An excellent forum post about loose leash walking...

...and dog training in general:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Click_To_Calm_List/message/7842

Re: [Click_To_Calm_List] Re: leash anxiety

Hi, I mainly lurk, but this is such an interesting subject, and I do have
strong views....

I had two rescue GSDs, and at 15 months they had never worn a collar let
alone been on a lead, so I had what might be called some interesting
experiences, and at the time, very little positive help. Internet help
mainly consisted of repeating the old and tried methods which I knew and
which hadn't worked for me. For instance, with one dog I tried the stop
every time the dog forged ahead method. Fine, apart from the fact that a
five minute walk took three quarters of an hour, we could do that, but she
couldn't connect the stop start with a continuous walk, no way. Head
harness? Just sat down and refused to move....

Eventually I succeeded, but whether it was just age, experience, or one of
the methods I used, I couldn't say. I believe there is a way for every dog,
but considering the pairing of any dog and any human is a pairing of two
unique beings, it can take time to find what works for you. Clicker
training came along just a tad too late for our early days....

One thing I believe many people forget, or do not heed, is that it is
counter-productive to start using a method if you can't use it each and
every time. Look at the number of dogs in classes that behave beautifully
to heel in class and then pull like a demon on the way out to the car....
IMO we are taught to watch our dogs for the response we want, and click and
treat. What some people forget is that dogs watch us, and wait for the
response THEY want - if they get it once - then it can take a long time for
the hope to fade it won't happen again.

I have a theory about learning anything. Before you start, look at the line
of books on the subject in the book shop. How many are there claiming the
quick way, the easy way, etc. If there are plenty then there is NO quick or
easy way, because you wouldn't need a book to tell you. I have yet to find
a book titled the Easy, Quick way to learn to love Chocolate....

So, IMO we often create or exacerbate the situation by our own anxieties -
which travel down the lead like an electric current. It isn't easy to relax
with a pulling dog, but I think, whatever method works for you in the long
run, the first thing is to relax, think about it, and say to the dog, we are
going to get through this together, you and I...

Just my thoughts
Brenda

The Misbehavior of Organisms

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Breland/misbehavior.htm

THE MISBEHAVIOR OF ORGANISMS
Keller Breland and Marian Breland (1961)
Animal Behavior Enterprises, Hot Springs, Arkansas
First published in American Psychologist, 16, 681-684.

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Interesting stuff!

I have seen similar things happen in my dog training. That some behaviours seem to be self-reinforcing.

Often it seems that instinctual behaviour is incredibly reinforcing! I wonder what to do about it without using aversives since some behaviour is very hard to manage. It certainly seems that if some behaviour is allowed to repeat itself the very fact that it is allowed to repeat itself it very reinforcing to the organism (in this case dog). So much so that no reward I can think of is more reinforcing.

One example is chasing birds. I thought perhaps I could use the Premack Principle on the bird-chasing (reward: allowed to sometimes chase birds on a variable schedual). Noch unfortunately has an incredibly strong prey drive so I resorted to managing the behaviour instead (keeping him on lead when we walk past birds). Perhaps I can use Premack later but right now it's not working at all -- he gets waaaaay to excited and cannot concentrate if he's allowed to chase them even once. All other learned behaviour breaks down for almost the whole walk after that.

Another one is barking. It seems if I ignore that, or try to teach incompatible behaviour (such as holding something in mouth) it still doesn't help (tries to bark with object in mouth). I have a friend whose dog will take and then spit out normally high-reinforcement treats to bark.

So far the I have been addressing the "managing" part of this situation. I have boiled the stimuli down to being noise reaction, anticipation and proximity (to stimulus). So baby gate has helped -- he can see people coming in but he is not so close (not seeing at all doesn't help -- he needs to see the people coming in to know what my desired behaviour is: being quiet and greeting ppl without jumping -- enthusisam is fine but making a sound or jumping is not good). This also enables me to use the opening of baby gate and letting him out to say hello as a reinforcer, together with ending up back behind the baby gate as negative reinforcement.

Barking, though, has een a slightly harder nut to crack. Here I have in fact resorted to using a water spray. But being quick to fade this out and instead take every opportunity to reward and even food reward silence. Progress so far! I do not know though, how I would have achieved silence to reward without the water spray.

occasionally resorted to using the water spray here *sigh*