Hi Shannon

I have a Dachshund who will not tolerate a choke chain lead or show lead. She walks nicely out of the show ring but jerks her head and performs a bit but as soon as we are in a show ring she stops and sits down. This results in a pulling match as the judge waits!!! What do I do…..?

End of the Lead

---

Dear End of the Lead

The undesired behaviour of your dog is being reinforced. You are of course not reinforcing it on purpose, but the fact that she gets a desired result when she stops and sits increases this behaviour and hence reinforces it.

She needs to be desensitised to the chain and show lead. This can be achieved with some patience, positive association and more patience. Did I mention patience?

You can start quite simply by putting her show chain and lead on just before you feed her. Do not hold the lead, let her eat her food and as soon as she is finished remove the chain and lead. You don't need to say anything, as we do not want her to perceive this as a big deal.

Once she is comfortable with this and not showing any hesitation you can start putting the chain and lead on a short distance from the food bowl. She will then have to walk to the bowl dragging the lead behind her. Do not make this too far and do not worry about picking the lead up yet. Once she is comfortably doing this from a distance you may pick up the end of the lead and walk with her to the bowl. As soon as she is finished eating, the chain and lead come off.

Do not make a big fuss and do not assure her that "Everything is OK". All this does is confirm to her that there is indeed a problem. I would prefer for you to be entirely quiet so that she can work through this problem without distraction.

At no point should the chain or lead be tight. It is probably this constriction that is causing her undesired behaviour as it makes her feel threatened.

Once she is happily walking to her bowl with the chain and lead on you can start holding some of her food in your hand and walk her in the garden. A couple of steps and she gets some food. For a non-show dog I would suggest putting some food on the ground to aid this stage, but the last thing we want is to get her walking on the lead but with her nose vacuuming the ground.

In preparation for the show it would be useful to take her to the show grounds on non-show day and practice this routine there. On the day of the show you may want to withhold her breakfast and make an extra special treat such as liver bread. This treat would only be used for the show chain and lead routine and thus for shows. Apply the same principles of frequent reward and calm behaviour and in no time she'll be actively looking for the chain and lead that are always associated with reward.

Expect some backsliding at your first show. She will need to "unlearn" her bad experiences. If need be use the show as a learning experience. It is not worth damaging your relationship with her and ruining a potentially promising show career by expecting a perfect performance every single time.

You may also want to consider a half-check or limited slip collar. This will also change your perception of the problem and make you more relaxed.

Good luck and here's to all those CC's!

Best of luck!

Shannon