>>Message Sent by: "Marie Gulliford" <doghair@worldnet.att.net> >>See http://www.click-l.com/ for faqs, rules, links and other info Now that you have done some capturing the loose leash, you may have noticed that it doesn't work in all situations. Fortunately for clicker trainers there are more options! Another one is shaping the loose leash. This is a great way to teach your dog to steer through lots of obstacles(such as people in a crowd<G>). It also really helps many dogs understand HOW to make the leash loose. What you are teaching the dog is to move away from the pressure caused by a tight leash. This method combines -R with +R. Now down to the nitty gritty. Have your dog on a flat collar ( no prongs, halters, or choke collars as this will not work with those) attach a short leash (4-6 foot) and sit in a chair. You sit because for now you are not going anywhere. Now take up the slack in the leash until you can feel the dog resisting the leash.(sideways is the best direction to start with) DO NOT pull so hard that the dog is forced to move. Keep the tension in the leash constant, wait. You will hold steady and wait until the dog moves to relieve the pressure. When the dog moves C/Reward. If the dog takes a step to relieve the pressure C/Jackpot. The dog will move to relieve the pressure because the dog is resisting the leash. Now that the dog has earned one C/R take up the slack in the leash in the same direction again. When the dog moves C/Reward. After 3-5 C/reward for some movement increase the criteria to actually taking a step towards the leash.(away from the pressure) After you have 10 C/Reward in a row for a complete step to cause the leash to slacken it is time to change the direction of the pull. You should shape every direction until the dog will reliably take one step( or big body movement) upon feeling pressure from the leash towards the source of the pressure. The big body movement will happen for the downward and upward directions. Don't forget to do the forward and backwards directions. Now that you can move your dog around your chair or even in a square in front of you it is time to stand up. Practice more moving away from pressure with you standing. Some dogs will follow your hand at this point. This is not necessarily a bad thing. (leads into luring another post<G>) Other dogs will take more than one step to move away from the pressure. This also is not a bad thing (useful for getting other behaviors such as go out, backing, and side pass) The trick here is to not reward for following the hand. Let the behavior extinguish and only C/Reward for moving AFTER the pressure is applied via the leash. Alternatively if you want to keep the following the hand behavior, simply hold your hand steady and move your body to tighten the leash.(spin, or move over until the leash is taut) After sufficient practice you should be able to move your dog with just a light pull on the leash while standing. Time to add more difficulty. Now the dog should move away from the pressure of the tightened lead while you are walking. See if you can get the dog to do a figure eight around two chairs while you walk from one to the other without going around the chairs yourself. Also you should practice going up and down stairs. Once your dog will move away from the pressure at a walk, try it at a fast walk or slow jog. If the dog doesn't move to release the pressure just hold the leash steady and stop moving. Be very still and wait for the dog to realize that nothing fun is happening. If you have taken your time to teach the previous steps well, the dog will catch on right away as to what it should do. After you can walk in a low distraction environment move on to other environments with more distractions. C/reward for each success at each new level of difficulty. Keep adding difficulty until your dog moves to create a loose leash whenever the leash tightens. This is a great exercise for pups from 5 months to 10 years (more or less depending on physical ability). It is also a really fun game for everyone. Happy Tails to You Marie Gulliford Ashby, Ma. USA

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