In this video I talk about Tether Training your dog. Watch the video then come back and read what I say below. It will be easier to understand the concept after watching the video.
All my pups get tether trained in addition to normal crate training. Here are a few reasons why I tether train my pups.
1. It speeds up house training and reduces the chance the puppy will potty in the house. Dogs and puppies who are raised in a clean environment do not like to mess where they play and sleep. By reducing the area they are free to play in, you reduce the chance they will use your house for potty breaks. If you can’t watch your puppy closely, putting them on a tether is a great option to keep them involved with you and the family but limiting what they can do and where they can go. Think of it as a mobile crate.
2. It teaches the puppy that pulling on a leash is fruitless. The first time you tether train your pup he will likely flop at the end of the leash like a fish on a line OR freeze and act as if he cannot move. This is fine, just ignore all behavior until he is calm and relax. It could take a while for the pup to calm down, just remember eventually he will figure out nothing bad is happening and to stop acting silly. If he gets really tangled, go untangle the pup and then go back to sitting on the couch. Don’t talk to the pup, just untangle them and walk away. You do not want to reward him for acting like a nut, but you don’t want him to be injured either. The first time you tether him, try to make sure there are few distractions so you can be ready to reward him with praise for calming, sitting, or laying down.
3. If you have small children or other dogs, this gives everyone a break from the energetic pup! If they want to interact, they can walk up to where the dog is tethered and play. When they are done, they can walk away. Small kids especially like this method, because when a puppy starts biting or jumping, they walk away. The puppy goes “hmm, why did they leave”. It is a great passive method for training! Puppies are not stupid, and will learn people go away when the pup acts crazy.
4. You are going to teach this dog that when tethered, they need to sit or down nicely to get your attention. Why is this important? It develops a patient dog who learns that eventually you WILL come back and the quickest method to get that to happen is to sit or down without whining. When you go to the park with the kids, tie the pup to a tree and go push the kids on a swing. Watch the pup and when he is calm, go over and tell him what a great dog he is! I can leave my dogs with anyone and they will not worry. Why? Because I have taught them, through tether training, that I will return ONLY if they are not acting up. If you teach them to be calm, they will be calm both inside and out. This is the key to the entire training method. You simply can not reward them for barking, whining, pacing, or showing stress behaviors while on the tether.
I’ll cover stress behaviors in length on another blog, but I do want you to know that when I got Lincoln back from his two week stay in another home, he was a total and complete stressed out separation anxiety puppy! The people who had him had inadvertently encouraged him to act like a crazy dog when caged. They told me they could never leave him alone. I told them how to correct the issue, but I think they were not willing to wait him out and only reward the good behavior. After just two weeks, it took someone (me) who was very knowledgeable to fix his issues. That is how quickly you can imprint a behavior!! He was literally making himself sick barking and freaking out in both the crate and on a tether. If I walked 2 feet away from him, he would begin barking and drooling! Now I can leave him alone anywhere and he trust I will come back. He is almost zen like in his calmness. It is amazing and what makes him an exceptionally smart dog. I always tell people, you want a trainable dog, not a smart one. The problem with the smart ones is you have to stay one step ahead! 🙂
To many people toss a new pup in a crate and expect that pup to just suck it up and be happy. It does not work that way. You must teach a dog that the tether and crate are good places to be and why. A smart dog will question a situation. Separation anxiety is almost always taught by humans. We have all done it at one point to our beloved pets to one degree or another. I did it to Merlot! The key is to learn how to prevent doing it to your future dogs!!