You’re strolling along with Fido who is showing off all of her best leash manners when suddenly she notices another dog/ a squirrel/ a family of ducklings/ a stroller/ (insert your dog’s preferred distraction here) and you feel your heart jump and stomach drop.
“Uh oh.” You think, realizing there is no way to avoid the challenging distraction. You take a deep breath, (remembering that emotion travels down the leash!) and begin to proactively praise your pup for what they are doing well. “Good girl Fido. You’re doing such a good job! Good work!” Offering treats as you go, you notice the closer you get, the wigglier and more distracted SHE gets. You internally begin to panic, as you ask for “Touch?” as the other dog approaches. Fido excitedly puts her nose to your palm to gobble up the snacks there as you successfully pass that distraction and continue to praise your pup for her good choices. Success!!
Once your pup has established a foundation for good leash manners, there are often unexpected challenges such as these outlined above. So how do we manage these inconsistent moments and help our pup maintain their previously learned good leash manners?
Norman building neutrality at the Farmer's Market
Management skills are a crucial part of good leash manners and it is our job as the calm, confident leader to set our pups up for success and to communicate our expectations clearly and consistently.
Here are the most useful and commonly used management techniques we teach our Engaged Dogs:
1) "Touch”
2) "Let’s Go” + U-Turn
3) Your engagement, coaching, and praise
The cue:
“Touch”- Touch your nose to my palm, wherever it is.
Variations of Touch:
Booping-type Touch (quick boop of nose on palm,) versus Magnet-hand Touch (maintain your nose against my palm until further notice.)
Booping-type Touch (cued as Touch) gives your pup a target and a job. Touch can be utilized to guide your pup where you need them. For example, if my pup gets distracted while we pass 2 other dogs playing, the moment I notice she is having a hard time or if focusing on them, I will ask for a Touch to reengage her to me. We want to cue as proactively as possible in these scenarios, rather than waiting to lose our pup’s focus. You can ask for a single Touch or several while marking each time your pup touches their nose to your palm. By asking for several Touch in quick succession, this makes it a sort of game and gets your pups engagement and maintains it. You can use 1 Touch or as many as you like at any given time, based on the task at hand.
Magnet-hand Touch (cued as Touch, but this time you have a small handful of yummy treatos/ pieces of kibble in your hand and are allowing your pup to lick, sniff, and receive one occasionally as they consistently maintain their nose to your palm.) Magnet-hand Touch is a GREAT crisis management tool and allows you to keep your pups’ nose to your palm while you navigate and manage tricky situations. A good example might be noticing an off-leash dog in the distance and while you assess the best way to get away, you ask for a Magnet-hand “Touch” as you begin to lead your pup away. This allows you to continue to look around and assess while you know your pup’s nose is to your palm because you can feel it.
“Let’s Go!” + U-Turn
“Let’s Go” indicates we are on the move and I need you to move along with me. We utilize Let’s Go when changing directions or when beginning to move from a stationary position, like waiting at the crosswalk for example. By pairing Let’s Go with a 180 degree U-turn, this allows you to indicate to your pup that you’re on the move and need them to move along with you while you get distance. Distance away from a potential distraction or trigger is one of the best management skills you can utilize with your pup.
Sometimes, you will simply need to do a 360 degree turn and can return to the direction you were originally moving in, for example, maybe your pup begins to switch sides a bit and get distracted, and so you circle with your “Let’s Go” cue and once your pup naturally ends up back alongside you where you prefer they walk loose leash, Mark and Reward the behavior.
If you do a circle or 2 and your pup continues to struggle, get more distance. The amount of distance is based on how long it takes your pup to get their full attention back on you. For example, you are walking towards puppy friends and this is not a good time to say hello, so you state “Let’s Go!” and U-turn. After walking about 10-15 feet your pup’s gaze is locked on you, you are praising and rewarding heavily, and so you turn back in your original direction and continue. As you get closer to the puppy friends, your pup begins to struggle once more, so you repeat “Let’s Go!” U-turn, (always looking for the next positive thing your pup does that you can Mark and Reward of course!) and get a bit more distance before reattempting the pass with a Magnet-hand Touch this time to set them up for success.
Keep in mind our overarching training goals:
1) We set our pups up for success
2) We are proactive as often as possible
3) We meet them exactly where they are from moment to moment
By being clear about our expectations, with ourselves and our dogs, by communicating clearly and consistently by Marking and Rewarding often, and by maintaining our engagement with them, we set our pups up for success in performing good leash manners.
Similarly to kiddos, “Do as I say, not as I do,” isn’t effective in teaching leash manners, and so keep in mind that you are setting the example. If you expect your pup to ignore that other dog but you are cooing at it and making a fuss, do not be surprised when your pup wants to go see what all the hoopla is about too! Or conversely if you’re nervously watching that off leash dog in the distance and exuding anxiety, don’t be surprised when your pup appears hypervigilant and looking for the source of the anxiety energy they can feel.
Good leash manners begin with us! Our dogs have no concept about leashes or leash manners until we teach them our preferences.
Take it slow, make it fun, enjoy your time with your pup! Training and learning should be fun and enjoyable for both parties in order to make progress and to maintain learned skills.
If you find yourself at a roadblock, reach out set up a consultation if you’d appreciate some additional support.
Follow us on social @Engaged_Dogs for more tips like these and keep growing together!
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