Click click

When Raleigh and I found each other last summer, he was terrible on the leash. My theory is that he was loved and socialized and went through some very basic obedience as a young pup, and then somehow found himself a stray and [willfully?] forgot most of his training. He knew "sit" and "wait", and he compulsively sticks to my left side when on the leash -- even in the beginning when he pulled like mad.

I did my best with him, considering I've never really done any training before. Still though, I had high hopes for he and I, and I wanted more. I had been playing around with the idea of clicker training for loose-leash walking for several months now, even having gone so far as to buy the clicker and do some basic work with him (mostly just introducing him the the idea that click = treat). This week though, I told myself to nut up and just do it.

But it's daunting, I said.

See the thing is that I really want to do it right. I want to go at the pace he's able to go at, and get each step down before trying for the next one. I want to do everything I can to set him up for success. In the end, I want a dog that will walk nicely at my side, and not forget I exist even if there's a dog barking at him or a squirrel on the phone line of 50 bazillion feral cats in the Secret Garden park.

So we start small, right? We've been playing a lot of fetch to get warmed up -- both to get some of his ya-yas out and to prime him to the clicker. Then we walk, back and forth, back and forth, in the house. Away from distractions. And he's getting it! Yesterday we started in the house and then did some in the yard. This morning we skipped the house part and went straight to the back yard -- and he did great! For the first 30 seconds or so he was very excited (it's so many treats!), but he quickly remembered that he gets the most treats and praise when he walks calmly at my side. Today I also stopped rewarding him after I tell him to get back. He gets treats for doing the right thing on his own, not for me having to remind him what the right thing is. I think tomorrow we'll try walking back and forth, back and forth, in front of the house.

I just hope we have it down before we go to Ithaca in --crap-- two weeks.