When Pets Don't Like Each Other

Have you ever had to live or work with someone you didn't like?  Think of the things that made the process a bit more bearable for you (time apart, everyone in their own space, less stress in general, focusing on other things, etc..)
Those same things might also help pets who have to live together.

Pets and Furniture. Part II. Asking Our Dogs To Get Off Of Furniture

In our last post on pets and furniture, we talked about how to ask a dog to get off the sofa or bed.
And we briefly mentioned that we should never pull a dog off. Here are some reasons why:

From the Mail Bag - Trouble With Attention During Loose Leash Walking

From a reader:
I really enjoy your posts and videos. I have been working on loose leash walking with my Jack Russell Terrier (terrier and highly distractible!) for a long time. We have had minimal success. I notice in your videos that your Puddin is engaged with you while you are walking. My Penny very rarely looks at me when we walk. When she starts pulling, I stop and don’t move again until she comes back to me, sits next to me and looks at me. I reward her and try walking a few more steps. I can get about 2-3 steps before the cycle starts again. We have been doing this for months and have not progressed beyond 2-3 steps. Do you have any tips I can use to get her to engage with me and try to make the walks a little longer without the big pull? We are walking on the sidewalk in front of my house and have only gotten about two houses away.

Thanks so much for your compliment. And good job on trying to take things slow. See my responses below.

< My Penny very rarely looks at me when we walk>
Understandable. The outdoors can be highly distracting. Especially for such a high energy breed.  The more we can break down the behaviors we want, the greater chance we have for success. So I would start working on "attention" indoors. The slowly increase distractions. My own dog had trouble going from the yard to the sidewalk. So I had to find something more interesting than the yard but less interesting than the sidewalk. We found it in an empty parking lot (our long line video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR4KX_An5jk)
If that doesn't work, then stay inside and increase distractions while inside. i.e. having someone toss a toy while you walk indoors
Or ask your dog to walk past a plate of food while you are indoors (only if your dog can do it - don't set her up for failure or frustration)

Info on attention/focus:

Watch me: https://www.facebook.com/4pawsuniversity/photos/a.137573622069.109578.49741042069/10153149287112070/?type=1&theater

Check ins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_BEXER4lGo 

Pattern Games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtn-BeI9lHE

Proofing:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4852691852323&set=gm.10152808126606823&type=1

If none of the above helps, then breaks things down even more
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4861991404806&set=gm.10152814343361823&type=1


Then once you have attention, start rewarding your dog for walking next to you indoors with no equipment, then with equipment, then outdoors in a boring area. See above about the parking lot. It's what helped my dog, but your dog might need something else.
More details here: http://www.stubbypuddin.com/2014/07/loose-leash-walking-summary.html

<When she starts pulling, I stop and don’t move again until she comes back to me, sits next to me and looks at me>
The stop and start method can be useful but can also be problematic.  See more details here: http://www.stubbypuddin.com/2015/02/loose-leash-walking-part-10-pitfalls-of.html

If your dog has any fear or reactivity issues, I'd work on those separately
http://www.stubbypuddin.com/search/label/reactivity

...
Loose leash walking can be challenging for a lot of us.  It took me a long time to teach Puddin (and we are still far from perfect). Hang in there.

Additionally, check out everything by Leslie McDevitt (books and DVDs).  Lots of great info on helping a gain focus and attention.  Check DogWise, Cleanrun, and Tawzer.

https://www.facebook.com/stubbypuddin
https://www.facebook.com/groups/stubbypuddin/ 

What We Think We Are Training And What The Dog Is Learning Might Be Two Different Things.

One of my dogs used to sneeze whenever we’d walk out of the house to go for a walk. I thought that since he was so predictable, capturing and rewarding the sneeze would be simple. After about 10 trials, I noticed a positive CER* whenever I closed the door.