Line Training for Dogs: How It's Done Book

Introduction 8

What is long-line training? 9

Just 10 metres away from success 9

The most important thing first: how do dogs learn? 11

Classical conditioning: the bell rings, the dog salivates 11

Operant conditioning: dogs that can run backwards 12

Swiftness is the name of the game 14

Dogs learn in a specific context and are bad at generalising 15

Act variably 15

Thoughts about punishment 15

Rewards - your dog's wages 18

Why reward? 19

What is the difference between rewarding and enticing? 20

When's the time to reward? 21

What's the reward? 21

Building up a command, using the 'sit' as an example 24

Learning cues 26

Consolidating the exercise 31

The long line and other accessories for training 33

Harness 33

Long line 35

For puppies and small dogs 35

For bigger young dogs and adult dogs 36

Why is an extendable lead no good? 36

Treat pouch 37

Preparatory training 38

Orientation training 40

Training schedule for orientation exercises 42

Levels of distraction-duration of training 42

Potential problems and solutions 43

Everyday long-line training 44

Walks with puppies and young dogs 45

Walks with older dogs 47

Building up recall 47

Learning cues 48

Extending waiting time 51

Training structure summary - Recall 52

Slow down or stop - maintaining the radius 53

Learning cues 54

Structured training 56

Long line training in a group - open field 57

Chair circle 58

Long-line training with aggression problems 59

Transforming feelings 60

Orientation training for aggressive dogs 62

Levels of distraction - duration of training 62

Potential problems and solutions 65

Increasing distraction/reducingdistance 65

Walking in parallel 66

Approaching head-on 70

Important notes 72

Accompanying training 73

The name game 76

Impulse control - learning how to wait 76

Exercise at the door 78

Waiting until the dog is called 80

When can I stop using the long line? 83

Discontinuing the long line 84

Training schedule summary - discontinuing the long line 85

Clicker training 86

Basics 87

Various options 89

Problems that may crop up 89

Various exercises 89

Food machine 89

Looking on command 89

And finally - thank you! 92

Useful addresses 93

Index 94