls extra hard.

Sorry for the super long post.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Jackie, I don't think it sounds like he's angry. It mainly sounds like he's independant minded and eager to charge ahead into new territory. And he's learned to pull on leash and become "strong necked" about it. 

We went through this with Sam - otherwise known as the puppy from hell that nobody wanted to walk. The only thing that helped was a combination of him settling down and my sister walking him twice a day the same route. And walking him every single day so that the whole routine got pretty instilled in his head and a little boring. And keep in mind in addition to those walks he was also getting a lot of exercise running around in our yard every hour or so and roughhousing with his older brother a few times a day. So that is another thing - your dog might simply need more than 2 hours exercise a day. 

The more you praise and get excited when your dog looks at you and walks nicely, the more those behaviors will happen. No need for treats. <- But even so, I'm not convinced every golden is that responsive. With your dog, you might be looking at a dog who down the road is perfectly happy walking a step ahead of you on walks without either you or him pulling. And if he's not prancing with you or grinning up at you, that doesn't mean he's not having fun. Our Sam and Dan were happiest walking shoulder to shoulder a leash length ahead of us on our daily walks. Not pulling, but not heeling either.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

Here's a video showing he can heel perfectly well, with no food bribe and no words. But it's inside.

http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb339/jackie_hubert/0a62e1c2.mp4


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## iansgran (May 29, 2010)

Do you have different leads and maybe use a gentle leader on walks and something different for tracking so he knows the difference. One way to get them to stop pulling on walks is to go forward and as soon as they pull turn around and go the other way. If they pull turn around and go the other way, forever until he stops pulling. You teach him that if he pulls he doesn't get to go where he wants. Sherie


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

My opinion? You are really boring your dog. He is not being given any feed back and looks confused. 

I do apologize if this seems harsh, I don't mean it to be. Give him feedback and let him know when he's being good, if you need to correct him, praise or rewards should immediately follow the correction - and a correction can simply be stopping forward motion and praise him as he comes towards you. If you use the clicker follow it with good treats - liver, chicken, cheese etc. Something he'll find rewarding. Do an about turn and surprise him by offering him a game of tug for a minute or 2. 

If you have space, teach him fetch so he doesn't need such long walks under control - a good 15 minutes of fetch will exercise most dogs and its fun for all. 

Most of all, have fun


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

01 VeterinaryPartner Home Page - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company! has a good article on loose leash walking. My dog trainer friend tells me that dogs pull because they have learned to pull and it is reinforcing. Which makes sense to me... I have 2 dogs that don't pull. One is my return pup who was trained well on the leash by her former owners. The other is my Tiki who was so sick as a pup, she came to work every day with me. I took her out multiple times/day and she followed me out and followed me in. That she never learned to pull was one good thing, the other is that she never learned to run off.

I taught my perfect Sally girl to not pull by changing direction and walking the other way. It definitely took longer than one week... and as you said, you and your husband need to be on the same page. I use gentle leaders when I walk multiples. Of course once they're off, the dogs haven't learned not to pull.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

He is really cute!!


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

I would suggest giving up the tracking 'for now' - I am assuming that with tracking he is allowed or supposed to be 'out front'? Could be he is getting confused by different 'handlers' with different expectations and has 'given up' trying to decipher what is expected. Focus on what you want from him, take him out in the back yard and reward everytime he comes close to you but is not out in front, if he gets in front - turn and go the other way, reward when he catches up - walk, run, skip, go slowly - the variation will encourage him to pay attention. Could you use his meals for this, even if he has to lick it off your hand? Giving him the 'choice' to be near you and get rewarded for it, will help reinforce in his mind that is where HE wants to be. Once he starts 'following' you, try it in the driveway on leash or a longline, and gradually extend your 'walks'.
Keep in mind at a year old he still very much has a 'puppy brain' so try not to overload with training sessions, reward the small steps his is taking, set your goals but recognize his 'limits' and be consistent and make it fun.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

I think age will help with this, too. Danny was a pretty bad puller up until he was 2 1/2-3. When I walked all the dogs, they all wore Easy Walk harnesses. Danny and Jasper learned not to pull and would walk loose leashed on the harnesses, so I switched them to the martingale (only because sometimes they will get spooked and I don't want them slipping their collars). Both of them walk loose leashed on their martingales with no pulling at all. My lab is another story, though she's good with her sporn or other harness. But she's not one to walk loose leashed on a martingale or flat collar unless I am walking her alone, then she's perfect.

He's a cute pup!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> My dog trainer friend tells me that dogs pull because they have learned to pull and it is reinforcing.


This is so true. It is sort of why I started the leash walks with Jacks as soon as possible, even if we were just going half a block length or a block length and back. I wanted him to learn how to walk nicely on leash and be happy with that. 

I also took his brother with us, simply because Danny never pulled and Jacks learned to walk next to him or next to me. 

I also worked on watch or sit exercises early on, as well as gotcha comes. Like if he ever went ahead of me, I would reach out and tag him in the butt and run backwards. I also would pick up sticks when he wasn't watching and keep him guessing as far as that. Sticks in my hand = Jacks NEEDS to have those to carry in his mouth. 

And I praised him every single time we walked a stretch where he was walking next to me and not pulling. That's positive reinforcement. 

I never use treats for walks and there are still plenty of ways to interact with your dog without using food. 

The main thing is until your dog settles down and relaxes, the daily walk is also training time. And while the walks are shorter during this time, you take advantage of that by working overtime working on keeping a loose lead. 

^ This is easier when you start early when your puppy is 10 weeks old and you aren't going very far. Because your dog never learns to pull. 

But as it is - with our Sammy and Danny (before we learned the "nip the problem in the bud before it becomes a problem" as far as pulling and attention), they both went through a phase where they couldn't wait to get to wherever we were going. 

Leash corrections and praise worked best with them. You can also weave and circle with your dog to get him to back off the collar. Because of our feeling about using training collars while walking, all of this was done on a regular flat collar.

When it comes to halters - I swear they teach dogs to drive forward even harder, because there is no natural correction when they go "full steam engine ahead". I went home and hugged Sammy after watching our neighbor's Brittany and attempting to take the dog for a walk. That dog was HORRIBLE. And there was no way to correct him because he was pulling so hard I could not get a leash correction in that would make any impression. *shudders* And part of his problem was he was usually walked off leash which reinforced his need to be "leader of the pack". Meaning that he had that need to pull so he could be first into new territory before everyone else.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

FYI, I'm purposely not talking in the video because I don't like to hear me talk on video, haha. I'm ridiculously talkative, maybe so much that he's learned to tune me out, when we go for a walk. I'm actually trying to be calm and quiet on walks now because the more I praise the faster he likes to run ahead. It's probably an issue of timing. Touching him is the worst. He seems to take praise by voice or touch as permission to charge and pull.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

Btw, when we walk we do a lot of obedience. At least every two blocks we'll do something like a figure 8, sit stays, downs, standing up on things, shaking paw, etc. I've been trying to refocus him and cheer him up that way. He loves doing the obedience bits. He would LOVE nothing more than agility. He loves jumping on and of things.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

A question that lies at the heart of this that I forgot to ask: is it fair to train with him on loose leash walking when has not yet had an opportunity to run around and get his crazies out? We do not have the luxury of tiring him out before going for a walk because we don't have a yard or safe off leas area. I would have to walk with for a half an hour to the closest off leash area and getting there I need to not reinforce the pulling.


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