Walking the dog is a primal experience and can serve as the foundational
basis for all of the training that may be established between man and his best
friend. At first, walking JayDee had only one requirement – that she become accustomed
to her collar and leash.
Although cotton (canvas) or leather leads are highly
recommended, I opted for a 6 foot, 5/8 inch wide, nylon lead with a small
buckle. The size of the buckle was critical to me because in one of the books I
read the author mentioned that depending on the size of the dog, the buckle
could slap the side of the dog’s face, and a large buckle could therefore be
problematic. I combined this to an adjustable collar, 8 to 14 inches long by
5/8 inch wide, made by Four Paws. It was also made of nylon, it was flat, and it had a
plastic snap. Although I never
had a horse, I imagine that a puppy’s response to a collar is similar to an
unbroken horse’s response to a halter. No creature likes to be restrained, but
they do adjust to it over time. JayDee’s response was typical: she periodically
scratched at her new collar, and as I ignored this behavior, its frequency
diminished relatively quickly.
We started out with two, 15 minute walks each day, one
before breakfast
and the other before supper. The walks always started in the potty area and I
used “Busy, Busy” as a cue and ultimately a stimulus for pees and poops. I was
amazed that JayDee would, at least the first several days, follow me as we
walked briskly around our property boundary multiple times. After several days,
we graduated to walking the road. Our street is more of a two-lane, winding, country
road than a residential street; we do not have sidewalks. The car traffic is
not heavy, but in a 15 minute walk, we might see three to five vehicles.
JayDee’s initial response to the cars was a slight, but noticeable hesitation
upon their approach and then a prey-drive pursuit upon their passing.
Almost immediately upon introducing the leash, JayDee
developed a propensity to grasp the leash in her mouth, not to pull against me,
but just to have it there. I wanted to keep everything as non-aversive as
possible, so I “let it be”. Towards the end of the first week, I sprayed the
end of the leash with Bitter Apple. I was disappointed that this had no effect
whatsoever. I chalked this up to the fact that because JayDee couldn’t read,
she obviously didn’t know that this product was supposed to make the leash
taste bad and therefore, she should spit it out. On the other hand, the bottle
says the product was supposed to be used to discourage fur biting, hair chewing
and hot spots. I had my doubts. Months
later I was informed that there was a conditioning step that the handler should
institute that helped the Bitter Apple to be more effective. The technique is
to saturate a cotton ball with Bitter Apple, put it in the dog’s mouth and hold
the muzzle closed for 1 full minute. Most dog’s find this experience to be very
distasteful. Better (or bitter) late than never.
By the beginning of week 2, I was concerned that if I wasn’t
careful, JayDee’s biting the leash would become so established that it would be
harder to break
in the future. I decided to “pop” the leash each time JayDee bit it, and not
surprisingly, this behavior began to diminish. Unfortunately, this improvement
was only temporary. In retrospect, I realized that I inadvertently made an
incredible mistake; I should have sought expert council. JayDee’s breeder, Jenn,
had been exceptionally knowledgeable and responsive, but I did not touch base
with her, or anyone else, but rather relied on my own instincts. In retrospect,
my own instincts proved to be inadequate (I am no Cesar Milan!). The reason I
didn’t email Jenn, was that I was working with JayDee on her swimming, and I
was waiting until I could send an “Esther Williams” report, and the water
ballet training was taking longer than I expected. Another lesson learned.
Many experts suggest that formal obedience training be put
off until 6 months of age but informal, less structured training could begin earlier.
Since JayDee was only 9 weeks old, I instituted the following practice: using a
6 foot leash that had no tension on it, whenever JayDee was behind me, I would use
a kiss, kiss, sound of encouragement. Whenever JayDee was by my side I would say
“Yessss” or “Good Girl” or “Very Nice!”. Whenever JayDee was significantly in
front of me I would give her a “Bhop, Bhop” sound just prior to executing a 180o
about turn. (The “Bhop” sound I got from Jackie Chan’s interaction with his Indian
pony in his movie, Shanghai Noon.) The walking pace was just shy of brisk.
Starting with only a few occasions on each walk, I began to
introduce the “automatic” sit upon stopping. The technique I used was suggested
by Brian Kilcommons for Touch Level 1 – Placement Sit p. 88. There was no
verbalization, just a slight pressure of my thumb and index finger on JayDee’s hips. I routinely
timed this when I heard a car approaching so that I had control over the pup,
and I found that she was calm under my touch. Several authors suggest that when
stopping, the last foot to move should be the left foot, and it should be the
first foot to move when you start. Very simple, but I needed as much practice
and reminding for “automatic” left foot stop, left foot forward as JayDee did
to sit. Training isn’t just for the dog.
At the beginning of the next week, JayDee was at the ripe
old age of 10 weeks, and I transitioned to using the clicker and treats which I
carried in a fanny pack. I had wanted to buy a fanny pack from an online
“clicker” source that was specifically designed for this particular purpose. As
it turned out, they were out of stock for this item for months. I found a
multiple pocket fanny pack at a local Walmart that more than adequately
fulfilled my needs, and it was one forth the price!
Since our walks always preceded meals, I dispensed the appropriate
amount of meal kibble into the fanny pack and clicked and treated as we
progressed. One problem was that even though I’m average height, it was still a
long way down from my free-swinging left hand to JayDee’s mouth and the walking
process was a bit stop and go. I also clicked and treated the automatic sits. After
several days I discovered that having the fanny pack behind me meant less
chance of spillage. Then I developed the technique of taking a bunch of kibble
into my left hand and rolling one kibble between my thumb and first finger and
upon clicking I could roll the kibble into JayDee’s awaiting, yawning, mouth! It
was kind of cute, JayDee walking forward, looking up with her mouth open like a
baby bird. The problem, however, was that sometimes the kibble would drop to
the back of her throat and cause a temporary coughing spell. I learned to lower
the kibble and roll it into her mouth behind her upper incisors. One unintended
consequence, this time a good consequence, was that over time JayDee began to
develop a “soft mouth” as she took the treat. (All you experienced dog people
knew that would happen!)
When JayDee got significantly ahead, I would call her to
Come and back pedal, encouraging her and clicking and treating her when she got
to me. More effective than the “Bhop, Bhop” and the previously tried 180o
about turn. All of the behaviors improved without using any corrections per se,
only positive reinforcement. Super!
When we got home I would empty the fanny pack into the food
bowl thereby insuring that I had not exceeded JayDee’s food ration with treats.
I found that this emptying always required hand picking some individual kibble out of the fanny pack. The
next day I found a small rectangular plastic food container that fit inside the
fanny pack and this simplified the emptying process.
Mid-week of 10-weeks old I added the Sit in Front on Recall.
Two behaviors for the price of one reward. Easy! The length of the twice-a-day walks
had, by this time, increased to 20 minutes in length. I also started the
Sit/Stay coordinated with any approaching cars. I would issue the command of
Stay, clicking and treating, reissuing the command several times as the car
approached and passed. Whether JayDee understood what Stay meant, or whether
she associated all this with the approaching car, there was no way for me to
tell. I did know that she was paying little, if any, attention to a major
distraction and I hoped that she would ultimately generalize this to future
distracting experiences.
At about this time I introduced Gary Wilkes’ No Reward
Marker (NRM): “Wrong”. When JayDee would drift to my right side I would let
her know that it was “Wrong”. Whenever JayDee would lag I experimented with
using a closed fist (with treats inside) as a lure for JayDee to bring up the
slack. Unfortunately this became too cumbersome. I transitioned to using a
squeeze/pulse of the leash connected to JayDee’s
flat collar. There it went! All and only non-aversive training became almost
all non-aversive training. The real world is a nasty place!
Read next post. Start at the very first post.
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