Question about strange leash/walking behavior
Hello! My almost 5 month old puppy Stella has developed some strange and annoying habits when I walk her in town. I checked the other discussion "How is your corgi on a leash?" and I saw posts of some aspects of what's going on, but none addressing my specific problem, so I thought I'd add a new discussion.
I walk, and have always walked, Stella with her "big sister," Annie, my roommate's dog, a 13 yr old husky mix. At first, it was great! Stella would just follow behind Annie, keeping up with her, not stopping and doing an excellent job. This was especially convenient when she first started and I didn't have to worry about the puppy dragging stage.
Well, really recently (probably in the last couple of weeks) she's started this strange behavior where we'll be walking along and she'll just plop down--LIE down, like she was lounging there all along. I'll call her, tell her to come, tug at her, try to drag her (which usually results in her rolling one or two times!) but she basically stays there for a good thirty seconds or so until Kate (my roommate) and Annie are a block or so away. Then she all of a sudden pops up, SPRINTS like crazy and tries to either pass Annie and turn around and get her to play or pushes her heels (I guess herding behavior?). This behavior developed gradually and, what I thought, innocently. It would only happen once or twice on a walk. My first interpretation of it was, "Ok, Stella's tired and can't keep up because she's a puppy, so I'll let her rest and we can run and catch up." Now it's become clear that, even though it might have started that way, it's turned into a pattern of behavior that is happening more frequently and is definitely a problem. Another strange thing is that she only does this when I walk her in the neighborhood, but does not do this at all on the trail. On the trail she's great and even leads, walking ahead of Kate and Annie without any problems.
So, my questions are: What is the best way to change this behavior? Do I focus on preventing the initial lying down or do I prevent the sprint afterward? Should I even be concerned? Is this a puppy phase she's going through? What are your interpretations of why she's acting this way? Has anyone had a similar experience?
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks,
Nicole
I walk, and have always walked, Stella with her "big sister," Annie, my roommate's dog, a 13 yr old husky mix. At first, it was great! Stella would just follow behind Annie, keeping up with her, not stopping and doing an excellent job. This was especially convenient when she first started and I didn't have to worry about the puppy dragging stage.
Well, really recently (probably in the last couple of weeks) she's started this strange behavior where we'll be walking along and she'll just plop down--LIE down, like she was lounging there all along. I'll call her, tell her to come, tug at her, try to drag her (which usually results in her rolling one or two times!) but she basically stays there for a good thirty seconds or so until Kate (my roommate) and Annie are a block or so away. Then she all of a sudden pops up, SPRINTS like crazy and tries to either pass Annie and turn around and get her to play or pushes her heels (I guess herding behavior?). This behavior developed gradually and, what I thought, innocently. It would only happen once or twice on a walk. My first interpretation of it was, "Ok, Stella's tired and can't keep up because she's a puppy, so I'll let her rest and we can run and catch up." Now it's become clear that, even though it might have started that way, it's turned into a pattern of behavior that is happening more frequently and is definitely a problem. Another strange thing is that she only does this when I walk her in the neighborhood, but does not do this at all on the trail. On the trail she's great and even leads, walking ahead of Kate and Annie without any problems.
So, my questions are: What is the best way to change this behavior? Do I focus on preventing the initial lying down or do I prevent the sprint afterward? Should I even be concerned? Is this a puppy phase she's going through? What are your interpretations of why she's acting this way? Has anyone had a similar experience?
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!
Thanks,
Nicole
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Denise Hawkins on
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I think, as you said this started one day when she was really tired, and it became a game, with the sprint to catch up being the most exciting. I would not allow the sprint afterward, it seems to me that walking in front of the older dog and the nipping could be her trying to exert some dominance (although I am no expert).
If this stopping of the wild sprint does not work, once she gets up from the floor I would turn her around and walk her right home, without the sprint or the catching up, I think running and catching up is her reward.
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Permalink Reply by Nicole, Stanley and STELLA! on
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Thanks for the advice! I agree about the dominance issue. For some reason, she's more aggressive with Annie than other dogs (she STILL jumps at her face sometimes! She NEVER does this with other dogs). It might be because Annie ignores her outside, I don't know. Thanks again!
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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If she starts to lay down just calmly keep walking. You won't have to drag her far and she will figure out that you decide when you are going to stop. She is old enough to understand this concept. She figured out a way to make her walk more exciting, didn't she?
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Looks like she invented a game for herself, didn't she! LOL
I agree that you should stop the chasing behavior. Ask your friend to not get so far ahead if you do have a balking issue, and practice calmly walking to catch up while she waits for you. I would not be opposed to using a treat as a lure for this. Jack would not want to walk away from other dogs for the longest time; dragging him did not discourage the behavior because the internal reward of getting to watch the fun other dog for longer was stronger than the external "punishment" of being dragged. Similarly for you, the joy of pulling at the end of the leash to try to reach her friend will probably outweigh the punishment of a short leash.
What I would do with Jack when trying to walk away from other dogs was wave a treat in front of his nose and say "Jack, heel!" and walk off. After a few steps he'd notice the treat and munch happily. When I reached the point where waving the treat instantly got his attention, I then moved to saying "Jack, heel!" very cheerfully, then immediately showing the treat. That quickly changes to "Jack, heel!' and not showing the treat til he looks at me. Then "Jack, heel!" and not showing treat til he walks nicely for a step or two. Then gradually increase the distance the dog is expected to walk before getting a treat, til you can move on to intermittent reward or no reward at all except verbal praise.
Now, whenever we walk away from another dog, Jack looks at me and grins as if to say "That was good, wasn't it!" and I will still sometimes give him a treat to keep him sharp.
In this case, once Stella is walking again, try using a treat lure to keep her at your side, and give whatever command you give to have her walk nicely. Praise and let her have the treat, then gradually move to not giving the treat until she is already walking nicely, and finally reach a point where you only give treat when she walks nicely all the way up to the other dog and then sits and looks at you.
I have found lure-based training very successful with Corgis. The secret is in seeing the timing of when to switch from using the treat as a lure to illicit the behavior, to moving on to using it as a reward for completing the behavior. If you stick with using it as a lure for too long, you can end up with a dog that only performs if it first sees a treat.
If lure training does not appeal to you, or if Stella is not very motivated by rewards, then you can do a punishment-based training: if Stella starts to run toward the other dog, you turn and walk briskly in the other direction. This teaches her that pulling gets her exactly the opposite of what she wants. In my personal experience, my Corgi responds well to rewards and not so well to negative reinforcement, but each dog is different and both methods are acceptable.
As for the balking, I agree to just try to keep her moving. Ideally, after she realizes balking won't get her her own way, she'll stop the behavior. LOL Notice I said "Ideally." She is a Corgi, after all.
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Hi Beth,
Thanks for such specific advice! I'm going to try luring her with the treat. I was worried about what you mentioned at the end of your post---the trick of switching from using it to lure to using it as a reward. I have been using treats on walks to retrain Stella to leave and drop things. I was worried that if I add another treat possibility she might just do all of her bad behaviors to get treats! Thinking about it, though, she's getting better with leaving things (unless it's something super-tempting, like something dead!), and I haven't needed to use treats for that lately, so I'm going to try it to stop her little chasing game.
Even though I've only had her for a few months now, I've noticed that she responds best to the positive reinforcement and the treats, like you said works best with Jack. She's SO food/treat motivated and I need to take advantage of it. I know that both my friend's dog and one of my parent's dogs were more difficult to train that way because they are both unmotivated by food or treats. Other dogs I've had have been really picky about what treats they like, too. Stella's my first Corgi, and I've never had a dog that likes EVERYTHING. The only thing she won't eat is peanut butter, but other than that, all treats are her favorite!
I'll keep you posted on how things go. Thanks again for such detailed advice!
Nicole
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