Dog Training - Walking/Heeling

OK, now you know what my dogs' issues are, so I'll discuss the training I received from Victoria for those issues.

Walking - Victoria worked with me on the "watch" or "watch me" command. This is something that I had previously taught my dogs, so that helped. With a treat in your hand, hold it near your eyes and give the command, we use "watch". This gets your dog to focus on you. We did this a few times - and in doing so, Victoria realized that Riley does not have a soft mouth when taking a treat, so we also worked on the "gentle" command. With the gentle command, Victoria did not give Riley the treat if she tried to get it without being gentle. She then said "gentle" and slowly lowered the treat to Riley. It didn't take long for Riley to realize that grabbing the treat wasn't paying off, so she started lightly taking it. Success!

Back to the watch command...Victoria had me walk with Riley and while walking, I would say "watch" and when Riley looked at me, she got a treat. Then, whenever she would look at me on her own, I would praise her or give her a treat. This got her attention on me and she slowed down and stopped pulling on the leash. I should note that after the dog seemed to understand the command, I would mix up giving a treat or just saying, "good girl/boy". Victoria noted that this is important because you won't always have food on hand and they need to learn that they won't always get a food reward.

In our first 10 days of training, this has probably been the most successful thing for us. Victoria noted that I should walk the dogs separately because of the aggression issues and with the watch command, the dogs are heeling very well and not pulling much. At this point, Finlay is responding especially well to this and walking right by my side. Riley is doing well too, but pulling a bit more than Fin. Since Riley has the issue of taking the treat too hard, I am also able to work on the gentle command with this and all other commands. She's getting a lot better and is starting to take food gently without having to be told...but not all the time just yet!