A gentle leader is a tool that we use often around here,
mostly for our busier dogs who are a little younger and need a little help
getting some success early.
It can be a very powerful tool to help your dogs in those early stages.
But there are also times when a gentle leader can help a little bit older dog
who maybe has some great skills,
but struggles to listen in different environments. Okay.
Now my young dog final back here,
you've seen him in lots of different videos and he has some fantastic skills,
but there are still times in his life where he struggles to listen,
whether it be waiting for his turn,
watching agility or when some of the other dogs that are running.
And one of the biggest remarks that we get from students who have older dogs,
when we suggest using a gentle leader,
it's first thing they say is that they tried it, the dog didn't like it. Okay.
It's important that there'll be an adjustment and we help our dogs get
accustomed to the gentle leader before we leave it on them.
There's a number of things that you can do.
So because final struggles in certain situations,
I'm going to take some time to show you how I work through putting a gentle
leader on an older dog. I know when I put it on him,
he's not going to like it much like our students dogs,
but I'm going to show you some of the little tips and tricks that I do to get
dogs comfortable in wearing the gentle leader. I'm Steve, this is Final.
This is finals, new gentle leader. Welcome back to McCann Dogs.
Now,
before I head inside and start training final on how to be comfortable wearing
the gentle leader,
here are a few quick tips that can help you get a little bit more success in
getting your dog comfortable with it, feed your dog, their meals,
wearing their gentle leader, breakfast or dinner,
play tug and fetch with your dog. Wearing that gentle leader.
Use those toys that they love most,
or simply sit and pet them nice and calmly give them that lovely massage that
they like while they're wearing that gentle leader.
So step one with this is getting him comfortable with just the nose loop.
And I want to do it a little bit. Some course that can be successful.
I've got some great cheese here, which he loves.
I've got my gentle leader ready to go.
And all I'm going to do is know the positive association with him feeling I was
in on getting that yes in reward. When he's calm with it on his nose.
Now a couple of ways to do this is I'm not gonna try and fight and put this on
him. I'm going to make it easy. I'm actually gonna take my treats, put that,
treat hand through the nose loop, turn you this way, buddy.
So you can see that they came up, move your back.
Now I can slide that nose loop on. Yes. And then he gets the treats. Good boy.
Yes. And then I can slip it off and try it again.
And this is going to start building that positive association with that feeling
of the nose loop on his nose. Yes. Good boy. Yes.
Excellent job. I'll slide it off again.
And I'm going to try this over and over and over.
What I want him to start to know is that this nose loop means good.
Things are going to happen.
So you'll notice this time his nose is now coming forward to the nose loop,
looking for those treats. So my hand can be out of the nose loop.
Now his nose goes right through that nose loop. Yes. In reward.
Pull it off again.
Now part of this is me also figuring out the size of the nose that I have
noticed a couple of times and I put it on that's a little bit big.
So I'm just going to make it a little smaller and we'll try it a couple more
times again, a little food on his nose. Yes.
Good boy. Excellent job. That's a much better fit. Pull it back off again.
That's pretty much step one.
So I've spent a little time getting final use to the idea of having the nose
loop of the gentle leader on his little face.
I have rewarded him for doing it and he's getting okay with it,
but I haven't really put it on him.
I haven't done anything with it because I'm going to do that right now.
And what I want to show you is how I'm going to work through getting him
comfortable with it. When I first put it on him,
he may paw and he may try to struggle a little bit.
He may try to resist it a little bit.
And oftentimes that can be a little bit worrying for some of our owners in terms
of what do they do? Well,
I'm going to work through it and you can see how I do it right now with him.
I have a couple of things that are going to help make this process a little bit
easier. I've got some great rewards and I'm going to help to build that positive
association with the gentle leader.
And I've also got my toy and final loves to tug. He loves to play,
and I'm going to use both of those things to help him realize that the gentle
leader still means all the good things can happen.
Now, it's pretty obvious that a lot of the times when I'm talking to you and
demonstrating things, I'm doing it in a fairly quiet environment.
Final good boy, sit. And there's reason for that.
Our job is to help our dogs to be successful.
And if I put my dog in a situation where things are too crazy and my dog is too
distracted, they're not learning.
They're simply over faced in that particular moment.
So I've got my treats ready to go finalist here with me.
I've got my gentle leader ready? First things. First,
I'm going to put a little food through the lift off and sit through the nose
loop there. And I'm going to give him that treat and slide it on his nose.
And then this head collar is going to come around behind.
And I'm just going to snug that up on him for a second and make sure that head
color fits a little tighter boy. Excellent job.
And then I'm going to transition my leash from the nose or from his collar to
the nose live. When you can see right now, he's already starting to say, Hey,
wait a second. I'm not super fond of this.
I'm just going to get my leash organized here.
He's messing with it a little bit.
So I'm just going to lift up here a little bit and then put some Slack back in.
Good boy. Excellent. Yes. So, oops. I'm going to leave it.
Good, good point. Leave that bud. So he's pulling out of it a little bit.
So I'm going to help him a little bit. Leave that buddy. Go ahead.
Leave that one. I know.
So this is something that's pretty common with a lot of dogs.
He says I have lost control. Good boy. Leave that, please.
And now I need to sort of wrestle with this thing.
So I'm just going to guide him to the ground and I'm going to calmly help him
understand that. No pressure, good. Leave them alone.
Leave that lab. And this is a pretty typical thing.
Now he did something pretty smart there. And I don't know if you see this.
He actually managed to get the nose lip off. So no big deal.
I'm going to reset myself. We're going to put it back on again.
So I'm going to take this nose leap off,
take the gentle leader off and to put this back up on his nose. Good boy, bud.
And then I'm going to change things a little bit.
I'm going to make it a little bit easier for him to be right before I do
anything.
Now I'm going to get it a little food and I'm going to help him understand.
Yes. Good boy. Then.
Good things can still happen with this gentleman. So I've got some cheese here.
Yes. Good boy. Excellent boy. God. Yes. Good boy. Good.
Excellent. Yes. Good boy. Good.
And as long as he sits calmly, I'm going to reward him. Yes.
Good boy. Excellent work. You know those any time I reward him,
this leash hangs straight up and down. There's no tension on that gentle leader.
So he's gonna learn pretty quickly. No tension means good.
So now I'm going to help them a little bit.
I'm gonna move him just a little bit. Let's go. Good boy. Let's go. Yes.
Good boy. We're going to move quickly. We're going to reward off and let's go.
Good boy. So I'm getting him moving. I'm getting them focused on something else.
Good boy. Now he's going to paw at it that's okay.
So I'm just going to lift up a little bit.
I'm going to place them in a set and then put some Slack back. Yes. Good boy.
Excellent job.
So I interrupted him as quickly as I could letting him know that he
shouldn't play with it. First things first. I'm not mad at him.
I'm not telling him that he's a bad dog for doing something,
but I am preventing the behavior from continuing.
He is really starting to understand. Okay. Don't pod the thing,
but good things happen when you simply go with it. Let's go. Good. Let's go.
Yes. Good. Let's go. Yes. Good boy. Excellent. Let's go feed that. Good.
Yeah. Yes. Good. Let's go. Good boy. Excellent job. Good boy. Ready?
Get that thing. Good. That's cool.
So now we're giving them something else to focus on.
What'd you just moving with me and I'm going to reward him often for moving with
me. Good boy. Let's go ahead.
And the more he moves and realizes that good things happen.
The more he settled into the gentle leader now where they will tend to struggle
with it a little bit more simply when we're sitting biggies,
he's going to start to realize now that it is on his nose and it's kind of
bugging him go, boy, I'm going to make sure that he gets lots of praise.
Leave that good boy. When he sit in calm,
we are not messing with the gentle leader. Excellent boy. Good job.
Very nice. Yes. Good boy. Now,
one of the nice things about a gentle leader is that it gives my dog full range
of motion of their mouth.
So the other thing I can actually do to help him be more comfortable with it is
I can take out my toy and I can let him tug and play and have some fun.
He can open his mouth. He can do all those things. And the more he associates,
he isn't able to do that with my toy. The more he will settle into it, but boy,
good out. Yes. Good boy.
So I'm interspersing some calm behavior on the gentle leader with some more
exciting behavior. Okay. Get it. Good Boy. Tug, tug, tug. Good boy. Good job.
Excellent work. Good. Out. Good. Good boy.
Yes. Good set. Excellent work.
So you can see a couple of times there he was. Okay. Good job. Leave that.
So again, in that particular moment, leave it good. Leave.
Leave that good. He's working through his head right now.
Whether or not he should fuss with it. Yes. good boy.
I'm interrupting every time. Now the big thing is when I interrupt,
I am making sure that I put Slack back in this leash.
This is the most important part for him to figure out is that good things happen
when there's no tension at all? Good boy. Excellent work.
And the sitting is the hardest part because of the emotion they're focused on
the gentle leader. Yes. Good boy. Good job. Excellent work.
Just a little bit more walking for today.
And then that's all I'm going to do with them today on this particular thing.
So I'm going to get out some more food again. Hey bud. Are you ready?
And he said, I got some great treats here. Good job. Okay. That's cool. Yes.
Good. Let's go. Let's go. Yes. Good boy. Good. Let's go. So anytime he moves,
I think it's lots of rewards for moving with me on a nice loose leash, warring,
his shiny new gentle leader. And for our first time,
that actually went pretty well. Okay. Again, he had a couple of issues with it,
but it's important that you understand that your dog needs to be accepting of it
and we're going to help them to accept it. Okay.
We're not going to let them rehearse that kind of thing.
One week later. So it's a week later now guys,
I've spent the last week doing all sorts of fun things with Final while wearing
his gentle leader.
And you'll remember last week when I put it on him in the hall,
he wasn't really fond of it. He really didn't like it.
My job is to help him through it. So I'm going to do some work with him.
Now I'm going to do a little response to name. I'm going to do a little walking.
I might even pull up my toy and have a little tug and play and he's going to
work through it.
Now he may pod a little bit and I'm just going to work them through that.
I'm going to encourage him to leave it, but then I'm going to keep on moving.
The idea is much more comfortable with it now and we can have much greater
success. Okay buddy. Bye now. Yes. Good boy. Excellent. What a good puppy dog.
Good. Good. Yeah. God, this way. Ready you set. Hi. I'm over here. Good point.
Get in. Let's go. Go ahead. Let's go. Yes. Good boy. What a good puppy dog. Hey,
good boy. Excellent. Are you ready? I said final. Yeah. And sit. Oops.
Sit. Good. Sit. Good job. Let's go. Okay. Let's go.
Good boy. Ready? You set. Okay. Ready? Give that to him.
I get to get to get good boy. Get to, get to get it out. Yes.
Good out. Excellent boy.
A common thing that happens when people try a new piece of equipment is they put
it on the dog and the dog doesn't like it and they immediately take it off
because they think that the dog really isn't getting any use out of it.
Or it's really not going to work.
It's important that you take the time to get your dog comfortable with any new
piece of equipment.
Before you can start to get success with it. It's important to stick with it.
A gentle leader is like any other training tool and it's designed to get success
early with your dogs,
but it's also something we don't want to become dependent on.
If you want to learn more about how to wean away from a gentle leader,
when your dog is ready, click that card right there.
If this is your first time on the channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button. We publish new videos every week.
Tell you to have a well behaved four legged family member with that.
I'm Steve happy training.