Excitment Question

[Jamila]

My dogs get overly excited when I grab a leash or harness. If I periodically throughout the day pick one up, carry it around then put it back or drop it someplace do you think this will desensitize them to it? I thought maybe if they didn't think that every time I pick it up it will be used that maybe they would get numb to it.

Yes/No??? Or other suggestions?

My ultimate goal is to get them all walking with me twice a day. ALL OF US together calmly lol Right now getting suited up and calmly getting out of the house is our first obstacle. Next we will work on not all trying to chase after the other dogs at the park. They just love making new friends

[Punkygirl0101]

A couple of my dogs (mainly Harry and Cartman) do the same thing. I never really thought to carry a leash around to make them used to it. What I usually do is:
I will grab the leash,and if they start going crazy because of it, I will ignore them until they are calm, and then attempt to put it on, if they start getting overly excited again..I ignore them. It DOES work for the time being, BUT they still do it and make me have to ignore them everytime. So they haven't quite learned yet to just not get excited over it at all.

[Jamila]

Yeah I do the ignoring thing too and will continue to do so. It kind of works but I thought maybe if they didn't expect to go out or have it put on every time I pick it up that they might think nothing of it.

I don't know.

[Punkygirl0101]

Might as well try it! I think I will too. While I was training Zen I had a leash on him and was walking him around the backyard and Harry was acting insane! He was barking and grabbing the leash like we were going somewhere! But what do I expect..my mom didn't exactly train him when he was younger, and now hes 12 and I am having a really hard time teaching this old dog new tricks!

[Jamila]

never a dull moment lol

[Doglover1988]

You think y'all have it bad look what my dog does when she sees a leash.
YouTube - Gabby exited!
She has recently learned not to jump up on me so sometimes she will do that a few inches away from me. lol

[Jamila]

Oh My lol

[Cassiepeia]

Yes, I definately think picking up and holding the leash/harness throughout the day without actually taking them for a walk will work. Might take a little while for them to 'get it' though.

Cass.

[Rivsky]

At puppy school we were given a great bit of advice about excitement on walks. We were basically told that if you didn't start the walk by putting the leash on when the dog was calm you didn't have a hope in hell in getting them to walk nicely for you once you got out the door.

We were basically told if you picked up the lead and your dog went spazz then you put the lead away and sat down again - no walk. I think it only took about four attempts for River to work out that if he didn't chill out when the lead came out then we weren't going anywhere!!

[britishbandit]

I've done the same thing and with minimal success. PJ doesn't go spastic, he'll "sit"....sorta....but he can't actually put his bum right on the ground cause his nubbin is waggin so much. LOL Tysa is terrible though, and it's never helped at all with her. She's fine once she gets it on, but she gets waaayyy to excited when the leash comes out. I have to get PJ ready first if they're both going out though, even if she is leashed first, she still thinks she needs to have PJ's on, and it's a pain in the arse trying to get his on with her bouncing around and nudging him out of the way. Silly dog.

[Lunachick]

LOL! Oh dogs Zoe isn't too bad really. If I'm already home and she needs to go out, I'll get my shoes on first, blah blah, then grab her leash and most of the time (if she doesn't need to go to the bathroom THAT bad) she'll walk over and sit, looking kind of bored. If my sis and the others dogs are coming with me, she knows it's walkies time and will get overly excited. If I'm just getting in the door, she'll do what she always does when anyone comes in, stranger or family member, and spazz bark, which makes me just believe that she needs to go NOW. But she usually calms down when I tell her to come and sit, cause I don't leash her up until she stops barking.

[Carrie]

Yes, the picking up of the leash has become the cue that it's time for a walk. You can either do as suggested...pick it up a few times a day and just walk around and put it back again without going for a walk. But...Aw-w-w-w-w-w...how sad is that? Can you imagine the disappointment?

Do your dogs know "sit? If so, you can ask for a sit (once) and if they're acting crazy, just stand there with the leash in your hand and wait. Don't say another word, just wait. They'll probably sit. Then bend down to attach the leash. If they don't stay sitting, stand back upright with the leash in your hand and wait silently. Repeat as necessary until they stay sitting.

Be sure to give a release word after you put the leash on, but get it in there double quick before they stand on their own. You want them to get use to hearing that release word BEFORE they get up. If they do stand before you've released them with your release word, remind them to sit once more and teach them to wait until released.

That release word is very important to incorporate into all kinds of things because otherwise, in this example, they learn to jump the gun before you're ready and pretty soon the duration of sitting and waiting while you put on the leash becomes shorter and shorter because of anticipation... until they no longer sit nicely for you. Vary the duration that they must wait so a pattern isn't installed. Work on one dog at a time while the other (s) are in another room. Once they've all learned their lessons, you will be able to have them all sit and wait nicely.

I prefer this method because I hate to dissapoint my spoiled darlings by getting out the leash and then not going for a walk. That seems stressful. But of course, this type of thing comes up in all kinds of situations. I grab a cigarette from my pack and the dogs leap up from their snooze to go out on the porch where I have a smoke. I put my shoes on and they're up like a rocket. So, if I want them to stop doing that (it doesn't really bother me) I would have to put my shoes on an walk around in the house for a while, not go outside. Or get a cigarette and not go out on the porch...just walk around the house with it. That would make it so they weren't sure if I were going out or not. I'd have to do it for some time without ever going immediately outside following those cues, as that can also put the behavior on a variable reinforcement schedule whereby the behavior actually strengthens because it's worked before...they try even harder to make it work again. If it does work with enough frequency, the behavior isn't likely to extinguish. They may hesitate....watch you and wait before getting exciteable or getting up for the next possible cue. Heh, heh....I love watching my dogs when I mix things up a bit. Instead of leaping up from their snooze, they'll lift a head and watch. Hmmmmm....is she? Or isn't she? Rffffff. The little dumplings.

[Jamila]

Oh thank you so much Carrie. I was hoping you would respond to this situation. I have been walking Fallon and I make her sit before I put the harness on her. If she starts to get up I stop. If she starts to jump I turn my back. If I get too frustrated I go sit down for a minute. Then we try again. I have also started making them sit (they all know this command) before they go out the back door. They use to just bolt when I would say "outside" or "do you have to potty". Now I make it a more calm event. I know this is all my fault on how rowdy they get. They are learning back, sit and stay to go out. They have been doing great on this. They don't all sit at once but they all do stay until I release them to the yard. I even get the door open for a bout a half a minute now without them just running out. This is only like two days into this teaching. I'm so proud of them. I am trying to work a schedule out to do one on one with them, training and walking. I wish I could walk them in the neighborhood but there are no sidewalks and too much traffic. I will just drive each one to the park and walk a mile. Good exercise for me lol.

Now lets see if I will stick to my guns for my kids and not allow myself to go crazy. Really its all on me. I just have to learn a bit of patience. This is something I've never had EVER.

[k9hullio_sam]

I think it will definetely help. Sometimes I practice with the leash on inside the house, not for any reason but to keep her close to me. lol Now she just gets excited when we get the poop bag out--THEN we are going for a walk! HA! Good luck! I am sure they will all get it sooner than you are thinking!

[Carrie]

You're welcome Jamila. Well.....it sounds like things are coming along quite well then. They're sitting nicely for the most part and waiting for the things they want. I'm sure you can get things so they're more workable for you. They're just dogs and dogs get excited for their favorite thing in the whole world and that is usually walks with their family. Good luck.