Hi. My 5 month old Cav pup pulls like crazy on the lead to the extent that he chokes himself. I have back problems and although he's only a dot, he really hurts me. I use a simple 'Rogz' nylon collar at the moment and an extendable lead for when we get to the park. Is there anything I can do to stop the pulling? Treat training is difficult because he's so low down and my back doesn't allow me to bend to his level

One other thing, he worries me when he's off lead.....other dogs often appear from nowhere and he darts over to them afraid of nothing and is completely deaf to me shouting him back, would it be better if I keep him on a long lead at all times? I have a book - owners guide to CKCS by Meredith Johnson-Snyder and in it she states that you should never let your Cav off lead

Any advice will be most appreciated

Thanks

Hayley

I'm sure you can let him off lead but maybe just long lead train him for now, i usually do it at 1st without any distractions (pick a time and a place when no-ones about) and we practice like mad off lead then graduate onto with a few distractions like people and so on. (as well as the on lead socialising time)

Have you tried a harness? i'm only thinking of his neck if he is pulling i wouldn't reccommend to continue using a collar whilst he is like that.

:)

Hayley, the first thing I would suggest is to ditch the extendable lead.

Think about it - an extendable lead works by the dog pulling against it, and then getting to go further.

So the dog learns - ah - if I pull against my lead, I get more freedom (I am rewarded) - so he pulls against it all the time to try to go further, even when you're using it on a short length or when you're using a shorter lead.

The second most important thing to say is - do NOT EVER continue to walk forwards when the dog is pulling and has hit the end of the lead.  The lead going tight is your signal to stop walking.  As soon as the lead slacks off again, walk forwards again.  Keep doing this consistently and make sure everyone who walks him does it.  If you continue to walk forwards while he is pulling, you are rewarding the pulling and making it more likely to happen again.

A breed like a Cav isn't known to be a big puller, so if you follow these two tips it should be enough for him to walk nicely.

If for some reason they don't work, you can try clicking and treating him for maintaining the right position.  You click when he's at your heel then just drop the food on the floor - don't worry about bending down to him.

That really does make sense, thanks. What do I do when we get to the park and Harvey wants to run....his recall is rubbish and completely falls on deaf ears........also, I googled CKCS off lead and loads of info came up quoting NEVER to let a Cav off lead due to thier spaniel hunting instinct

Hmmm, a lot of us have dogs with very strong hunting instincts but they are off the lead............ (in my case most of the time)

CKCS are very compliant dogs and I have not known them NOT be allowed off the lead because of a breed trait eg such as the huskies etc..........

Recall training needs to be implemented in incremental steps so that you get a reliable recall under any circumstances, house, garden, park with no distractions until eventually you can recall your dog from dogs, people, food, hot totty etc etc :D

It just takes relentless and consistent training which should have  begun by the breeder and then continued from Day 1 on puppy's arrival home, unfortunately because puppies tend to be "velcro" dogs at first, owners are often lulled into a false sense of security ......

until the day Velcro dog is replaced by "bogoff" dog after a few months.......

Persevere! :)

Well, you need to work on his recall.

What are you rewarding him with, when he comes to you?  You should have a little bag or pot of REALLY TASTY things in your pocket every time you know you will want to let him off lead.

Firstly, start around the house and garden to make sure he gets the idea.  Call him and when he runs to you, give him one of these really tasty treats and make a big fuss.  If you have other members in your family, you can get them all to stand around the house in different places and call him, and everyone has to have tasty treats to reward.  Do this for several days, making it gradually harder (longer distances). 

Tips: Only call once.  Don't continue to call him.  When one person calls him, if another person can see him, they can yell "He's coming", to let the caller know he's on his way.  Always only call him once, or the "recall" will be "Harveycomeharveycomeharveycome", before he comes.  Which takes a lot longer to say than "Harvey, Come". 

Be consistent with the recall word: Best not to just use his name, because you will use his name a lot at other times of the day and you want the recall word to be special.  So use "Come" or "Here" or "This way", and put his name before it: "Harvey, Come" "Harvey Here" or "Harvey This Way".  Everyone in the family must use the same recall command.

The first few times you take him to the park, fix the extending lead on Maximum length (so it can't go in and out and get longer and shorter), and then just stand still with it on him.  Let him run about while you stand still, and every now and again, call him to you, give him a super yummy treat, and immediately let him go back to playing. 

When you want to go home, bend down and pretend you've found something incredibly interesting in the grass.  Most dogs will come and see what it is you've found because they don't want to miss out.  Then you can slip the lead on him to go home.  The reason I think it's best not to end with a recall is just to stop the recall from meaning "end of play time" to the dog.  Obviously, if the dog is too far away or if it's an emergency, recall it.  But try, most of the time, to get the dog in other ways than using a recall.

After that you should be ready to ditch the extending lead.  But remember to keep rewarding those recalls or they will get worse again.

If he does ever ignore a recall, one tip is to sprint as fast as you can away from him, in the opposite direction - dogs will usually run after you.  When he gets close enough, wheel around and catch him.  Don't just continue to call because you will be training him to ignore you.

I've never heard that Cavs have a particularly massive hunting instinct - people with gundogs (which are hunting dogs!) let them off lead and train recalls, so it shouldn't be any different.  The only dogs I've heard of not being able to be let off lead are sighthounds and huskies.

Hi luvhandles

I let Flynn our 4 month cavalier off the lead most of the time.  We have worked very hard on our recall and go to dog training classes.  I always have treats on me and give him one when he comes back and make a big fuss of him.  He doesn't always come back but 8/10 he does.  We practiced recalls at home before we let him off outside and always touched his collar when he came back.

We have a fabric lead for walking normally and an extendable lead for places like Richmond park where there might be the odd road around.  When using the extendable lead it is very difficult to control Flynn's pulling (he pulls a lot too) but with the fabric lead he is learning to walk quite nicely.

Good luck with Harvey.

Never let a Cavalier off lead ? Never heard that one TBH

I do get mine doing a recall as home from early days Oddly enough they all still come to the call of Puppies !

Training & lots of it is the key & of course getting him used to having the lead clipped back on & then the treat means he should lead having a lead put on is a rewarding thing. I give the reward & then let them loose as well which means it lead isn't perceived as an end to the play :)

Definitely ditch the extending lead, they do teach dogs to pull.

A friend has a CKCS and always let him off, he was a great little chap and was pretty good at recall. He would come with us to the New Forest for raining sessions and we never had any problems with him running off. He is entire and about 4.

I'm quite surprised the book said to not let them off; some breeds I could understand, but not the CKCS! :)

If you prefer a long lead, buy a training lead, or a double lead (Company of animals do a lovely softish one that can be several lengths) or a longlead ... hth :)

Lindsay
x

Oddly enough they all still come to the call of Puppies !

LOL MM, all my dogs do that too -particularly funny with the 27" tall 4 year old cross! :D :D

also, I googled CKCS off lead and loads of info came up quoting NEVER to let a Cav off lead due to thier spaniel hunting instinct

That's AWFUL and total rubbish! Cavaliers were bred to be pets and never anything BUT pets, hunting instinct?? never noticed any of that! and they most CERTAINLY can be off the lead if trained well enough! I've never had a problem with any of mine. I'd put the authors of those quotes down as somebody incompetent in training.....using the breed as a pathetic excuse for their inability. Yes some breeds are a lot harder than others to train a good recall with, but Cavalier is most definitely NOT one of those breeds at ALL. In fact they're one of the easiest breeds to train really. Not having a go at YOU, not at all, but this just makes me SOOOOO annoyed!

Can you get to training classes? With my first Cavalier he used to run off every now and then during walks, and I'd be trying to catch him whilst having 4 large dogs on leads -dogs that had come as soon as I called them. Once I had enough and started training classes I was quickly told that my one and only problem was that I treated my cavalier like a small dog as opposed to just treat him like a DOG, full stop.(I treated him with kid gloves and were never firm with him -by that I don't mean harsh or anything! but firm, so he never took me seriously).  As soon as I started behaving towards him the same way I did with my other dogs, he turned into one of the best behaved dogs you could ever imagine -and he still is 11 years later.