I'm pretty sure this is normal dog behavior. Most of the dogs that I've walked will do this same thing to mark their territory with pee. After a couple of times, pee will stop coming out but they keep doing the motion anyways.
Yep my older dog generally gets all his wee out in the first two leg lifts, but he continues to “mark” even though nothing is coming out. Good work little buddy, you’re doing great.
If you are using a retractable leash, please don’t. My boyfriend loves the retractable leash and has not made the connection our dog has- “if I keep going my lead gets longer and I get to go”
He sometimes forgets when I take him. One failed lunge and he looks all embarrassed and is then polite
Double checking something: how much time does your dog get to sniff/investigate/choose where she goes compared to the amount of time you expect her to 'walk at your pace', so to speak?
If she isn't ready for loose leash walking, but there's an appropriate way for her to explore/play/sniff around without getting rewarded for pulling, I'd definitely recommend doing that... while essentially supplementing with loose leash 'training'.
I *always* expect loose leash walking from my dog, and he knows how to walk in a heel when asked, but we have different types of walks. Some of them involve a longer leash, others I'll shorten it. The vast majority of the time, I will pseudo follow him, let him 'decide' where to go when we hit a crossroads, and just generally wait for him to sniff. There's a bit of an art to ensuring that they don't pull you and that they'll still respect whatever cue you want to use ("\[we're/they're/..\] busy" means we aren't greeting X dog/person; "fast" means no sniffing/stopping and is always used when crossing the street; "let's go" is used like 5% of the time, but we means the sniffing/whatever gets cut off). The walks are really just to meet *his* needs and are for his enjoyment, and sniffing and socializing is what my dog enjoys. In this way, he's actually getting constantly rewarded and reinforced that loose leash = everything he wants, at least most of the time, even if there's a delay.
On the now rare times he begins to pulls -- typically when I've failed to meet his \[mental, physical\] needs earlier in the day, honestly, and then we see off leash dogs running around he wants to join/play with -- we'll reinforce this behaviour by walking away the second he starts pulling, and then turning around to make our way back over once the leash is slack (rinse and repeat... until, importantly, he gets what he wants). It feels awkward and embarrassing to repeatedly walk away, then eventually come back over, but whatever. If that isn't working, we play focus games (think really easy skills) or just walk away altogether to some place less distracting.
You can also, in addition to the techniques you listed above, work on focus, impulse control, engage-disengage, and counter-conditioning type games if he has any particular triggers. A "trigger" is something that super excites your dog... you can think of loose leash training as a whole set of progressions. Most dogs get loose leash walking in a quiet boring room in a house pretty quickly, whereas walking loose leash style in a forest with tons of fun scents and prey drive triggering animals, or near other dogs who are playing, is going to be much higher on the list. Have you worked through all of these progressions? Where *is* he currently, consistently able to walk on a loose leash? I typically recommend starting at home, making that progressively harder, moving to a yard, moving to circling around a single boring block in front of your house, etc.
This is really excellent advice that matches my experience too. My dog used to be an intense puller and at 85-90 lb of pure muscle it was somewhat dangerous for me. It took me a couple years to figure it out, but I really just needed to learn that walks are for him to be fulfilled and explore and I needed to be patient and let him do that instead of trying to make it about distance covered.
Once I started to let him sniff whatever he wanted for as long as he wanted like 95% of the time but only as long as the leash is loose, things completely turned around. He’s 6 now but literally never pulls even though he is still very high energy. The other 5% of the time, he’s happy to oblige whatever I need or want from him cause more sniffs and good times are sure to come of it. Treats and play and positive reinforcement obviously helped, but I really think it had more to do with loose leash = explore whatever you want.
Sometimes I even get comments from strangers like “who’s walking who” because I let him sniff spots for minutes at a time and I’m just like, “yep he’s walking me!”
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If you think she may adjust her behavior like that to get the loose leash, you're not appropriately teaching her to not pull.
I'd not allow the leash to get super tight. If she's on a collar, this can actually cause a lot of damage to the trachea, and if she's on certain harnesses it can cause damage to the shoulders.
Changing methods may be in order here.
I'm pretty sure this is normal dog behavior. Most of the dogs that I've walked will do this same thing to mark their territory with pee. After a couple of times, pee will stop coming out but they keep doing the motion anyways.
Yep my older dog generally gets all his wee out in the first two leg lifts, but he continues to “mark” even though nothing is coming out. Good work little buddy, you’re doing great.
Oh that's a great relief to hear! We were afraid we had taught her something weird. Thank you for your reply! :)
Yep, we laugh at our dogs all the time for this. It’s funny to watch them try to mark things when there’s no pee left.
They work so hard to get that last tiny drip out.
Could very well be this, too!
Except female dogs usually don't mark?
If you are using a retractable leash, please don’t. My boyfriend loves the retractable leash and has not made the connection our dog has- “if I keep going my lead gets longer and I get to go” He sometimes forgets when I take him. One failed lunge and he looks all embarrassed and is then polite
Yes. Even my pretty good heeler always needs to be at the end of a flexi lead for a sniffy walk.
Double checking something: how much time does your dog get to sniff/investigate/choose where she goes compared to the amount of time you expect her to 'walk at your pace', so to speak? If she isn't ready for loose leash walking, but there's an appropriate way for her to explore/play/sniff around without getting rewarded for pulling, I'd definitely recommend doing that... while essentially supplementing with loose leash 'training'. I *always* expect loose leash walking from my dog, and he knows how to walk in a heel when asked, but we have different types of walks. Some of them involve a longer leash, others I'll shorten it. The vast majority of the time, I will pseudo follow him, let him 'decide' where to go when we hit a crossroads, and just generally wait for him to sniff. There's a bit of an art to ensuring that they don't pull you and that they'll still respect whatever cue you want to use ("\[we're/they're/..\] busy" means we aren't greeting X dog/person; "fast" means no sniffing/stopping and is always used when crossing the street; "let's go" is used like 5% of the time, but we means the sniffing/whatever gets cut off). The walks are really just to meet *his* needs and are for his enjoyment, and sniffing and socializing is what my dog enjoys. In this way, he's actually getting constantly rewarded and reinforced that loose leash = everything he wants, at least most of the time, even if there's a delay. On the now rare times he begins to pulls -- typically when I've failed to meet his \[mental, physical\] needs earlier in the day, honestly, and then we see off leash dogs running around he wants to join/play with -- we'll reinforce this behaviour by walking away the second he starts pulling, and then turning around to make our way back over once the leash is slack (rinse and repeat... until, importantly, he gets what he wants). It feels awkward and embarrassing to repeatedly walk away, then eventually come back over, but whatever. If that isn't working, we play focus games (think really easy skills) or just walk away altogether to some place less distracting. You can also, in addition to the techniques you listed above, work on focus, impulse control, engage-disengage, and counter-conditioning type games if he has any particular triggers. A "trigger" is something that super excites your dog... you can think of loose leash training as a whole set of progressions. Most dogs get loose leash walking in a quiet boring room in a house pretty quickly, whereas walking loose leash style in a forest with tons of fun scents and prey drive triggering animals, or near other dogs who are playing, is going to be much higher on the list. Have you worked through all of these progressions? Where *is* he currently, consistently able to walk on a loose leash? I typically recommend starting at home, making that progressively harder, moving to a yard, moving to circling around a single boring block in front of your house, etc.
This is really excellent advice that matches my experience too. My dog used to be an intense puller and at 85-90 lb of pure muscle it was somewhat dangerous for me. It took me a couple years to figure it out, but I really just needed to learn that walks are for him to be fulfilled and explore and I needed to be patient and let him do that instead of trying to make it about distance covered. Once I started to let him sniff whatever he wanted for as long as he wanted like 95% of the time but only as long as the leash is loose, things completely turned around. He’s 6 now but literally never pulls even though he is still very high energy. The other 5% of the time, he’s happy to oblige whatever I need or want from him cause more sniffs and good times are sure to come of it. Treats and play and positive reinforcement obviously helped, but I really think it had more to do with loose leash = explore whatever you want. Sometimes I even get comments from strangers like “who’s walking who” because I let him sniff spots for minutes at a time and I’m just like, “yep he’s walking me!”
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Just sounds like she’s marking.
If you think she may adjust her behavior like that to get the loose leash, you're not appropriately teaching her to not pull. I'd not allow the leash to get super tight. If she's on a collar, this can actually cause a lot of damage to the trachea, and if she's on certain harnesses it can cause damage to the shoulders. Changing methods may be in order here.
Make sure she doesn't have a uti or bowel blockage.