Walking on & off lead

[DTJazz]

As a newcomer to GSDs I am maybe starting to read too many of the forums and foresee issues! (Golden retrievers were definitely easier!) - it seems that while with other breeds you can train sit, stay, down and heel and pretty much thats it but with GSDs the challenges continue - perhaps more so from 5/6 months up til 18 months? So here are my questions.... re walking on/off lead.

Off lead - she has a better run but recall isnt great, she loves other dogs and wants to play. She will bounce about and bark at men with no dog. So work more on longer lead and recall?

Have taken her on longer lead to canal path where there will be people with prams, dogs, bikes etc - she is fine on longer lead and does come when told - however barks at men, bikes etc (especially when i shorten lead) - does she see this as a sign of tension in me? When i didnt shorten the lead she jumped on the man (friendly but annoying)

I know I need to keep going to this kind of area to keep socialising her etc but dont want to simply keep reinforcing the behaviour and making it a habit.

Lastly - hackles - they go up frequently, when she barks at birds, dogs, people - is this a sign of aggression or fear or other...

Sorry for long post but in reading other posts of others at 12 months etc I am keen to address and work on these things now. (to pre-empt the question, she does go to dog training and is great, no barking and wants to meet other dogs)

Dogs put hackles up for several reasons, insecurity, not happy with something, in play with other dogs, being startled by something.

I'd still be doing a lot of work with her on lead or on a long-line. Letting dogs run free on land you don't own in my view is a privilege not a right because of other peoples' reactions. If she has a lot of off-lead freedom she'll not know not to jump up and bark at people, she'll get less trainable. Setting boundaries on lead is easier so the dog knows how to behave off it.

I still do one walk a day that's more lead / training focused - the boring walk they'd call it! Even on a fun walk, I do whistle recalls or get them to walk heel off-lead etc, so when I need them to do this there's a better chance they will.

If mine are off lead and i see someone ahead who I don't know I put both dogs back on lead. The person may have a dog phobia, you just don't know. If it's someone I know then I'll recall the dogs and get them walking close to me. If it's someone I know with a dog - well I've no chance of recall beyond a certain point anyway!

[LOVEGSD]

I would also keep at the recall training on a long line, keep re-inforcing the commands GSD's do better when you train them consistently and daily.

I would try whistle training as well, I found this brilliant with Diesel.

I always randomly call both my boys back to me throughout the walk for no reason other than I want them to see me as good to come back to, this way at the end of the walk they have no problems going back on the lead and going home.

[Nash]

You have a good plan. If the dog is walking good while on lead (loose lead) then he/she will be good off lead also. So you need to get the on lead part done first. While on the long lead it is a perfect scenario to practice recalls and random OB commands. For eaxmple when you are walking, command "down", same with "sit" randomly. Once the dog obeys, immediately release and reward + continue on, after a few minutes command again. This makes your walk a training exercise and a mind game for the dog, not a "useless" walk.

Try different distances and distractions, this will give you a good starting point, start with the distance you are successful at and add distance and distractions will lots of repetition. Same with recalls, start rewarding when the dog just looks at you, then as you are getting consistent eye contact start rewarding when the dog takes a step or two towards you. After you are getting consistently good results then wait till the dog reaches you to release and reward. Small steps initially, not the end result. This way you will build a solid foundation. Every time you have a failure, just take 2 steps backs in training and start over with the exercise that the dog was successful at and build up again.

Good thing about the long line is that you always have a connection with the dog and if the dog ignores you can enforce the command. In this way the dog never learns the bad habbit that he/she can ignore you. Once they learn that they can ignore you , you loose at least 6 months of training time.