anxiety/distraction advice

hoochmamas · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:18 am Post subject: anxiety/distraction advice

Hooch is now 6 months old.. and doing great in most areas. but..
1. when walking, i use a sporn no pull (haha) harness. it helps, but i am considering a rubber tipped prong collar if i can't get this situation under control.. he is a weim.. he pulls.. hard.
not so much of a problem now that he is 55 lbs.. but when he is 105lbs?! ouch!!
it is not all of the time, either. i do reward/praise when he is walking well.. on left, loose but short lead.. but if he sees a person he likes/dog friend/bird/squirrel.. it is very difficult to redirect his attention back to me.. he gets very focused on that thing.. right now i just stop the walk, have him sit, and try to get him to "eyes up".. but i could use some advice.

2. if we are all in the car, and one of us gets out to go in a store or something, he whimpers and pulls in his harness seat belt.. stares intently out the car door window, barks.. and there is no consoling him. i usually laugh.. tell him to relax in a quiet voice, try not to make a big deal.. give him a toy to chew.. ignore him, he wants NOTHING but that family member to come back. when the person returns, he settles back down immediately, like nothing happened. i find it difficult to distract him, again.. when he is in that mind set.

i know weims are stubborn, i know he is only a baby.. even though he is the size of a pony.. i am hoping he will outgrow this..
any advice?

svolk · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 10:10 am Post subject:

About pulling when walking, I just purchased a Halti for Molly to wear on walks. I bought it on Saturday and have used it two days in a row now and BOY it's working wonders!! My boss raved about the one she uses for her Whoodle and Molly has been pulling harder than I'd like lately. When Molly first came home she didn't know how to walk on a leash and while she's gotten better with the pulling, she's still pulling and my back is sore in one spot from it.

So far I love the Halti. Molly is still getting used to it in that she'll try to dip her head and paw at it, but it's so easy to gain control of that and keep her head high (and walking at a brisk pace usually distracts her). The material of it is soft and it seems to fit well without being too tight anywhere. It doesn't restrict her mouth at all, so it's not like a muzzle. It's VERY easy to direct her with it.

hoochmamas · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 10:12 am Post subject:

yeah.. i am hesitant about the halti for right now.. that is why i might try a rubber tipped prong collar.. i am generally more concerned with redirecting his attention when he is in that "zone"..

svolk · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 10:18 am Post subject:

manchvegas · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 10:36 am Post subject:

I have recently tried loose leash walking with Daisy....there are some good articles on the subject and I like the idea of changing the behavior at the source rather than using something external like a collar to do the job.

http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/lltotal.htm

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/looseleashwalking.htm

First couple times are a little rough on the arms and hands, but she is learning quickly and it makes for a really nice walk. They do recommend making sure they get their pent up energy out before you start with the loose leash walking.

hoochmamas · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 12:26 pm Post subject:

yes! i forgot about changing direction. i used to do that when he was very little, and it completely slipped my mind.. i will try this method again. thank you!

darlinggrl7 · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 1:25 pm Post subject:

DoubleTrouble · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 1:56 am Post subject:

Something they mentioned in our dog training class was to cover their eyes for whining, to give the choice of whining or seeing and most dogs choose to see. I use this trick whenever I think they are too focused on something and won't pay attention to me. Or it might be easier to do something else, use a bandana or something to cover his eyes.

hoochmamas · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:15 am Post subject:

haha! i'd have to get him to hold still to cover his eyes! he usually is quite "fidgety" when he is in that zone of "where did my person go!?"
i tried the changing direction yesterday.. it was tough.. going to try again today, but i found a new treat that he is bonkers for.. so they are working better than the old training treats. (dried chicken chips)..

*** walk was fantastic 2x today.. without changing direction.. we love chicken chips!!***

as far as the anxiety.. any other distraction advice?

anne · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:22 pm Post subject:

There's a ton of stuff on this site about loose leash walking. If you go to the main page, the search function is very good.

One thing I noted in your original post is that you are asking him to HEEL rather than walk on a loose leash. These are 2 different things IMO. Heeling for a whole walk is actually pretty hard for a dog; I wouldn't do it for a whole walk. Heel to me is for short spurts when you want complete control of your dog (such as, in a hunting situation for the dogs safety, or on a trail and there is someone walking the opposite way and you don't want your dog to greet them, etc) If you want to train for a really good heel, I would highly recommend Dawn Jec's book Choose to Heel, there is a summary here somewhere...
When trying to get his attention, and getting a good heel, you need to make sure that that left side is where ALL GOOD THINGS come from. Never ever punish in heel position, it's a SAFE place, always.

Car behavior. When you return is he still carrying on? If so, you are rewarding and perpetuating his behavior. Does he do OK at home alone?

Pups/dogs usually don't "outgrow" things, they are learning all the time, and rewarded behavior is behavior that grows stronger as they age.

hoochmamas · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 6:46 pm Post subject:

Kiarazoom · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:42 am Post subject: Car issue

Hi there

Our little guy is crate trained and he has always protested when one of us leaves when in the car. Best I have found is consistently ignoring it but by ignoring I mean not even one reasuring word right from the moment the person leaves and his protests are getting shorter and shorter.

One other thing we did was have a 'buzz word' of 'be back' we used it if we were popping to the loo for a minute or leaving to work for the morning, when we return we just say 'back' (very casually). Hes now used to the fact that 'be back' means we are leaving and that at some point he will here 'back' and we/or one of us! will return.

Im sure he will settle in time, especially as you already cracked the crate training. I cant remember if you mentioned but we also found crating him when we are there for small periods has helped to reasure him that when we leave a room etc we always return. Hes quite chilled now (fingers crossed its permanent!)

All the best Very Happy

Asarra · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 6:57 am Post subject:

Storm does the same thing in the car and also if we are walking and I want to go into a store while my husband holds her. She whines and pulls really hard to get the pack back together again. At home I started working on a sit stay where I leave the room. Just started it, so I can't tell you if it makes a difference. May be worth a try?

hoochmamas · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:32 am Post subject:

i've been using the "be back" and "back" buzzwords. i think it has helped. i'm sure he will always protest when his pack gets split up.. but it seems less.