Need advice on training my Boxer to "walk nice" on a leash...?

Question

I moved from a very small town to a city when my boxer was 7 months. She's trained and she used to walk on her leash with no problem. Ever since we got to the city, she's terrified of everything, especially vehicles and trucks that don't move. When she sees these things, she doesn't think about what she's doing and runs. I have fallen many times because of this.

To try and help her walk better, I tried a gentle leader, harness, her regular collar, and now I just bought a choker (without spikey things). This still isn't working. When we are outside, she is in a zone. She doesn't even notice me or my other dog there. So, how can I get her to notice me, listen to me, and walk when she is freaking out?

Answer 1

Your dog is terrified and you need to work on acclimating her to her new surroundings. I don't have experience enough to help you with that, since you really have no options for how to walk her without seeing the scary stuff. But I'll give you some guesses.

Ideally you would want to begin training in a perfectly safe environment, one that is not scary at all to your dog. But if the whole outside world is terrifying, you can't really do that. You have to potty outside! The only suggestion I have is to make walking more interesting than being scared. Here are two suggestions. I think I like the second better, but here goes:

Try enticing her to heel by getting her interested in a particularly fabulous (and smelly) treat like string cheese or liver treats, etc. Hold it next to your leg but don't let her have it. Feed her only tiny pieces a little at a time. Hopefully she'll be so interested in trying to get the treat that she'll not pay attention to the scary stuff.

This might not be enough of an enticement, so try the next suggestion.

Restrict the walks to very short durations and very small areas. For instance walk back and forth for the length of your buidling for just a few minutes while you feed lots and lots of treats to keep her mind off being scared. You might even want to just stand outside and feed treats to her for one minute. Use the good treats: cheese, liver, chicken; no boring grain based cookies. Small pieces only, about the size of a pea. You need more the idea of a treat than massive quantities. But feed them nearly constantly and especially while she is not being stressed. You want her to associate going to the scary sidewalk with getting LOTS of the good stuff. Very gradually you'll add a little more distance or a little less treats as she becomes comfortable and used to the area you give her. After a couple of weeks you can probably make it around the block. Eventually you will be able to go anywhere. As you find that she is becoming OK with the whole situation, you'll need to back off the treats nearly entirely. The key will be making your dog think being on the sidewalk is the BEST.

What I would NOT do is force your dog to go on a long walk if she is terrified. That will do lots of harm. Yes, I know we are talking about an energetic boxer puppy. But you will be better off conditioning her to think that walks are great again even if it means you do 20 tiny walks instead of 2 or 3 long ones.

Also try not to reward your dog for being scared. Petting and comforting your dog reinforces the terror and can actually increase the behavior. So be calm and reward positive behavior. Like if she stops looking around in a terrfied manner and instead looks you in the eye, then she gets a JACKPOT of treats.

And my final suggestion is to contact an animal behaviorist who specializes in positive reinforcement. No aversive training please.

Answer 2

Get help from a trainer. Walking is not the issue - she needs to learn to overcome her fear (so you can stop using that choke chain). When she is comfortable, you can focus on loose-leash walking if that problem still remains. Ask your vet or local animal shelter for a referral, or go to www.apdt.com to find a trainer who handles behavior problems.



Okay, just read some of the other posts that appeared. I feel I must comment - simply exposing your dog to what frightens her will not make her better. In fact, it could make her WORSE. She needs limited exposure in a controlled environment while lots of good stuff happens. A trainer can give you all the steps and, more importantly, let you know when it is time to move to the next step.

Answer 3

Try doing some introduction to the chaos that is terrifying your dog without trying to walk. Make the dog sit/stand and put all of her attention to you, her leader, and none on the car or bicycle or skateboard, whatever it is that is scaring her. Soon she will learn that nothing can happen from the disturbances and that you are in control of the situation. I think your dog feels that she is in control of the situation and has never been around this stimulation before and doesn't know what to do. If she thought you were in control she would know that you can handle it and stay calm because you would protect her. Don't forget to always be calm in your actions when training and your dog will follow suit.

Answer 4

Sounds like all these things are going to take time for your dog to become used to them. Exposing your dog to them regularly will help. You also should not console your dog when frightened at these things as this is reinforcing that behavior.

Your dog knows how to walk on lead, just needs to get used to these new surroundings and learn that they are okay to be around and won't harm your dog.

Answer 5

Might help to take her to a puppy class to get her better socialised. They will teach you about obstacles such as traffic and loud noises. Anything you can do to accustom her to the loudness of this new world she has to live in, WITHOUT frightening the life out of her, will help her adjust. In essence, just expose her to as much of this as you can so she gets used to it. Also, walk her to the inside of the pavement, dont allow her on the side nearest the road. Ask around local puppy classes for suggestions also.

Answer 6

How to Stop a Dog from Pulling on His Leash

This is the technique to teach a dog, from puppyhood, or from an advanced age, how not to pull you on his leash, when you are walking him. Never have a taut leash while casually walking a dog.

Steps
Decide firmly that you are the boss. Remember that this is a life or death cause: if the dog pulls you on a slippery surface your head could smash on the pavement. When you are older or hungover the dog will have superior strength, even if he looks little right now.
Buy a fine-linked, tight choke chain...one with enough room around his neck that you can slip two fingers through when not taut...but not too much more room or it won't work.
Practise in your living room first. Always keep the dog on your left side. Step forward with the left leg, in a cheerful voice, saying "Rover. Let's go!" Make happy vocals and keep eye contact.
Suddenly, quickly, say "HEEL!" and jerk the choke. He will stop. Say "Good boy!/Good girl!" and then step off again with your left foot first, cheerfully saying "Let's Go!" The dog will heel fine if you make happy noises.
Repeat above. Do it outside. Make it incumbent upon the dog to keep up with your command. Don't facilitate him.
On further walks, randomly alternate the following: (a) the short fast jerk on the choke chain while saying "Heel!" with the (b) verbal command "heel" without the coinciding choke. You should expect the same behaviour from the dog with or without the choking part: that he makes to stop. Praise this stopping/slowing behaviour equally, whether it is accompanied by the choke or not.
Don't let him actually stop. He is making to stop but you keep walking and praising. What you are praising is the fact that he is breaking his fast stride on the word "heel."
Now that he is slowing with the word "heel:" (loudly and forcefully uttered...but only ONCE.)Never say Heel more than once per decision to heel. The next thing out of your mouth is "UH UH!" accompanied by a jerk on the choke.
If you repeat Heel too many times he will be inured to it...it will become white noise to him. Instead..say Heel once, if he doesn't alter his quick pace, say "Uh UH!" and choke him.
Eventually try him out with just two verbals, no choke: "Heel!...he doesn't slow..."Uh UH!"
When he obeys, teach him the fine points of walking, start replacing "Good boy!" with "Good Slow!" "Slow" Good slow."

Tips
Lots of eye contact and upbeat praise. He wants you to like him. Soon he will Slow on the command "slow!" and he will slow on "heel" and he will watch his *** when he hears your loud "Uh UH!"
Make sure your leash always has a slackness on it. Do not let him pull it taut.
If your dog is bigger and doesn't seem to mind getting choked, a pinch collar can be much more effective.

Warnings
It is possible to collapse your dog's trachea with a choke chain. If you do not know how to fit and use a choke chain, do not use one!
Always put the choke on him when doing training and ceremonially replace it with the regular collar when the 15 mins per day training is over.
If the dog is older or stubborn and the above isn't working....make him sit and stay on the sidewalk for an uncomfortably long time. Try him again. If after two long sit stays, he isn't getting the picture put him back in the house and you walk by yourself happily for 5 minutes outside. Then try him again. Be more stubborn than he is.
Don't overtrain. End the 15 mins on a happy success moment. Don't end it when he is screwing up. Set the bar lower if you have to, in order for the session to end after 15 minutes maximum on a successful note.
Don't put the choke on him upside down. Test it with your fingers first to see if it is releasing when you slacken it.
Never put your dog in a crate with a choke collar on!
Don't "punish" your dog with the choke collar. Positive reinforcement (the praise and treats) have more to do with successful training than the choke collar. Its main purpose is to 1) signal to the dog that it's time to "work" and 2) provide control if absolutely needed. If a choke collar seems mean, an alternative might be the "Gentle Leader" form of harness.

Things You'll Need
fine mesh choke chain not too long. Only two fingers should slip through when not choking the dog. Put it on right side up!

Answer 7

take your choker collar and put it up behind its ears and it will stop it from pulling and if it doesnt theres is nothing else that you can do. thats how they train them to not pull so it should work

Answer 8

Go to this web site, it show you how to train your dog, it work for me.
http://nipissingkennelclub.com/showtrain1.htm