We live in the city with a fairly small (and boring) backyard, so my husband and I have been trying to take our 3 mo. old, Brembo, on short (10-15 min max,
usually) walks to give her some variety in exercise.
She's walking pretty well with my husband although she won't sit for him when they're on a walk, but when I take her she spends the whole time pulling, and once when I bent down to bag a poo she lurched the leash out of my grasp and darted off down the street. (I had her sit-stay before tried to deal with the clean up, but she doesn't do the stay part very well for me.) That was pretty scary because, although we were on a quiet residential street, it ended in a pretty busy one, and needless to say I'm keeping a much tighter hold on the leash.
We're trying to get a private trainer (in addition to the group classes we're already doing) to help me because it seems like Brembo sees 'Chung as the pack leader, but doesn't view me as one. In other aspects of her training she's doing pretty well. She does sit, down, and stand reliably. She'll sit-stay and down-stay for 'Chung for a fairly long time, for me we're still at short stays. She's learning leave it, take, and drop it and obeys fairly consistently. We're working on not mouthing, and though she'll still occasionally put my hand in her mouth, she doesn't bite hard anymore.
I'm wondering if there are things I should do to improver the walks in the meantime, while we're waiting to get the appointment with the private trainer. I'm doing the techniques I've read about so far: stopping when she pulls and turning around 180 degrees and walking the other way, but its not working...as soon as she turns around she's pulling again. What am I doing wrong? Should I stop walking her until we see the trainer? I've been walking her with a nylon pinch collar that, as far as I can tell, fits her properly. I've heard that prong collars work best (when they're used properly), but she seems a little young for that, and if that's the way to go I'd rather wait to try until I have the trainer show me how to use it. Is she just too young to be going for walks on the leash?
She's walking pretty well with my husband although she won't sit for him when they're on a walk, but when I take her she spends the whole time pulling, and once when I bent down to bag a poo she lurched the leash out of my grasp and darted off down the street. (I had her sit-stay before tried to deal with the clean up, but she doesn't do the stay part very well for me.) That was pretty scary because, although we were on a quiet residential street, it ended in a pretty busy one, and needless to say I'm keeping a much tighter hold on the leash.
We're trying to get a private trainer (in addition to the group classes we're already doing) to help me because it seems like Brembo sees 'Chung as the pack leader, but doesn't view me as one. In other aspects of her training she's doing pretty well. She does sit, down, and stand reliably. She'll sit-stay and down-stay for 'Chung for a fairly long time, for me we're still at short stays. She's learning leave it, take, and drop it and obeys fairly consistently. We're working on not mouthing, and though she'll still occasionally put my hand in her mouth, she doesn't bite hard anymore.
I'm wondering if there are things I should do to improver the walks in the meantime, while we're waiting to get the appointment with the private trainer. I'm doing the techniques I've read about so far: stopping when she pulls and turning around 180 degrees and walking the other way, but its not working...as soon as she turns around she's pulling again. What am I doing wrong? Should I stop walking her until we see the trainer? I've been walking her with a nylon pinch collar that, as far as I can tell, fits her properly. I've heard that prong collars work best (when they're used properly), but she seems a little young for that, and if that's the way to go I'd rather wait to try until I have the trainer show me how to use it. Is she just too young to be going for walks on the leash?
Study what you can, spend
lots of quality time, and it will be well worth every second. Good Luck!
