Leash training a rescue dog

I recently rescued a 2 and a half year old Boxmatian dog. (4days ago)

He has a tendency to pull on the lead and no matter how much I tug or try get him to heel, he keeps pulling. This might have something to do with the fact it is suspected the previous owner was unable to walk him so he never really got much exercise. He also pulls when he sees other dogs, and tries to jump up on any other passer by - not with any aggression but I still need to stop this as people tend to be intimidated by his size.

I have been reading on various other sites about the alpha dog issue and how a dog that pulls out in front on a lead thinks they are then alpha which I obviously need to change.

He tends to listen to my partner more than me but still pulls with him as well. I have been taking him for 90 percent of his walks as I want him to start to listen to me and hopefully see me as above him in the pecking order but so far its not working. I know I have only had him 4 days so its early days but I really need to establish myself as alpha over him asap.

Is this a more difficult issue to resolve with a rescue dog?

Can anyone give me an training tips?

Thanks

Alicia x

If I were you I`d forget all about dominating your dog and just train him. The alpha thing has only been going for a few years and is based on wolves in the wild studies which have no relevance to the domestic dog. On the other hand peole have been training their dogs without all this psychobabble for thousands of years.
It`s not hard - you reward the dog when he does what you want and prevent him doing what you don`t.
To train a dog to walk well on the lead is not hard but it does take time, particularly if the dog has got into the habit of pulling. Take your dog out of your house. When he pulls ahead, change direction. After a bit the dog will start to follow rather than lead. This is obviously easier if you`re not on a pavement, but I wind round lamp-posts etc. (Ignore the neighbours!). Praise or reward when the doh is doing well.
Your dog is unsure and probably nervous ATM. He`ll take some time to learn the routine, and rules. Be kind but consistent. I find luring with a biscuit the best training aid for a lot of things.
I hope it goes well.

Hi there

Not that I disagree with all aspects of 'alpha dog', but I really don't think this has anything to do with his pulling. He is merely excited to be out and about and wants to move at a different pace to you.

Personally I would get a harness of halti to walk him on for the time being and work on his lead training on a normal lead/collar gradually. The thing is about heelwork is that you have to be consistant - if you take him out on a normal collar & lead and he pulls, your training will go back a stage. Whereas if you start teaching him to heel in the garden (with treats and without a lead on to start), if you don't use the command 'heel' and if he is on a harness or halti, it is less likely to negatively impact on heel training.

I should just say that having given this advice, one of my dogs is dreadful on lead....but I know this is down to me being lazy. She is rarely on a lead and I haven't had the incentive to put in the consistent training that she needs.

Finally, I don't think a rescue dog is necessarily more difficult to teach, yes they are generally older so may take a little more time to get the idea, but consistancy is definitely the key.

Good luck with your boy

Yeah I would have put it down to him just being excited to be out, plus the fact it is a totally new area and new surroundings for him too. But then I read all this alpha dog stuff and got myself all in a tizzy over it and bogged down in thinking I must dominate my dog.

No you don't have to, please don't worry - where did you read it?

Dogs learn about relationships due to types of learning, not due to actual hierarchy. It's been discredited a plenty even by those who originally did the wolf research ...

If you want some other book titles do say!

Wys
x

You could make life easy for yourself and get a really good harness which can help to stop the pulling (eg stop pull, walkezee, halti harness, etc) or do lots of training with rewards, changing direction, maybe clicker training - there are lots of different ways!

Or combine the 2 which is what I recommend to my clients - use harness for when you have to get from A to B in a hurry, and put in training time when you have it and then yo can enjoy it

Wys
x

me personally, I will not use any sort of halti... I see so many people using them wrong (on a retractable lead is the worst!) I trained my deaf dog (who thought she was a sled dog) to heel by everytime she stepped too far ahead of me, or wasn't watching me, I'd turn around.... EVERYTIME! the first few walks were VERY long time wise, very short distance wise lol. It worked beautifully! now she watches my every move. no special training "tools" just consistancy.... and yes Scout was a 4 year old rescue. she's a brilliant dog. now I have a new puppy (well 7 month old rescue), who can hear, so everytime he gets ahead of me I say "ah" and turn around. he's getting the hang of it. I praise and treat when they are beside me as well, that is so important. you can correct all you want, if you dont show them what they're supposed to do, they'll never get it.

I agree a halti is the way to go , you will find it so much easier to walk a boxer /boxer cross with one there are loads of info about boxers on our site if you want to have a look

dont worry about the alpha thing at all

dogs naturaly want to walk faster than us and different things interest them

your dog pulls because he hasnt been taught not to and has found pulling gets him where he wants to go

i like the idea of a non pull device for when you dont have time, but i still keep treats with me and reward for loose lead

then for training decide what you want the dog to do and train for that
personaly i just want the dog on a loose lead, happy for them to sniff and look about and be a dog just as long as they keep the lead loose

all i do is walk nice and fast when the dog is in a nice position, slow down when the dog starts getting infront and stop dead for any pressure on the lead
then i say nothing and just wait till the dog slakens the lead, with ben he chose to turn back to me, mia backs up and sits
neither one i asked for but they have learnt we dont get moving again till the lead is slack
takes a little while of standing still but they get it pretty quick

personally i prefer it to the changing directions which people also seem to yank the lead, so the dog is learning not paying attention gets a sore neck, i find they learn much quicker if they figure it out for themselves, its like the dog thinks 'i can make my human go forwards bu keeping the lead slack' intead of 'my human is really random on walks, if i dont keep my eyes glued on her she is off somewhere else and i get yanked about'
jmho, i know the turning works for some people

yes, it depends on the dog and the owner which method works best. For my big wussy Shamus the stopping still worked because he then got a stroke and was reassured. For my bolsie Daisy I have to turn and twist because otherwise she goes vertically and I have a yoyo on a lead.