[QUOTE=Aggie4Bar;6372585]
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:)[/QUOTE]
It is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sknEaZHHbhc&feature=player_embedded
Last I checked dogs were sentient beings, not robots. I’m not saying it is likely that a well trained dog would run off, but it’s not out of the realm of possibilities. Sort of like even a bomb proof horse is still capable of having a moment. They are animals with their own minds and every once in a blue moon they can surprise or scare us.
[QUOTE=PalominoMorgan;6373525]
Last I checked dogs were sentient beings, not robots. I’m not saying it is likely that a well trained dog would run off, but it’s not out of the realm of possibilities. Sort of like even a bomb proof horse is still capable of having a moment. They are animals with their own minds and every once in a blue moon they can surprise or scare us.[/QUOTE]
Well, you know, like the Parellis say, if you just train your jorse well enough, you shouldn’t need a helmet.
…but you know what, I still wear mine.
I did train my parents Shih Tzu to lunge, walk trot and canter on command, jump and pull a tiny red wagon (good lord I was a horse crazy kid). I honestly can’t tell you how I did it other than by repetition. Although maybe since dogs like to chase you could use a lunge whip with something fun tied on to the end of it and drag it in front of the dog rather than using it behind like you would with a horse?
Our pit bull lunges 
We just got her excited and then put some pressure on her long line (because where we lived originally with her, we didn’t have a fenced yard.) She actually LOVES lunging and will even do directional changes (if only some horses I have known were so easy to train.)
If you want to teach lunging, get or make a flirt pole, and introduce commands. Flirt pole = lunge whip with feathers attached where the popper would be (feathers, fur pieces, whatever to get the dog to chase.)
I was a horse crazy kid with no horse, and I ended up training my dog to lunge amoung many other things (jump, side pass, leg yield, voice command transitions, etc). I also recently taught my friend’s dog to lunge. My current dog was not pleased with the idea.
I put a harness on the dog so that if he takes off, or needs to be pulled back onto the circle, its not pulling on his neck. I put the dog on a long rope and ask them to stay. I back away to get to the middle of the circle and ask them to walk off. I usually cluck to them like a horse. If he tries to come into the circle, I use the whip to push them back out. I dont hit with the whip, but touch them with the end of it (kinda like if you were to poke them with a finger). I do walk some, as you do lunging a horse, but my circle is way smaller than theirs. Reward constantly. You can also mix it up with jumps and lots of change of direction. I ask to change direction by extending the whip in their path. They get the point fairly quickly.
I was a horseless horse crazy kid with a hyper spaniel cross. He was the best jumping dog around. He was a good lunger, but I couldn’t tell you how I did it. I had the best stadium course on the block. He sailed around a 4’ course and easily did a 5’ spread. We worked on lots of gymnastics. This was one fit dog. From all his jumping training he learned to clear the 4’ privacy fence, and could get over the 8’ privacy fence in 2 leaps and we would chase him around the town.
Sorry, this was over 20 years ago and I have lost my touch with dog training.
I am hesitant to teach my extremely athletic jack/pom mix to jump for this very reason. He can already clear the couch in the living room in a single bound.
The yard is too narrow in many places to use an electric fence.
I will probably end up violating zoning ordinances with 12’ fences.
I inadvertantly taught my dog to lunge.
She loves to run (and came into our lives thanks to being a stray), but we don’t have a back yard. You can walk her til the cows come home (and she’ll be a good girl!) but she LOVES running and will find the energy to do it when it’s possible.
We initially bought the lunge line to practice recall work with her (her “come” is pretty weak still, but it’s better than non-existant that it used to be!!). It then gradually became a chance for her to run on it. But, she’d hit the end of it pretty quick. At first I taught her “easy!” which means she’s about to hit the end of the line and better back off unless she wants a rude stop. But sometimes I swear she wants that ridiculous stop (she wears an easy walk harness) and purposefully ignores me.
And then she and I realized that using “this way”, which I use all the time to get her to change directions, is a great way for her to run in a circle! Instead of saying “easy” when she gets near the end, I say “this way” and she changes trajectory slightly, which then puts her on a circle. She only sprints for a few laps and then calls it quits, and I don’t make her do it or make her go both directions or care too much about shape.
So it’s not “lunging” the way I’d lung a horse. But she does run around me in a circle
