More Control on a Walk

The Toy Method
Here's one method of training a lively dog to behave when you're out for a walk. A lot people complain that their dogs won't take any notice of them when they're out. They either pester other dogs or people or they jump in a river or pond and won't come out, or sometimes they take off into the wide blue yonder and won't come back.

The toy method is used a lot by people with difficult dogs and it does work very well as long as your dog is a bit playful and likes a game with toys. The way it works is simple. You get your dog hooked on a particular toy and you use his obsession with the toy to your advantage when you're out. Yes, I can already hear some dog trainers screaming at me that it's not proper training and the dog should work for you. If you're one of these people at least read to the end of the page and give the toy method a bit of a chance. I'll illustrate how it works using my dog Sasha as an example.
 
The problem with Sasha
Sasha is a lively two year old border collie who needs lots of exercise and like a lot of border collies she has an obsessive nature. She has been quite difficult to control when we're out for a walk. One of our regular walks takes us through some woodland. There's long fence running beside a field and on the other side of the fence there are sometimes as many as three dogs tearing up and down. The owners would prefer their dogs not to do this and I would prefer Sasha not to do it either. On both sides of the fence the dogs are snapping at each other. It does sound worse than it really is but if you've ever tried to call an obsessed dog away from a situation like this you'll know how hard it is. They don't seem to hear or see you at all and the only thing you can do is to try to catch the dog and put it on the lead or not let it off in the first place. Here's the toy method that I've used to help with training.

 

Name that toy
I found a toy that Sasha really liked and gave it a name. I had two such toys and I called them Ballie and Squeaky. Squeaky (pictured right) appeared to be favourite so to help with training Sasha I got her hooked on playing with this toy. For safety's sake it doesn't actually have a squeak. I never let Sasha play with the toy on her own. It was my toy and she could only have it when I said so. At all other times it was kept well out of her reach. After a short time she got to know the toy was called "Squeaky" and would come running if I mentioned, "Squeaky."

Take the toy for walkies
When Sasha was desperate to have her toy I took it with us on a walk. I carried it in my pocket. I let her off the lead when the coast was clear and there were no distractions. When she'd run around and done her sniffing and got over the first excitement of the walk I produced Squeaky. We had a bit of a game and then Squeaky went back in my pocket. After that I practiced using it to distract her from small things outside. Having a name for the toy helped but there must be a few people now who think I have a dog called Squeaky.

Use the toy to interrupt unwanted behaviour
Once Sasha had begun to interact more with me on a walk and play with Squeaky I was able to use it to get her attention away from more major distractions. We used the toy quite a lot at first and I had to make doubly sure that I'd brought it with me every time we went out or there was a danger that her training would go back to square one. Finally I was able to walk Sasha past the fence with the three dogs and keep her attention away from them. The owners of the other dogs were amazed at how good she was.


Now cut down on your use of the toy
The effectiveness of the "Training" didn't surprise me as I knew that I'd simply transferred an obsession with other dogs to an obsession with the toy. However, now that I knew I could use the toy to my advantage I started to cut down on its use. This is very much like using titbits. You start with loads of treats for good behaviour and you gradually cut down. Eventually we got to the point where I could take Sasha for a walk without worrying about her racing off after other dogs and annoying them. Through the toy method she has learned to take notice of me and is a much nicer dog to take out. We still play with the toy sometimes but it's just a bit of a game on a normal walk.