Another difficult to walk dog

[Dogband1]

Gaelic for aggravation, persistence, hardheaded = TERRIER.  When we had two siblings it was impossible their entire lives, as they were competing to see who would lead.  They caused enough shoulder pain that it hid my pending heart attack, not good.

Here are some suggestions.

He needs to learn to heel first in a quiet environment, the hall in your house or a quiet backyard.  I am retired now and I take Reilly on a lead everywhere I go in the house, to the bathroom, back to get things, etc., heeling as we go.  It is part of his movement with me.

He was trained to do this while I had the most tasty treat in my left hand as I could find.  I let him have a bit, the go walking, heeling with the treat just above his nose.  He jumps for the treat as much as he walks, but that is ok.  He is focused on me and the treat, not leading his own way.  A heel of even six or eight feet gets a stop, sit and great praise and small piece of treat.  Repeat and repeat and repeat.  Best done before mealtime when he is hungry, as are training walks outside as he has progressed.

Then on to minimally distractive environment, and repeat and repeat.

Reilly, being a terrier, will still sometimes go totally ballistic at other dogs, and I just have to lift and remove him from the situation. I also hold him very firmly against my chest and force his nose and eyes under my arm.  We learned this together as a pup.  I hold him there till he gets calm, he seems to fight at first, but if removed from the other dog and held firmly, he will go limp and submissive.  Then start over with heeling.  

Sit is also great to use to calm down, before returning to heel training.  We worked first on sit, and worked and worked.  Sit has to be reliable. 

We use a puppy one harness, which does allow a great deal of pulling, but we use two six foot leads tied together, so we can wrap this around our waist, and still have enough lead to use to properly heel the dog.  When he does bolt, the lead around our waist takes the strain, not our body, and I still have him contained not more than 4 feet away.  Then we just start all over, sit, show treat, give taste for sitting, try to heel 6-8-10 feet, small treat, then keep going, increasing distance.  

Now at 8 months Reilly does ok, until another dog .... Then we start all over.  Oh, my wife and I generally both walk him, trading him when our patience runs thin.  

Heeling is not impossible, just very very hard. He is our 4 th, and first to really heel to a good degree.  I am hopeful he will get better with practice.  If we head out without a treat, I turn around and get some.

good luck.  

 

see also zaks training videos on YouTube, very good.  

Edited May 10, 2016 by Dogband1

[LindaMC]

Boy, I too can identify with the difficulty walking Maisie, although I can say she is a wee bit better but still insists on pulling me down the street, as if our house is on fire and she's trying desperately to get away from it.  I have tried a lot of different types of harnesses, she chokes if I put a leash on her neck collar so I need to stay with something that does not aggravate her neck.  I tried a Gentle Leader, it was a struggle to get it on her and after I did and stood up to get the leash to attach it, she was out of the Gentle Leader with a big smug I'm so proud of myself look on her face.  I'm hoping that by the time she hits the 4 year mark that she will have slowed down just a little bit.

[lamar1]

We go for a stand and sniff 3 times a week.  We do manage to get about 3/4 of a mile out of him before our frustration guides us home.

 He spends the off evenings running around the yard from about 5 to dark.  He might be a little under on the exercise, but his weight is okay.

We did bag the harness.  That seemed to help a little.  I'm defeated.  He's just not a walker.  We take what we can get.