I know there are plenty of people who were horseless horse crazy girls who taught their dogs to lunge. A friend wants to teach her dog and is a horse person too, but has never thought about teaching her service dog.
So… how do you do it? She does not have access to a fenced in yard so it will have to be taught on the line for dog’s safety.
Help please. Thanks!
I tried. I was not successful. 
but perhaps that was because Airedales are not really the best dogs to try and train…
Interesting challenge.
I think i’d start with a lunge whip–but not to make him go! I’d attach him to it somehow, (not gonna think that thru) and ask him to walk “on whip” around me in a circle, about halfway out on the stock, rewarding him for moving on the circle at a slight distance from me. I’d reward for every step at first, until he got the idea to move around me in a circle.
Then I’d teach him a cue to move out away from me, and reward him for doing that.
Then I’d move him out to the end of the stock, rinse and repeat.
After that I’d attach a 30’ lead, and use it along with the whip. Gradually I’d fade the whip, until he’d go out on the lead alone.
Caveat–never done this, just an interesting mental exercise, but maybe it will give you some ideas.
OE: this assumes he’d have a hard time with the idea of moving in a circle at a distance. Dogs that naturally go out might just need to be reinforced for moving in the circle, but the whip or something stiff might help keep them from coming in to you randomly and provide more chances to reinforce going out on circle.
PS–or you could just use alpha rolls 
If the objective is to exercise the dog, wouldn’t fetch be easier to teach? (And can be done on a long line if needed…)
We practice turns and circling as part of agility class, on the leash. She could probably get him doing that really well and then just keep backing up until the dog was on a 20m-ish circle… I think?
(I don’t remember how we started the turning exercise or I would describe it… oops!) DOF, I have found our Airedale easy to train, but tricky to ‘practice’ with. She learns things so quickly that practicing a behavior seems to bore her! I find she rises to occasions though - thankfully.
[QUOTE=outside__line;6371756]
(I don’t remember how we started the turning exercise or I would describe it… oops!) DOF, I have found our Airedale easy to train, but tricky to ‘practice’ with. She learns things so quickly that practicing a behavior seems to bore her! I find she rises to occasions though - thankfully.[/QUOTE]
true, we had one that was whip smart, but that didnt mean she was going to actually do the things we trained her! It was all on her time.
My dog would probably longe. This is how I’d do it:
Teach a “step up” command to have the dog walk up past me. Sort of the same command as when I release the dog from heel to walk in front of me.
Walk in a small circle asking the dog to “step up” past me. This should get the dog walking in a small circle around me.
Teach the dog to “out” by taking a step toward them and praising when the dog steps out, while working on the small circle.
Continue until the dog is walking out at a reasonable distance.
Once that’s understood, introduce a “hup hup” or “trot up,” probably on the small circle, working out to the large circle.
I would do this on a SUPER light long line to avoid any confusion of a heavy long line tugging on the collar. I would absolutely not teach this on something like a flexi lead.
Lunge the Bunny
I think I would approach is slightly differently…engage any prey drive by attaching a tug or lure toy to the lunge whip like an extra long flirt pole. Attach lightweight tracking line to dog for safety.
Start playing! Remember the horse is a prey animal and the dog is a predator so they think differently. If pooch has zero prey drive 1) develop it and 2) tie on long, durable food like bully sticks, jerky, or food-stuffed toys. The page I linked to for the flirt pole has suggested rules of play and a video.
I don’t know how physically healthy it would be to lunge a dog 
. Dogs have used treadmills for a couple decades but I can’t find any info on the effects in dogs of repetitively running circles.
What are your friend’s specific reasons for wanting to lunge her service dog?
They are essentially housebound due to her seizure issues. She has 5-20 a day. Leaving home base isn’t really safe. She also has other safety reasons not to try to walk about town (personal safety).
Dog is a rescued German short haired pointer and she does play fetch. My friend is looking for new ideas to stimulate her brain and give her some different kind of exercise too. You can only play fetch for so long. Given my friend’s limited mobility I thought lunging (and later free jumping) would be a nice challenge for them to work on.
Like I said they don’t have a fenced in backyard and given pup’s recent propensity to dart off in to the woods to chase a bird/sound/etc exercise must be done on a line for dog’s safety. I personally think they are both feeling cooped up since the college semester let out. I thought I’d ask her to see if anyone had ideas on how to train this. She has taught horses, but never a dog.
OMG! I completely forgot about it, but this reminded me I used to longe my Malamute!!! Sorry, I have no idea how I taught him to do it though.
I would suggest she hire a dogwalker, and talk to a service dog trainer- perhaps the dog can be trained to pre-alert her to seizures and thus make her more mobile? many persons with seizures use such dogs.
I could probably get one of my trained agility dogs to “lunge” without any additional training because they are taught to follow my indicated direction/speed/distance. I wouldn’t bother with a whip with a dog; dogs are Chasers rather than Chasees, so being chased by a whip wouldn’t really motivate them. Perhaps put a cone out, and teach the dog to go out and move around the cone, and then put two cones, and move around the two cones, and build up to a small circle of cones, gradually making the circle bigger?
I think that would drive the dog crazy with boredom, running around the circle endlessly once the trick was mastered, but teaching it might be fun for the dog, and certainly will be fun for the owner.
I don’t like to see people try to jump dogs while they are on lines, so until the dog is trained sufficiently to focus and obey while off a line, I’d bag that one.
Teaching the dog silly tricks is always a fun way to work their minds. Some “tricks” can be very useful- find the keys, fetch the remote, etc.
Other fun ways to work dogs at home: weight-pulling, flirt poles, rally training, agility training in general.
The dog clearly needs more work on basic obedience if he can’t be let off a line, so maybe she should start there.
I would put something the dog wants (a favorite toy or whatever) on a long stick and have the dog follow the stick around in a circle.
Use this to introduce voice commands and graudually reduce reliance on the lure.
And/or clicker train it to do a very small circle around me and gradually make the circle bigger.
The dog does do seizure alerts (which is NOT something that can be taught by the way). Please realize she has 5-20 seizures a day. She has had a TBI and multiple concussions from falls, etc. Leaving home for even short periods has resulted in some God awful goose eggs and concussions.
I realize that it seems like it should be simple to hire a dog walker or call a trainer but as a homeless, unemployed 20 something there isn’t money for that. (She is staying with a relative for the summer until her dorm is open again. Relative had a stroke so there isn’t much support there.) The whole point is to find something the dog DOESN’T know how to do so it is physically and mentally stimulating. This team has been together quite a while and are very in tune with one another. My friend and I feel like the dog needs to turn and burn and blow off steam but there isn’t a safe place to do that, ie no dog parks or horse farms with no-climb fence around.
Before becoming so ill my friend was an active horse person too. I remembered ppl here saying they had dogs that lunged so I figured I would ask for her.
Oh, they also do some backyard agility but even that isn’t a huge challenge anymore given their limited equipment.
Not trying to be difficult. Just stating the facts. Things would be so much simpler if she could still drive or if there was a dog park, but there isn’t. Just trying to help a friend brainstorm on how to start teaching her dog to lunge.
As for the comment regarding basic obedience… ANY dog is prone to get a wild hair up their butt and take off without warning if the mood strikes them. That is the case here. Both handler and dog went thru a traumatic experience and the dog hasn’t been 100% reliable on recall so for dog’s safety she is on a long line for play. It would only take one time for the dog to be injured, shot, lost, or hit by a car. Please don’t insinuate the dog isn’t well trained. She is a bird dog that needs to run but they aren’t in a place where she can safely do that at the moment. Since school is no longer in session both handler and are restless and feeling cooped up. Just trying to find new things for them to safely do in an I fenceless backyard with lots of traffic around. I’m sure my friend would like to get out and do more but her seizures are getting worse, not better. I’m sure the brain tumor isn’t helping either.
FWIW, I disagree that a dog would not enjoy longeing once the lesson has been learned. I think that a dog that loves to RUN and does not get the opportunity would not see it is a pointless, boring activity–it would see the chance to really run as a reward.
The tough part is letting the dog out on a line that’s long enough to really let them ramp it up and then also not getting yanked off your feet if the dog decides to go in a different direction.
If I were unable to let my Ridgeback loose, I would consider teaching her to longe, as the dog really needs to be able to RUN and she would enjoy the opportunity.
Yes, the need for working up to a very long line to avoid stressing joints was discussed. Gotta get her lunging first though. :). This dog gets so much joy from running that I think she would love it too. Would also help my friend miss the horses a little less to maybe.
There are?
A friend wants to teach her dog and is a horse person too, but has never thought about teaching her service dog.
So… how do you do it? She does not have access to a fenced in yard so it will have to be taught on the line for dog’s safety.
This is like my stepdaughter walking into the house a few months ago and asking, “Is is possible to teach a dog to passage?” (Huh? :lol:) She ended up using the patio chairs and jump poles to make a doggie jump course instead. TurboMutt enjoyed jumping around, but dressage is probably out of her league.
Why not teach the dog some agility? Fly ball? Or just play fetch? That can be done on a long line. Not so sure about longeing though.
I used to longe my son’s adopted OTGreyhound regularly. He was quite good at it! :yes:
Would make me very dizzy, though.
:dead:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZuWZqkowiM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
My pup lunges sorry, I have no idea how you would teach it…she just gets a bit crazy and runs around me in circles :lol:
Maybe I should have posted on the H/J forum since I remember more than a few ppl chiming in about teaching their dogs to lunge before their parents agreed to get them a horse. Was hoping maybe they wander over here to this section too.
Apparently it Germany dog lunging is not unheard of. There were some basic starting directions but not a real step by step. Just basically make a reverse round pen (person Inside, dog outside).
They already play a ton of fetch and do some backyard agility. Dog is a quick learner though so we are brainstorming on a way to combine her desire to RUN with learning something new. We thought of fly ball, lure chasing, or dock diving but doesn’t seem to be a way to get them there even if there was anything around.
As for the comment regarding basic obedience… ANY dog is prone to get a wild hair up their butt and take off without warning if the mood strikes them.
uh, no. Politely disagree. Well-trained dogs don’t take off without warning even if they do get into wild moods, and well-trained dogs come when they are called, or drop instantly on command, regardless of circumstances. You should go watch an advanced obedience class sometime and watch the antics they get up to, “proofing” the dog’s basic behaviors. You never know what will happen, so you train against it.
If you can’t trust a dog to work with you off-leash, I would politely submit that should be your FIRST training goal- to develop a dog who has enough focus, attention, and training to work with you without needing a line. After you have that, then you work on fun sports.
Seems to me the girl in question could probably find someone willing to take her dog for a regular run- I wouldn’t be surprised if you submitted a request to the local dog-walkers for someone to donate some time to help a dog of someone in need you’ll get lots of takers.
Training her dog to lunge is a fine thing to try, but surely it would help the dog more to get someone to volunteer to run the dog regularly?
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