Start Stop Change Direction at home off leash

I'm not sure how but there's a part of Jan Fennell's process that I managed to miss. I think I was so eager to read through the book that I probably read it too fast. In the book, she says that you shouldn't take your dogs on a walk until they are 'ready'. The difficulty here is that I live in an apartment and I just have to walk them otherwise they will do inside the house (I also find it cruel to make them hold for longer than they really need).

 

So I tried implementing the 'recall' while walking them on the leash. As I set off, the moment they start pulling I stop and call them back to heel. It sometimes works, but with 3 dogs it's not easy to get their attention. After several very frustrating attempts I realised that it wasn't a good idea to take all of them out together, at least at this stage. It was preferable to do some one on one work first. With Cookie it is working brilliantly but Palo stops listening to me when we're outside because he's so scared and Leo doesn't pull anymore but circles around me which is as annoying (if not more).

 

This morning I listened to one of Jan Fennell's audio books to see if I was missing something. And indeed, I was missing the rather important Start Stop and Change Direction (SSCD) step. So basically the idea is that you practice 'the walk' inside the house. I do find it a little weird, but hey, at this stage I'll try it. the SSCD is done in two stages. The first stage is at home off leash. You walk around the house, calling the dogs to heel, stopping and turning all the while making sure they are following closely. You give treats if they do so. In my case it's a bit of a joke given the size of the apartment but we gave it a try all the same. It worked pretty well thanks to the treats.

 



 

Moti the cat was a bit confused by what was going on

Once you feel 'happy and in control,' as our friend Jan puts it, then you can move on to the next stage which is doing the same thing with a leash.