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How to get attention

1K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  Walperstyle 
#1 ·
Hi, I am all about being positive with my GSD, she does great until a cat another dog, prey, then she forgets me and I am struggling to find a way she is one now so being pulled on a lease, can be shoulder straining on me. If anyone has any ideas or has dealt with this and overcome the issues please help .
 
#2 ·
I so understand - my Sting was the same way. My neighbor recommended a front ring harness that she uses with her lab mix. It really does help discourage the pulling. I went with the Walk In Sync developed by Alecia Evans, a Colorado trainer, because of the training videos. Also the harness fit my Sting better than the Gentle Leader which I first tried. The harness frees me from corrections and then I can concentate on keeping Sting's focus by turning quickly - rewarding when he follows. I also play tug with him - a fetch/tug game since he loves to pounce and grab. So I use 2 tugs hooked to leashes. He waits on the down/stay - while I walk out with both tugs - when I give the okay - I scoot one tug on the ground - he lunges for it - I pull - he pulls - after a bit I let go and grab the other -he drops his tug, and grabs that one - and so on. I The important part is that after a longer struggle, that I give up and walk away, then turn and praise him - he has won and brings both tugs - he gets a treat when he gives the tugs back. I use the game as a reward after his daily obedience session. It has helped him to concentrate and ignore distractions and to focus on me.
 
#7 ·
We are working on this too. Our first neighborhood walk was pretty bad. Riley freaked when he heard dogs barking, but wasn't sure where it was coming from and then there were the bratty kids son the scooters. I could not get his attention for anything.

I got home called the trainer at a loss on what to do. He said just keep him moving even if we change directions and to take things slower. We are also working on the "look" command a lot more. That is his focus command. I can tell him to look from across the yard and he will immediately look at me to see what I want him to do. When he was on the leash freaked out it didn't work so well. So we are taking baby steps and working on it.

On our second walk it was better, the third walk even better. My philosophy is not to give up and keep getting the training help I need for him if what I'm doing isn't working.
 
#8 ·
Thanks:) its hard.. she has puppy one and a good foundation and acts well in class, doing some nose work for fun at a different class. just to much different things going on when we are outside. Inside training is gravy/ Thanks again for the encouragement and advice.
 
#9 ·
Our guy pulls very hard on a leash. Actually, I found it a lot easier to walk him off leash. I won't walk him around busy roads just yet though being he is 8 months old and distracted easily. We are lucky enough to have an 'off leash' dog park that has a fence around it, and lots of other dogs and distractions. With our guy 'cookie von chomp'nstein' we usually find he pays attention to us if we ignore other dogs or distractions and keep walking. If we stop when he stops, then he thinks 'Oh, its play time'. If we keep walking past the other dog and its owner, and say 'come on lets go'... he usually does. He is un-neutered and likes to sometime think he is in charge, but he more often listens to us, and comes when we ask, or at worse, when we start to get out of sight, he gets lonely and finds us. No complaints so far.

Edit: we do have some times at home he likes to take charge, and bite our feet. So we started to 'stomp walk' when he does this. He barks a bunch in confusion, then we eventually lure him to do what we want with treats. Overall, he means well and is learning what is right and wrong.
 
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