Comment from a reader: "I recently switched from a regular leash to one of these contraptions that goes around my waist -- a "hands-free" leash -- so that it's easier to click/treat for desired behaviors. I wonder if this kind of leash might also be good if the person walking the dog gets tense. It seems that less tension would be communicated to the dog through the hands-free leash, since you can't really tighten your grip with your waist! I'm sure a dog can still sense that you're nervous, but perhaps the hands-free leash would at least mitigate some of the tension. Thoughts anyone?"  

I think there could be great benefit to using a hands-free leash in the house when doing clicker training with a dog. You're right: that would help the owner feel less encumbered with a bait bag, a clicker, trying to focus attention on the dog. Of course, a leash may not be necessary at all for such a lesson in the home. I don't mean to dampen your enthusiasm about the leash around the waist idea.  But someone posted to this group about wearing such a contraption while going out the door with the dog attached, yet the dog was somewhat about 36 inches or so away from the handler's left side. Apparently the person was attending to the door itself, and wasn't paying attention to the dog at all. Perhaps she'd grown a bit accustomed to not needing to pay attention to the dog for it was tethered to her, the idea being that the dog was to pay attention to her. Well, to make a long story short, the dog was injured in the doorway.

One of the most important and useful things a dog owner can learn is proper use of a regular leash with the dog, to communicate rather than to force control. I'm not for one moment saying that it's easy. But it's very important. If we aim to do that, then the leash becomes a means of preventing the dog from escaping to the road and being hit by a car. It prevents a dog from rushing up to others in an unwanted manner.

Akita

Yet, as with anything else we're teaching our dogs, we need to approach lead-handling in a systematic matter, just as if we're trying to teach a little four-month-old puppy.

Watch the Westminster Dog Show on Animal Planet; see how the dogs respond to the lead. You're right, that when the handlers are nervous, excited, the dogs will reflect that. You'll see some dogs get off the examination table and shake their whole bodies. You'll see some other dogs yawn right after the handlers have straightened the show leads around their heads before taking the down-and-back gaiting pattern. That doggy shake and the doggy yawn are calming signals, reflective of the dogs' awareness of owners' tension on the lead. Even for very experienced owner handlers, Westminster is the Big Time! And these are very experienced and confident show dogs. Yet who could possibly enter a dog in such a show unless the dog had been properly lead trained?

How can we take our dogs to any event -- agility, herding trial, tracking trial, or conformation match or show -- unless the dogs have been lead trained? We really cannot walk our dogs anywhere unless they have been properly lead trained.

So this isn't a criticism of the hands-free waist lead. It's simply an awareness that, in my opinion after years of this, we need to start at a baseline of expectation for our dogs.

Positive-reinforcement teaching is not about permissiveness. Neither is it about eliminating some basic steps for owners to learn before they attempt to progress further.

I've noticed that when we start talking about clicker training, or about desensitization efforts, some people may latch on to a few key ideas, but they may miss the bigger picture, perhaps due to the limitations of attempting to communicate over the Internet. They may miss some of the crucial foundation work needed. They may not have high enough expectations for themselves.

If we think we may have a little problem about transmitting our personal nervousness down the leash to the dog, why don't we try to anticipate the causative factors and deal with them first to resolve and overcome them altogether?

What are we worried about? Are we worried our dogs may react when meeting unfamiliar dogs or friendly strangers while we're walking? If so, why don't we set up some teaching lessons to meet that problem head on and deal with it appropriately to reduce the problem, before placing our dogs in such a public situation? You know: we wouldn't take our small children and have one of them get up on stage before Congress to make a State of the Union Address now, would we? They're not ready for that. It's an unrealistic expectation for small children.

Think about our dogs as offering behaviors. They're simply behaviors. We do not need to put a value on them. Just think of them as behaviors that the dogs exhibit. As our dogs' human leaders, we get to choose which behaviors we wish to reinforce. Aha! That part's fun. Then we get to watch with our peripheral vision for our dogs to offer little tiny pieces of the desirable behaviors so that we may click and then treat, to reward the behaviors we want to reinforce.

So let's set ourselves up for success. Plan our lessons to lead to the desired outcomes. Try to form a mental picture of the well-trained dog you want your dog to be. Envision that. Would you like him to be as reliable, nice, fully trained as a Guide Dog for the Blind? We know dogs are capable of learning. We see the evidence before us.

Is it realistic to expect a dog to learn how to walk politely on lead? Of course it is. Dogs all around the world are capable of walking politely on lead.

Can we learn to hold a clicker in one hand with the dog's lead and not totally fall apart? Of course we can. We've learned how to drive a car in traffic, haven't we? Why, you people have even learned how to access the Internet and subscribe to discussion groups. Don't sell yourselves short. You can hold a leash and a clicker and still focus your attention on your dog -- all the while scanning the horizon to anticipate any difficulties that may arise when distractions appear. You can all do that. It just takes some practice.

You can put a plastic baggie of treats in your jacket pocket or wear a bait bag. Why not attach a bait bag to your belt on the right side, and practice walking with your dog on your left side consistently, even before you meet some other dogs. That's part of breaking down the desired behavior you need into its tiny elements for you to achieve. Pretty soon it will become second nature to you, as comfortable as your favorite mittens.

Now clicking and treating while wearing mittens deserves another whole post!

© 2/08/2003, Barbara D. Brill, North Chili, NY. All rights reserved. No further reproduction permitted without express written consent.