Taking walks

Spartan is not to bad when we go on our walks but, I don't know how to get him to not cross in front of me. I've stepped on him a few times (poor guy) and now when i walk him I have to walk looking down. Any advise? I also have been working on him to leave it but, when we are out on the trail he seems to not pay attention to me and will pick up anything in the path and try and eat it. I know he's still a puppy but, I know I need to nab it in the butt now. Pls help. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Patti on February 17, 2009 at 8:53pm

Both of my corgi's have done this, and to my neighbor's delight I've fallen a few times - they're not sure who's dumber - me or the dogs for walking on the leash that way. So now, we walk on "heel", one dog on each side, and I have no more bruises. Work on your heel with Spartan, and when you've mastered that with him, let the leash out a bit, and when he starts to cross again, call him back to heel. As for the pick up, mine didn;t stop that till done with puppydom, and constant corrections. Now they;re pretty good. Good Luck.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on February 18, 2009 at 8:42am

I have no answers -- I have the same pick-up problem with my little girl Ethel. She will eat anything, anywhere, anytime, and is happiest walking if she has a stick or leave in her mouth. I'm not sure how to correct for that. We actually don't walk on our leashes very much -- we take off-leash woods walks (they are both good at coming when called) -- mostly, we only put on leashes for "business" outings in our (unfenced) yard. But still, I want her to walk well. I didn't have this problem with Bertie, so haven't had to deal with it before.

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Permalink Reply by Spartan on February 19, 2009 at 2:37pm

Thank you for all your help. I've taken the last few days training Spartan to heel and although we still need work on it, the heeling method has helped so much on him crossing over and already he has been sitting when I come to a stop. Today, I've ran into another dilemma. When we get approched by people Spartan gets so excited he not only jumps up to them, he licks and nips and almosts gets there face. I'm afraid someone is gonna get hurt because we live in a neighborhood with alot of kids. I know how to train him not to jump up but, the nipping I need help with. The "NO command isn't working. Any suggestions?

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Permalink Reply by MagnoliaFly on February 19, 2009 at 2:44pm

Don't let him greet anyone until he is calm first. He needs to have all four feet on the ground. Tell people to not approach if he is super excited. Attention from other people is an earned reward.

As for the nipping, make sure you have an appropriate toy he can bite on instead of your hands. I recommend that my puppy clients carry something with them constantly so the dog has something else to focus on and you can reward them for chewing and biting on the appropriate toy.

If he does accidentally (or purposefully) nip at someone, all attention is taken away and everyone should ignore him for 30 seconds to a minute. Eventually he'll learn fun stops if he bites on someone. This might require you to leave the room if he continues to jump and play on you.