Loose Leash, forging forward after treats

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by Stellae

I read more last night and watched some of the videos about silky leash training. I really like that, and might try to start using that with him. It seems like a positive way to teach the skill reasonably quickly.

It really is great! A dog's instinct is to pull against collar pressure. Think sled dogs pulling into a harness - that's oppositional reflex at work. What Silky Leash does is to retrain that instinct so that collar pressure means to move in that direction, relieving the pressure, which makes it very easy to direct your dog with the lightest touch on the leash.

I love #4 too, the Canine Cha Cha - that worked much better for me than just stopping or turning around and going the opposite direction every time she pulled ahead.

[Chicagocanine]

Originally Posted by Cassidy's Mom

It really is great! A dog's instinct is to pull against collar pressure. Think sled dogs pulling into a harness - that's oppositional reflex at work. What Silky Leash does is to retrain that instinct so that collar pressure means to move in that direction, relieving the pressure, which makes it very easy to direct your dog with the lightest touch on the leash.

Thanks for posting this, I have been wanting to train Bianca to respond in that way. My previous dog Ginger was really good at responding to very light leash movements/collar pressure to direct her, I could lead her through an obstacle course quickly and easily that way (such as a crowded festival) and I've been trying to figure out how to teach that to Bianca, who doesn't really respond to collar pressure at all. She doesn't really pull on the leash most of the time, funny the off-leash obedience class we took ended any remaining leash pulling. However I still would like to be able to use the leash to guide her for example in crowded situations as it makes things go so much quicker and easier.

[MySimba]

Cassidy's Mom

Using the Cha Cha method, when my Simba gets to the get of his 6foot lead i take 3 steps back and praise as soon as the leash becomes loose again. he doesn't like treats so i praise as her walks around my left hand side, behind me and back on to the right hand side where he walks, i then give him a fuss and stroke. Is this similar to what you do and will this work as on the ashima website it doesn't really advise about how to continue the walk. I just try to keep moving once he has returned to me as his reward.