Walking On a Loose Leash?:

Note from Blog Owner: Another post from a professional dog trainer discussion group shared here with her permission. Comments welcome, even if contrary, this blog is all about sharing of information and opinions.
Thank you,
Eric/DogStar

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On one of my many dog training lists, if one speaks up about "no physical consequences ever" methods they risk excoriation. The only other choice is to stay silent and the newbies only learn one way. I'm pulling my hair out about a slew of recent posts on that list. I swear, I almost did not renew my membership, but then I reconsidered because I didn't want to be run off. Plus, newbies need to know that the "no physical consequences ever" way is not the only way. So I renewed.

Anyway, the gist of the recent jaw-dropping posts is that teaching dogs to walk on a loose leash (LLW) is just SOOOO hard, and clients are not getting it, and they aren't practicing, and does anyone have any suggestions for making this easier (using only "positive" methods, of course)?

Teaching a dog to "heel" is obviously too "old-style," so LLW is the goal, and boy, is it ever hard. The trainers admit that their own dogs won't do it. Fancy that: trainers' dogs who pull on leash. Unbelieveable. But I digress.

So all these posts are flying with all these long, convoluted, positive-only ways to try to get dogs to stop pulling, many with multiple steps and fancy acronyms that pet owners really don't care about and which rarely work. When those methods, which commonly call for use of a clicker and treats, don't work (which is most of the time, I'd say, especially with your average boisterous adolescent dogs), do these trainers reexamine their methods and change them to get results?

Of course not. Look at the science! Treats  simply MUST work. Use better treats! Lord knows we can't do anything to make pulling on leash the least bit unpleasant. Why, that would damage our relationship with the dog! So when the methods fail, we resort to head halters and the new craze, Easy Walk Harnesses, for management. That's it: either "positive only" methods work, or you manage the dog. There's no room for discussion.

I'm all for teaching what clients want, and not what we trainers want. Some clients are fine with simply managing the dog. I get that--at least he gets to go for walks, and the owners stay less frustrated about it. But given the choice, owners will choose a trained dog over a managed dog, and they definitely will if they can see that actual training doesn't have to take years.

One esteemed soul even wrote that she had finally accepted the fact that many owners were simply not going to put in the practice time to make LLW happen, and that's their choice. In other words, blame the owner because they don't have time to practice your long, convoluted, positive-only methodology (because they have lives) and since you won't give them any alternatives to it, the dog will never get trained. Brilliant! It's all the owners fault. (Hear the sounds of ripping scalp?)

Then they see their neighbor walking his adolescent Lab on a prong collar, and he's learning how to heel so well, and they say, "but my trainer says that's evil, but boy, it doesn't LOOK like it's hurting him, and he isn't pulling." What are they supposed to think?

What I want to say to them is "get your heads out of your dogma and use tools and methods that work faster, better, smarter, and are still humane (because they work faster, better and smarter and speak to the dog in his language) and help your clients reach their goals instead of blaming them when your one method fails. Stop trying to project your ridiculous constraints about what is truly humane onto their dogs, who, if they could speak English, would beg you to do some real training."

Mostly, what I wonder is "why are you calling yourselves professionals, and taking people's money to help them train their dogs, when you can't even get your methods to work on your own dogs?" True professionals get results.

I'm all about positive reinforcement. Always have been. But when it can't do the job by itself, it's time to think outside the box instead of getting rid of the box. Giving the dog distinct choices is NOT inhumane. I'd be ashamed if all I had in my toolbox was one way to train every dog. Sigh.

Mailey E. McLaughlin, M.Ed.
The Pooch Professor
"Manners for Your Maladjusted Mutt"
Atlanta, GA

Comments

[Kelly]

There's no such thing as 'positive only' training. How "positive" is it to keep your dog completely confused about what it is you want from them? The ambiguity only stresses out the dog, and there's nothing positive about that.

[Karen Palmer]

Wonderful statement. Very true. The population of dogs in this country is growing, and with it is the number of dog/human problems. Much of these problems are caused by owners who do not understand their dogs and so do not teach them how to live in a human society. Trainers who practice "Positive Only" techniques do nothing to help the problem, but instead make it worse. They may have the dogs' best interests at heart, but their misunderstandings of animal behavior and training are a detriment to our society.

What is also interesting is that the same "spare the rod" type of practices are also rampant in the raising of children in America today. The lack of discipline in American families is resulting in a lack of respect for life and a lack of maturity in these individuals as they grow up physically. I have seen it first hand as a substitute teacher, and in many other ways. Ever seen "Nanny 911" or "Supernanny"? What happens to these children without discipline? And we wonder why dogs are so often "uncontrollable". It doesn't work.

We need to use what works. Teach people that dogs should follow rules that people set. Teach dogs that there are rules to live by in our society. Teach them what those rules are, and how to abide by them. Then teach them that there are consequences to not abiding by those rules. What results is an ordered system where dogs don't pull on leash; at the other extreme, they don't attack the neighbor's children or pets. This is responsible dog ownership.