New dog owner needs help.

[simster]

@Lumix

Today I took the advice of several of you and worked with Ammy in my yard and up and down the driveway. I used a normal collar and leash. She did pretty good. I kept saying heel and using a gentle tug when she started to get ahead of me. Worked like a charm.When she started to pull I firmly said no and stopped walking until she stopped. I gave her plenty of “good girl’s” and a treat when we went back inside. It was far from perfect but I think it was a good start.

Later I tried taking her for a walk through the neighbourhood . The first 100 feet was pretty good then it went down hill fast. **Seems like the further she gets from the house, the worst she gets. **

I’m not going to give up on this dog. I certainly will not be taking her for a final visit to the vet as one poster posted.

(bolding mine)

Turn around @ 150 feet.

Part of that is the newness/adventure aspect of it - took a few walks for our little one to get over the excitement of new area and new smells.

Good progress ! (hands treat and pats you on head)

[RivkahChaya]

@Ulfreida

Don’t use it at all, until your dog is so comfortable in they do not object to wearing it. The first few times out, tie a second leash snapped to the collar to your belt. Also, they are designed to fit much more tightly than you’d think.

She’d worn it around the house a couple of times and didn’t seem to notice it. She was kind of a scary-smart dog, though.

[Folacin]

@TriPolar

Hey there fellow Row Dilander. What part of the state do you live in? Here’s a link to Alpha Dog way up north here in Cumberland. Wonderful place, wonderful people.

I didn’t think Rhode Island was big enough to have ‘parts’?

[Dinsdale]

@Folacin

I didn’t think Rhode Island was big enough to have ‘parts’?

My thinking as well. Tho, admittedly, my sole experience was driving through it once - which didn’t take very long at all!

(On googling, looks like RI is approx 5x as large as the city of Chicago proper.)

[DSeid]

@simster

(bolding mine)

Turn around @ 150 feet.

Part of that is the newness/adventure aspect of it - took a few walks for our little one to get over the excitement of new area and new smells.

Good progress ! (hands treat and pats you on head)

Piling on on the excellent progress and would add that maybe turn around at 100 feet for a bit.

Our expert trainers here can chime in but the standard advice is to have a base of success before pushing farther. Rule of thumb is usually given as a solid run of having >80% success before moving to a more difficult version of the task, such as adding stronger distractions, or more distance or duration.

Do a few days at the level you know she can succeed at. Maybe at that 100 foot edge do some of her basic tricks and give her at least one “jackpot” reward. After that solid run of success then push to 150 feet. Don’t rush it.

And I gotta say compared to the JRTs I’ve met she sounds great!

[DSeid]

Oh. A fun bit about the differences between dogs and wolves in the NYT the other day. Wolves are innately better at teamwork than are dogs.

The reason for wolves performing much better, she said, might be that in the wild they must cooperate in bringing down big game and sharing it if they are to survive.

Dogs, whether they are free-ranging, foraging at garbage dumps or looking for discarded food, don’t need teamwork.

But defining tolerance, which is supposed to aid cooperation, is tricky.

“Wolves argue a lot around food,” she said. “But in the end they eat together.” As for dogs, she said, “They don’t even argue about it.” An earlier study of free-ranging dogs, she said, showed that the dominant dog ate first and other dogs waited.

Of course, pet dogs often eat together with two bowls. And dogs can be trained to do just about anything; even the act of training may change their ability to cooperate.

In a previous study, dogs that had been highly trained — not at the rope pull test, but for other tasks — were much better able to succeed at the rope pull.

No idea if it informs about “dominance theory” but I thought some might be interested anyway.

Personally I buy into the idea that I am beyond any possible pack hierarchy to my dog and that the drive to read me and to please me is not part of dominance but part of a completely different process that dogs have evolved as part of being our companions. And that I need to communicate with my dog in the channels that it understands, mostly “yes”, mostly building on success, and also giving correction in ways that it comprehends clearly and quickly when needed, presumptively infrequently.

[Lumix]

@Dinsdale

My thinking as well. Tho, admittedly, my sole experience was driving through it once - which didn’t take very long at all!

(On googling, looks like RI is approx 5x as large as the city of Chicago proper.)

According to the old popular tourist jingle
We’re the biggest little state in the union…Rhode Island