[NAGDU] Gentle leaders and dog distractions

Tracy Carcione carcione at access.net
Mon May 18 13:16:49 UTC 2020


Hi Carmela.
Sounds like you are doing the right things.
For better or worse, I haven't used the GL much.  I have had dogs since 1980, but only got a GL with my last dog.  He hated it, and would slow down to a crawl if I put it on him, so I stopped.  Krokus is much better with it, but his problem is scavenging, and, even if I have the GL tight, he still manages to grab things, and then I can't get them out of his mouth, so I don't use it a lot.  
It is true that just having it on calms him down a bit.  That, or he's thinking about how to get it off, instead of thinking about other things.
The configuration I like best is to put the big leash snap on his collar and the little snap on the GL.  I feel like that gives me better control.  I loop the leash around my fingers holding the harness handle, and that's about the right tension.  I am using the short Seeing Eye leash though, so yours may be longer.  
It's really important not to forget and give a leash correction with the GL, or you could really hurt your dog.

Good luck going back to work.
Tracy


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Carmella Broome via NAGDU
Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2020 7:32 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Carmella Broome
Subject: [NAGDU] Gentle leaders and dog distractions

Hi everyone, I don’t post here often but there is a wealth of knowledge, skill, and experience on this list and I  appreciate the opportunity to tap into a little of that. I am looking for  feedback about using  the gentle leader head collar in general and to help with  dog distractions, as in my dog being distracted by other  dogs when out for walks. I would welcome experiences,  tips,  suggestions, and  any constructive feedback  anyone wants to offer. I know this topic has been addressed well and thoroughly on this list before on multiple occasions, but I can’t find a way to search the archives.  If there is a way, I would really appreciate  knowing what it is. 

I have recently begun introducing my dog to the gentle leader, along with  distraction using praise and treats, to  address an issue with my guide becoming excessively  excited and distracted when encountering other dogs. She is a somewhat excitable and easily overstimulated yellow lab. She is seven but  still very youthful in her energy level and health. I have been working dogs since 1996 and she is my third so I’m not new to  all this, but each dog is different and goes through different stages and different needs during  their working lives with us. I have never  used  a gentle leader with my other dogs so this is a training tool I am not all that familiar with.  

This problem of becoming very distracted and excited by other dogs when we are out walking for work or fun has developed, and has worsened, for several reasons, during the past few months. Some interactions are worse than others.  The closer the dog  is and the  larger the other dog is, for example, the more   reactive Brooklyn  becomes. 

I felt the need to add the gentle leader to  what I was already doing because  of  her tendency to lock  onto the other dog visually. If I can’t  break her concentration, her body follows her head and she becomes harder to control in her efforts to move forward to engage with the other dog. This can happen pretty quickly and causes me a lot of stress.  Once she is past a certain point in this  engagement process, She is less likely to  respond if I try and get her to turn away or even turn around, and though she may initially sit and stay, she is likely to break this position if the dog comes close enough. I like the idea of having better control of her ability to keep looking  towards the other dog and the ability to control her head and therefore her body.

We are just starting to use the gentle leader. I am trying to get her more used to wearing it without shaking her head and pawing to try and remove it, even during walks. I put it on before she eats and  for brief walks, mostly with the leash  still attached to her collar just to get her  used to wearing it. I have started briefly attaching the leash to it  and giving her lots of praise for  continuing to walk without paying attention to having it on her head. I also  use verbal  distraction and  treats when she stops pawing, trying to rub it off on the ground, or  shaking her head.   This is pretty much the same approach I use when she is distracted by another dog, or anything else, and I want to get her attention back on  something else I am asking her to do. This is improving a little at a time. As it does, I will lengthen the amount of time she wears it, with and without the leash attached. 

Walking this way is different for me, as well.  It feels different than having her  leash  attached to her usual collar, obviously. It is harder to tell if I have enough slack on the leash, for example.   I haven’t used it with her in harness yet. My husband guides me and I focus on  working with her on a loose  leash. I am not as sure how it will be once I start using it while she is actually working in harness, but she will need to be  much more comfortable wearing it than she is right now.  Right now, it is  too much of a distraction at times.      

For now, what I am trying to do is avoid  other dogs  that may be   likely to come close to us.  She does well  when other dogs are far enough away as far as me being able to get her to turn her head  back towards me  with verbal encouragement and praise followed by a treat.  She  knows when I  give a certain verbal cue that she is to   come towards my hand.  I also  rustle the treat bag as another audio cue.  I don’t give her a treat every time, but   have put a great deal of work into  simply teaching her that when I say this phrase, I want her to turn away from wherever she is looking to  seek out my hand and  what  may be in it.  I do this if she is just gazing down the street, off into the distance, etc. She  is doing well with this and it is like a game to her.  She gets treats the majority of the time, as I am really stressing this behavior.  

Yesterday, we were out on a  brief walk, still just focused on her and myself getting accustomed to  the gl on a basic level. She was wearing the gl and doing well so I decided to hook  the leash to it for  a few quick minutes. This was maybe the second or third time I have done so. We were in an area where seeing another dog  was not likely. 

Of course, during those few minutes of walking in a quiet area near our home, we unexpectedly encountered another dog walking on leash with its owner. We were approaching the end of a block and my husband saw the dog coming up the sidewalk just to our left when we  got past some bushes and stuff.  The  dog would be passing behind us to cross the  street next to, and slightly behind,  us. It was closing the distance as they were walking at a nice pace and  I knew how my dog was about to probably respond. 

Ready or not, out of necessity, I  used the gentle leader to the best of my understanding to help control her head and therefore her body while encouraging her to not move from a sitting position facing away from the other dog. Each time she tried to turn her head to look, I applied gentle pressure so she could not do so and  also was  saying what I say to get her to  move towards, and focus on,  the treat in my hand. Every time she  did what I wanted, praise and all that. We repeated this several times as the dog passed behind us. It helped that my husband was giving me verbal feedback about what my dog was doing, like when her eyes  started to move back towards the dog before I could feel her head moving,  at the same time.     

This combination seemed to work well.  She did not get overly excited and was able to stay more focused on what I was  doing rather than on the other dog. I felt very good about what happened, even though I would not have wanted to do that so soon in the process if it could have been avoided. Maybe part of it was that she was just a little more subdued having  this new thing on her head, but I definitely think it helped. I hope this continues to be the case. 

We are new at this though. I would appreciate hearing about any experiences,  suggestions, and  perspectives on using the gentle leader from those who have used it a lot more than me.  I want to make sure I am  using it as effectively as possible to get the most out of   incorporating it into what I’m doing. Any words of wisdom or feedback would be much appreciated. Any other thoughts about dealing with dog distractions would be welcome also.  

My first dog had  dog distraction (and eventually aggression) issues and I want this  situation to go much better than that one did. Correcting and verbal scolding definitely does not work as far as creating behavior change and  is not recommended in this type of situation anyway.  I prefer to  reward  a desired behavior rather than punish for an undesired one and  I think we have a good plan going and just want to make it as good as it can be. She is a good dog, smart, and  usually  pretty eager to please. She is also spirited and   needs some appropriate redirecting and  management  strategies for  such times. This may also help with her tendency towards  pulling harder than I would like sometimes, too, but that is much less of a concern at this point.     

Thanks for reading and in advance for any responses.  As it happens, I am transitioning from working from home counseling clients virtually back to  seeing  clients in my workplace starting tomorrow.  Brooklyn will be glad about that, as  this has been a boring time for her (which surely also  does not help our current problem).  I am not as eager and the next few days are likely to be much busier and overwhelming, so  it may take me some time to respond to any on or off list messages.  

Thanks and  I hope everyone is staying well,
Carmella in SC

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