The Leash Is Not a Restraint!

The leash work foundation!

Before jumping into our remote collar work, I like to spend some time using leash and prong collar to teach the dogs about proper leash communication first. Dogs who pull on leash have been treating the leash as a restraint or a tether by bracing and pulling against it. What we need to do, is teach the dog how to softly move with the leash by following it’s gentle guidance. In this video, I’m going over some prong collar basics using a balance of leash guidance and food by teaching her how the follow the leash into a sit/stay, down/stay, onto place and then reinforcing her good work with food as a reward! By changing the relationship with the leash, she is learning how tune into her handler and look for guidance rather than getting distracted by or reactive towards environment. With some great foundational leash communication in place now, we are ready to start layering low level remote collar over top our leash work.

Layering remote collar communication over top leash communication!

Next, we layer the remote collar over top of our leash work as she learns all of her obedience commands! This is the first phase in teaching the dog the ‘language’ of the remote collar as a communication tool. In this video, Poppy and I are layering the remote collar over top our place command leash work and beginning to show Poppy how to be guided by remote collar communication (aka the invisible leash which will allow us to add reliability into all of Poppy’s commands including recalls!) just like she learned how to be guided by leash and prong collar communication!