The dogs have to be on lead whenever they are out of the house (an Aramco rule) so I recycled the red harnesses that I used for DogzRule! flyball (sniff, sniff, I miss you guys!!) to be their primary steppin' out gear.
And because I don't have a yard, the dogs get taken for walks in their harnesses several times a day. I have a procedure to get us ready, of course. I gather all the gear--hat, sunglasses, shoes, socks, leashes, harnesses, into a pile. First I put on all of my stuff, then I turn to the dogs. Harry, always compliant about these sorts of things, steps right up to me so I can put his harness on.
But Mimi...she's another story altogether. For a solid year, I've been trying to get her to come to me so I can put her harness on. She wants to go for a walk and excitedly flits around as I make the gear pile. But as soon as I pick up her harness, she hides behind furniture, she goes upstairs, she feigns exhaustion--and when she does at last start moving towards me, she takes one slow step after another, pausing sometimes for seconds between each, one foot lifted trembling in the air, dragging it out as long as she possibly can. I tried clicker and treats, I tried changing the recall word, I tried praise and petting, I tried every training trick in the book, and nothing altered this behavior. You'd think after a year that she would have given up because the outcome is always the same: she always ends up with her harness on.
It was even worse, though, because she would flinch whenever the harness touched her. It was exactly the scene from Lord of the Rings (Two Towers, I believe) where Sam and Frodo bind Gollum up in the elven ropes and he starts shrieking, "It burns! It burns!" I even started whispering that under my breath as I put her harness on. She acted like I was beating her with the stupid thing.
Then came the miracle of the Halti head halter. I have quite a few dogs in my classes whose owners need some safe way to control their dogs so they can get them into a learning space and decided that Haltis were the best solution. Like most animal supplies, they are not available here so I've been shipping them over from the US. In the first shipment, I got a small one to fit Mimi. If I was going to recommend them to students, I needed to understand how they worked, how they fit, and how to use them effectively. Harry hardly needs that sort of thing so Mimi was the perfect guinea pig.
Of course, the first few times I used it, she did the same long, drawn out walk of fear towards me as before. Then one morning I looked up from Harry to see Mimi standing just a couple of feet away! I could barely get out the recall (her recall is in French now: Mimi, venez!) before she was almost standing on my feet, pushing her head up so I could slide the Halti on! And that has repeated over and over again, every day, for almost a month. No more delay tactics, no more chasing my dog down in my shitty apartment, no more stress when we are getting ready for a walk.
Truly, it's a miracle. I have no explanation. The only change is the switch from the harness to the head halter. Maybe she likes having opportunities to wear her spiffy new collars outside the house (I had some super cool collars made for me by Kyra at moddog.com) since the Halti has an extra safety clip that attaches to a regular collar.
To be honest, it's a bit frustrating that I wasn't able to solve the problem with training. But no matter what, walk times are far more enjoyable for all.
And because I don't have a yard, the dogs get taken for walks in their harnesses several times a day. I have a procedure to get us ready, of course. I gather all the gear--hat, sunglasses, shoes, socks, leashes, harnesses, into a pile. First I put on all of my stuff, then I turn to the dogs. Harry, always compliant about these sorts of things, steps right up to me so I can put his harness on.
But Mimi...she's another story altogether. For a solid year, I've been trying to get her to come to me so I can put her harness on. She wants to go for a walk and excitedly flits around as I make the gear pile. But as soon as I pick up her harness, she hides behind furniture, she goes upstairs, she feigns exhaustion--and when she does at last start moving towards me, she takes one slow step after another, pausing sometimes for seconds between each, one foot lifted trembling in the air, dragging it out as long as she possibly can. I tried clicker and treats, I tried changing the recall word, I tried praise and petting, I tried every training trick in the book, and nothing altered this behavior. You'd think after a year that she would have given up because the outcome is always the same: she always ends up with her harness on.
It was even worse, though, because she would flinch whenever the harness touched her. It was exactly the scene from Lord of the Rings (Two Towers, I believe) where Sam and Frodo bind Gollum up in the elven ropes and he starts shrieking, "It burns! It burns!" I even started whispering that under my breath as I put her harness on. She acted like I was beating her with the stupid thing.
Then came the miracle of the Halti head halter. I have quite a few dogs in my classes whose owners need some safe way to control their dogs so they can get them into a learning space and decided that Haltis were the best solution. Like most animal supplies, they are not available here so I've been shipping them over from the US. In the first shipment, I got a small one to fit Mimi. If I was going to recommend them to students, I needed to understand how they worked, how they fit, and how to use them effectively. Harry hardly needs that sort of thing so Mimi was the perfect guinea pig.
Of course, the first few times I used it, she did the same long, drawn out walk of fear towards me as before. Then one morning I looked up from Harry to see Mimi standing just a couple of feet away! I could barely get out the recall (her recall is in French now: Mimi, venez!) before she was almost standing on my feet, pushing her head up so I could slide the Halti on! And that has repeated over and over again, every day, for almost a month. No more delay tactics, no more chasing my dog down in my shitty apartment, no more stress when we are getting ready for a walk.
Truly, it's a miracle. I have no explanation. The only change is the switch from the harness to the head halter. Maybe she likes having opportunities to wear her spiffy new collars outside the house (I had some super cool collars made for me by Kyra at moddog.com) since the Halti has an extra safety clip that attaches to a regular collar.
To be honest, it's a bit frustrating that I wasn't able to solve the problem with training. But no matter what, walk times are far more enjoyable for all.
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