OB160: Ring Confidence for Obedience, Rally, and Agility

Leash Removal

Goal:

The removal of the leash is the very first activity when entering the ring in agility and once you're past the novice level in obedience and rally. This activity also involves the pressure of ring stewards approaching you and your dog to either directly take the leash from your hand or from the ground if you do agility. Allowing the dog to check out during the hand off can be difficult for some dogs to refocus once that connection is broke. Our goal is to train the dog that you playing with the leash is just another cue for attention.

Notes about leash styles:

If you do agility, you have a few options of the type of leash and collar combo you use. All in one martingale-leashes or slip leashes are very commonly used (note: these are not legal for use in obedience/rally trials). However while they are very easy for the dog to be trained to shove their head through and put on at the end of the run, they are not always easy to take off while still having the dog keep focus. As you pull the collar off it will cover the dog's eyes and create a natural response for the dog to want to back up.In addition, some dogs really dislike the pull behind their ears as the collars tug over their head. 

If you have an excited dog with great natural focus on you, then this loss of focus during the removal may not be a big deal. You will still want to train your dog to keep focus as you reach for the leash but you may be able to let the dog do this back out of the collar move as long as you then train your dog to immediately offer focus again.

I've underlined the word train as you should not take your dog's natural tendency in practice for granted that it will automatically transfer to a trial! If your dog already has issues with focus in a trial then I recommend ditching the martingale leash for now and using a traditional snap collar with leash separate. This will allow you to do the below steps as is, or if your dog runs without a collar you will focus on being able to unsnap the collar and leave the leash attached to it.  You may then switch back to a martingale collar later once your dog understands the routine of focus with the leash removal.  

*Note in AKC obedience/rally a snap leash is no longer required for any class done off leash. (Still required for beg novice, novice, novice group stays, and awards.) You have the option of threading a leash or even a string such as a shoelace through the dog's collar so that you are holding their "leash" in a U shape through the collar. This allows you to simply drop one end and thread the leash up. No bending down and grasping for the clip involved! I have a video at the bottom of the lecture showing this style.

 

Training the Leash Removal

Many dogs are so conditioned to look away when a hand reaches towards their collar that we're going to break this exercise down into several small steps. Your dog must maintain attention for each step! At any time your dog looks away, stop what you're doing and straighten up, or at least pause.

Do not give your dog any type of "Watch" command as you will want focus to happen automatically and without you having to beg for it. Be patient. While I list only 6 steps here, in reality, each step may need to be broken down even smaller.

1. Reward dog for being in heel position* (Heel isnt' neccessary, but is often easier for leash removals with the exception of a collar goiing over the dog's head)
2. Pull leash up and slide your hand down the leash a few inches. (Pulling up on the leash makes it easier to find the clip, especially with fluffy dogs. It also acts as a quick CUE that you're doing their formal leash removal!)
3. Pull leash up and slide your hand down the leash until you can touch the clip
4. Pull leash up and play with the clip (act like you're nervous and can't unclip it!!)
5. Pull leash up and unclip the leash (and/or unclip collar for agility)
6. Unclip the leash and move your leash hand around

Some of you may want to start this task while you are kneeling, or your dog is sitting on a surface to raise them up in height. This will take away the leaning-over aspect while your dog is getting used to their new focus criteria! 

Any time your dog fails to maintain attention (including in the ring) stop what you are doing, stand up straight, and try again when your dog looks back up. Giving eye contact to you can be a mini consent cue that your dog is ready to tackle the challenge of working with you in the ring!

IF your dog is looking at your hand vs looking around, you have the option of freezing your hand and waiting until your dog looks back up at your face before either rewarding or resuming the step you were on.

If your dog looks down almost immediately, you may have to add even smaller steps. Maybe simply leaning forwards or beginning to reach for the collar.  Perhaps kneeling so you don't have to bend at all. Some dogs are so conditioned to look away when we reach for the collar that you'll spend a couple of days just working through that most basic step. No hurry! Take your time, until your dog can maintain attention throughout the leash removal. 

Here is Nala's first lesson in keeping focus.  I begin by kneeling just to rule out any leaning over issues.  She is a bit distracted at the start so I hold my food hand out to remind Nala of the doggy zen games.

 

 

At 24sec Nala nuzzled my food hand.  I could have chosen to restart by removing my hand and then trying again once she kept eye contact.  But in Nala's case, I thought keeping my hand still and waiting for Nala to figure out that A)I didn't have food there, and B)doggy zen rules tell her to ignore a closed fist anyway.  ("Doggy zen" is the class impulse control game of teaching a dog that mobbing food in the hand doesn't get the cookies to their mouth. They only get the food when they leave the hand alone and make eye contact with you)

At 33sec when it took her longer to look back at me I decided to present my treat hand held out as a visual reminder to keep focus on my eyes, don't mob for cookies.

 

Here is Loot's first lesson. He's quite hesitant and leaning away with my hand moving down the leash. I try kneeling but he's very focused on doing a hand touch (not sniffing because he thinks I have food).  I abort.  Later I try it with his toy reward and he does better!  (Going too high value of a reward could mask the dog's uncertainty with something you're doing.  However in this particular case with Loot I didn't get that impression.  He isn't very excited about working with food and can get into some weird overthinking spirals in food sessions. A toy just resets his brain and allowed me to reinforce the eye contact. Although I did push it too far at the end!)

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And another more recent session with Loot. I had discovered his leash behavior had "broke" when out and about so I went to revisit the skill at home. I found I couldn't do it in heel position and went to facing him after the first 2 reps.  Still not super easy, but I was able to get in some success after a few reps of trying to reward before the look away. And because he had done this many times before, I put him back in heel and and continued to reward for the small motion of my hand moving.

 

 

What hand you use to grab the clip doesn't matter. I find it easiest to use my left hand and slide it down. If you use your right hand that's ok too!

The smaller the dog, the more bending you have to do in order to reach the clip. Since this is pressure into the dog's space, progress in even smaller steps to make sure your dog is comfortable. Some handlers will find that bending their knees works easier to prevent looming over the dog. With my Corgi I usually leaned more forwards than over my side.

String/Ribbon leash removal

As mentioned in the intro to this lecture, AKC no longer requires a snap leash for levels above novice for obedience and rally where the entire performance is off leash.  You can use any type of a string or fabric that you thread through the dog's collar or ring and hold both ends as you enter the ring. Then the leash removal is simply letting go of one end and sliding the fabric up and out!  This may be the best option for dogs that really stress about the handler leaning into their space to remove the leash.

Here is Ginny demoing this skill.  I cut a piece of ribbon to slide through her collar although I found out I cut it too short as it really didn't give her an adequate amount of leash once doubled up!  For training, I chose to do a few reps of jiggling the collar and rewarding just in case the fabric were to get stuck:

 

 

Martingale/Slip Leashes

If you do decide to use a slip or martingale leash for agility I recommend first making sure that you are able to create a big enough hole that the dog does not feel pressure around their ears as the leash slides off. The tightness will make it even more likely for your dog to look away and even back up to help the collar be removed. If you have another dog with a larger sized slip collar, that's also an option to start with! Otherwise the steps are similar.

You will likely not need to slide your hand down the leash unless you want that as part of the routine to be a clear cue to the dog to look at you.  Since most martingale collars/slip leashes are quite wide and you're not looking for a specific clip, you can really grab anywhere on the collar. You can likely start with grabbing the collar and rewarding, progressing to jiggling the collar up and down a bit before rewarding.

Here I start kneeling on the floor with my dogs so that I can easily reach the collar and not have to bend over them. Notice that Lance finds it very easy to generalize from all his normal snap leash practice. Vito does not think it's the same game(!) and I use my doggy zen hand to help him focus as he has a strong history of knowing to give me eye contact when he sees me present cookies in my hand.  He would need further lessons with this martingale leash:

 

 

And here is Ginny's first lesson. I grab a platform to help her be still when she tries offering other behaviors. I use Loot's collar as it's extra big and won't really apply any pressure on her ears as I'm pulling it off.  

 

 

Chin rest leash removal:

For dogs who need a little extra structure or connection, I LOVE how a chin rest can be used to help in the leash removal process!  While this usually works easier from in front of the dog, you can also try asking for a chin rest when the dog is in heel position.  

Anne and Daisy demonstrate this technique to remove the leash (and collar).  This is after a few weeks of practice, at this point she's also building in some excitement and bounce into position!

 

 

Here is Zumi who does not typically do a leash removal with a chin rest but I wanted to show working through some of the steps.  She is very used to my zen hand helping her to know to look at me, but I realized I haven't worked much on my hand going below her head level in this context with the chin rest!:

 

 

Miming Leash Hand Offs

Once removing the leash is easy for your dog to keep focus, start pretending to hand the leash off to someone else!  Practice handing it off to your right, behind the dog, and off to the left over the dog's head.  

I don't personally care if the dog follows my hand motion as long as they offer eye contact as soon as my hand stops moving. 

Here is Wren who I start with reviewing the early steps but progress through unclipping the leash and add in a little bit of hand motion of the leash to hand it off to an imaginary helper:

 

 

And finally here is Zumi on that last step on moving my leash hand around to an imaginary helper. I pause my hand when she looks away and reward focus:

 

 

Overview:

If you're doing obedience/rally I highly recommend teaching your dog focus during the entire leash removal! Break it down into little pieces!  If your dog knows a chin rest, consider adding this in!  Reset by freezing or standing up straight each time your dog looks away.

1. Start with a gentle pull-up on the leash clip = cookies! 
2. Add in small hand motions either down your leash or directly towards the dog's collar.  This will take at least a few sessions for most dogs before you can touch the clip!
3. Play with the clip without unclipping it!
4. Unclip!
5. Work on moving your hand with the leash to your side as if passing it off to an imaginary helper.  

Agility:

If you're doing agility with a martingale leash, decide whether you're OK with your dog backing up/looking down as it goes over their head and will just train that focus on you before you start the leash removal and after it's off!  

If your dog would benefit from focus the entire time, take it slow!  It's harder with a leash that covers their eyes. Otherwise, consider switching to a snap collar/leash and work towards unsnapping the collar. 

I like to gently pull up on the leash to act as a cue to the dog that this is a focused leash removal, and the added benefit of making it easier to find the clip!  

Break it down and reward frequently for little steps of your hand sliding down the leash just a few inches.