Loose-Leash Walking: Hard for Everyone!

Hi, I'm Bammie, and I hate loose-leash walking. (Hi, Bammie! I'm Chubbs, and I also hate loose-leash walking!) Apparently loose-leash walking is hard for everyone, even my super cool older brother Chubbs who seems to know everything! But today, I had to learn how to do it because my mommy walked me, and she's a lot more strict than Dad.

My mom saw this seminar once where Ian Dunbar said that if you want to teach your dog how to do something, take him on a long walk and make them perform the behavior every 100 feet or so. For example, if you want to teach your dog how to sit, put some treats in your pocket and make him do it every 100 feet on a two mile walk. By the end of the walk, he claims, your dog will be able to perform the behavior quite well because he has done it in several different locations with different distractions each time.

So my mom set out to teach me to loose-leash walk by taking me on a long walk and simply not giving up. For the first half mile or so, she had to stop every three or four steps. For the next half mile, it started to go even more smoothly. Finally, by the last half, it was going really well. I was only pulling when I got distracted by something, like pigeons or chihuahuas.

The one thing that my mom did that really helped was that my mom praised me when I started making good decisions. For example, she would praise me every time I would walk back and make the leash loose, but that's not it. When I would get to the end of the leash and slow down rather than pull, she would praise and reward me, even though she didn't tell me what to do. She recognized that I made a decision not to pull and made sure to let me know how happy she was about it. I love it when she's happy. Praise makes me wiggley.

So remember two important things when teaching your puppy not to pull: be patient (!!!) because if you give in, it just takes longer to teach and praise a lot and talk only when your dog is doing well. "No no, walk polite," sounds the same as "good boy" to us! Puppies need lots of exercise, and it's much more fun if you teach us how to do it the way you like it. So dedicate a couple of hours to really teach your pup how to walk, and you'll be happy with the results.

Happy training! Love, Bammie

We Are Family!

Hi, everyone, I'm Bammie, the newest addition to the Weaver-Nisenfeld clan. I just wanted to introduce myself because Chubbs and Fenway are pretty well trained, and my new mom says there is lots of training ahead for me.

I was pretty lucky to get into this family because Mom and Dad seem to know a lot about how to make a puppy happy. The first couple of days I chewed up some stuff off Mom's shelves. She called it her row of death. But she knew what to do. Now I get interactive toys when she leaves. I have kongs stuffed with liver paste and frozen and balls and tug toys filled with treats that spill out when you play with them. She has to leave down lots so the other dogs won't fight with me. The rule is there should be at least as many valued items as you have dogs plus one. And that's just the minimum!

She also knows that a tired pup is a good pup. She bought me squeaky tennis balls and stuffed toys that squeaked when she figured out how much I loved them (Chubbs likes to disassemble the toys so they don't squeak! Lame!). She throws the ball for me for hours when she gets home, knowing that walking with Chubbs and Fenway won't be nearly enough exercise for me. Plus, I love to play almost as much as I love to cuddle. And, boy, do I love cuddling! She also bought me rubber bones to chew on when my teeth hurt. I also like to chew on the food bowls, so those have to be picked up.

She also got me a tag with my name and her number on it. That's really important in case I get lost.

Apparently, the first thing I have to learn is this command called "leave it." She says that my weaknesses are chewing up things I'm not supposed to, stealing from Chubbs, nipping faces and running into Fenway. Can you believe these can all be solved with just one command? I'll have to explain that all to you as she teaches it to me. I guess the first step is just me learning what the word means. That makes sense. I see Chubbs listening to that word, but I have NO idea what it means!

But I can't wait to learn! I love my new family, and I'm really happy I got saved from the street where I was found almost starving with my sister. Whatever this family has in store for me, I'm sure it will be awesome!

Pleased to meet you all. Love, Bambino (aka Bammie)