my lab bitch is 18 months BUT i'm having trouble training her:
she dosen't walk at heel
pulls no matter what
not motiveated

and don't what style of training to use 
please help

what method are you using at the moment?  Are you going to classes with her?  It may be just a slight modification of technique that's needed.......  Walking to heel is probably the hardest thing any owner tries to teach their dog, as it goes against so many natural instincts, but most of us have acheived it eventually :)

You say she pulls no matter what. How strong are you? I have an 87 LB, 14 month old Doberman and when he pulled, (not too long ago) I was still stronger. I would stop dead in my tracks the instant there was any tension on the lead. That is taking away his payoff which is to move forward. The dog is pulling because she wants to go forward in the worst way. When he'd give me slack, we'd walk on....his reward. It took a long time to get home from a walk one day, but he got the picture pretty well.

Teach her to walk nicely on a loose lead and don't worry about a formal heel right away. That's one way to do it. Then you can work on the fine tuning. I use treats and as he heels, I say, "good heel" and give a treat while we're going. I don't wait too long, (just a few steps) to reward him. It gives the dog the message that he's doing it right. You can't expect the dog when it's learning to do this tight heel for too long. So do that a little but really work on the polite, loose leash walk. Good luck.

I know exactly what you mean, i have an 18 month old goldie and a 2 1/2 year old BC who are  getting worse despite my efforts, they just pull so much, whether they are together or apart. THey do lovely heelwork at training but outside it is useless.

But training classes are for you not the dogs & to train dogs properly you should train during walks & if you take them out together & they pull you need to train them  & walk them seprately until they do not pull separartely then train them together until they don't pull together Then & only then should you walk them togaether

If I have pupils I always set "homework"which they can achieve if they train at home & in the park in a week. If they only time you train is at Training club & not whilst out walking It doesn't take long for the dogs to realize this & play up Believe me I learnt this from personal experience many many yaers ago & now train at home, when I'm out(even at breed shows)etc

I hear this so often and really. What it means is that you are not continuing the training out in the big wide world. I understand the problems, other calls on your time, other things on your mind, it is so easy to get sidetracked. You start walking puppy to school to collect the children and are a little behind so you are in a rush. Or possibly you are coming home from the school run and are paying more attention to the children than the puppy. So what is the dog learning? It's learning that "We do this heelwork thing at dog club but out side we don't need to bother.

For training to work anywhere you must train everywhere. If you want a dog to walk to heel then you must never EVER accept anything other than walking to heel ANYWHERE. It may seem very restrictive at first but that phase does not last for ever. You must decide just how good you want the heelwork to be and never allow worse. I use "Obedience" type commands for close heelwork but "Talking" commands for general "Out for a stroll" heelwork so that one does not interfere with the other. When out for a stroll I only require that my dog walks reasonably close and does not drag me along, but that needs training just as the "Obedience" heelwork does.

Regards, John

PS Hilary, congratulations on your handling class the other day!

My biggest problem, if you don't mind me saying, is that what works at training doesn't work outside, because outside is just far too interesting. At training i used treats to keep attention and that worked well, also they learnt that at training that is what you do. Outside they are far more intent on free running and exploring. I don't expect obedience style heelwork, and they do know that when i ask them to "walk with me" that is what i want, (THey will do it on the way home from a walk when they are tired.) but no reward can compare. Do you have the same problem hillary? Can anyone suggesat the best method to teach heelwork outside?

<<what works at training doesn't work outside, because outside is just far too interesting>>

This is exactly the point. It will if you insist and if you insist ALL the time. Dog training is hard mental work on your part. If it was easy then all dogs you see would be doing the right thing. You have also discovered the drawback of titbit training. There are two stages of training. The first is showing the dog what's required. Once this is learned the second part come into play, compulsion. A command is a command, not a request and the dog must learn this. For example, if he is running towards the road and a number 9 bus is coming that is hardly the time for a discussion about whether or not you have a titbit of large enough denomination. He does it or he dies! Make no mistake, you cannot discipline a dog for not obeying a command if he does not understand what's required but to not insist on LEARNED commands being obeyed will just devalue the command into just another a sound.  A titbit is fine for use as "The invisible lead" for guiding a puppy into the correct action to a command but once learned should be phased out.

Regards, John

I tend to recommend a stop pull type harness for getting from A to B as the dog doesnt then learn to pull on a collar and the harness makes walks more pleasant, I also never ever let the dog off lead when the lead is taut and insist on first one, then two, then three loose lead steps before being let off. Gradually i asked for more steps and over the months it worked very well for me, and Banya walks well on a loose lead and normal flat collar. This is a dog who also found huge distractions outside and at times had the attention span of a gnat; now she is very responsive. It takes lots of time and ideally the dog should never pull you during the training. I use clicker but there have been times when there is too much distraction so used the above method, works a treat but takes time!

Lindsay
X

You train for distractions.  After all if you expect the dog to live a normal life it won't be stomping around the village hall for the rest of its days!

As John says, treats are fine for INTRODUCING the behaviour you want however most people use them the wrong way and they become a crutch and they have food permanently in their hand and the dog learns nothing but just follows the titbits, the food used in this way becomes a bribe to get the behaviour when what you want is the dog to get the behaviour so that it gets the food; there is a difference!

In class your trainer should be introducing the "ignore distractions" training.  Eg the dog has a choice to look away at the crackly plastic bag, bouncing ball, container of food which = "zero" or it can look at the owner because THAT is where the food/toy etc comes from.  If done correctly the dog will pay even MORE attention to you as the appearance of these distractions will trigger the response you want, "If I ignore that food, ball, dog, cat, rabbit, cyclist and pay huge attention to my owner, food will rain from the sky"!

I find the idea that the owner appears less interesting to a dog than an empty plastic bag quite sobering to them and also quite motivating............. :D

Every time you allow a dog to ignore you or carry out any other behaviour you do not want it is practising this and getting better at it!

The idea is not to allow dogs to rehearse inappropriate behaviour.