Does your dog back away when you go to put on his harness? This video goes over tips for building your dogs confidence and drive to want to put on his harness on a verbal or visual cue. In this exercise the dog does all the work while the trainer just holds the harness out for the dog to put his head into.
This dog training tutorial shows how to teach a dog to step into a harness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27rIN1r8pA4
Thanks so much for watching!
Happy Training!
-Kikopup
#dogtraining #professionaldogtraining #servicedogintraining
Hello everyone this video is on the topic of
teaching your dog to put on their harness when You hold it out so it’s for harnesses
where the dog puts their head through You could also potentially teach your dog to
put their feet up on a platform if you had a dog That gets into their harness by putting their feet
into it so this video specifically is made to help People with service dogs sometimes dogs will start
to have an aversion to having their harness put on Because sometimes it bumps into their ears or it
just feels oppressive when the harness goes on So instead of putting the harness onto the dog
you can teach the dog to put on their harness On a verbal cue or a visual cue if your dog has
an extreme aversion to putting on his harness You can try using something else
that looks nothing like a harness To teach the cue of putting their head through
the harness and something very easy and with a Larger hole so that their ears aren’t getting
squished or it’s not rubbing against them then This is a pool noodle you can gradually make
it smaller and smaller so i could cut the pool Noodle into smaller pieces so that it’s a smaller
hole that the dog has to put their head through And get used to bumping into the bottom part
with their chest on a verbal cue so you can Use whatever cue you want i’m going to say put on
your vest and that’s going to mean put your head Through whatever i’m holding out like this so it
could be put on your harness because i also have A harness but for bliss who is my service dog i’m
going to have put on your vest mean for the vest And then for the normal harness i’m just going to
put it on him so that it’s really a specific cue That the service dog work is going to begin and
that it’s not just a casual walk where he’s just Walking on a loose leash enjoying uh being a dog
okay so what i’m going to do is throw oh i dropped A tree i’m going to throw a treat and say get it
behind and then i’m just going to feed him like This so he’s getting used to approaching the
harness and getting a treat it’s not a harness a Pool noodle so i throw a treat and i’m just
building a repetitive chain of behaviors where He’s getting a reinforcement away and he’s seeing
the harness and he’s getting a reinforcement for Approaching it so there’s no markers um that i’m
using just yet i’m just building a repetitive Behavior of going away and coming back with
confidence so i’m not moving into his space That’s really important if anything i’m going to
move away from him so if the dog is reluctant to Come towards you when you’re holding a treat
as you as he approaches you can move away And make noise did you see how he got faster so
when you’re ever conditioning something you can Begin with movement away before movement towards
and that’s one of the big reasons that dogs don’t Like having harnesses put on because immediately
the trainer is putting the object into their space And hovering over the dog’s head so even though
he’s pretty good you can see he’s kind of backing Up i mean he’s he’s a wonderful guy but you
always want to begin with either being still Or moving away good and and if you start to get
to the next step where you’re getting the dog’s
Head through and they start to get a little bit
worried go back to the first step and really Build in multiple training sessions you throw the
treats away and you can even start adding the cue Of come or put it in or touch or whatever you
want so touching your fingers touch good and then Throwing a treat away to really build that initial
joy of seeing this and wanting to approach it okay So if your dog is really confident and successful
with that step you can move on to holding the Treat where the dog puts their head through the
harness so they’re going to put the head through The harness and eat the treat and the goal is
for the dog to not dip their head back out of the Harness so i’m going to load up my right hand with
a couple of treats and then i’m going to throw one Away for him and this is great because when i
throw it away i can see how fast he approaches If he stops wanting to approach that can mean
that the the reinforcement isn’t of high enough Value that he’s getting conditioned to enjoy
the harness so if you throw one away and they go Sniffing and want to wander off you need to try
again at a different time or try better treats Or just break the steps up smaller so i’m feeding
him like this and then i’m going to say free and Get him to back up or whatever cue you want for
him to for your dog to get out of the harness And then you throw a treat away so i could say
free or i could say undress or whatever you want So i’m going to say put on your
harness and hold the treat here And then mark and reinforce multiple times now i
can start marking and then when i’m when he’s done And i want him to get out i’m going to give
a cue so he doesn’t just back out on his own So i’m going to say undress and then i’m going to
lure his head out of the harness and then throw A treat and say get it so i didn’t mark usually i
use a clicker as i talk and mark the exact moments But i don’t want to click near his head if you are
going to use a clicker where you’re holding it say For example i’m going to hold the clicker and this
in my hand i can i can click and feed like this Good job and then have him push his head back
out but i’ve got a huge glob of poster tack on My clicker so that it muffles it so i can put
it like right near my ear and it’s not loud at All put on your harness good boy did you see the
millisecond he kind of looked around the corner Of the harness so if the dog goes around and goes
to your hand just remove your hand and then walk Away like this and then represent the harness with
the treat so the dog knows that if he goes around It’s not just that you’re going to feed him you
don’t need to tell your dog he’s wrong you just Have to show him what he does need to do in order
to get the reinforcement if you’ve used luring to Train this behavior you can then pretend to hold
a treat say put on your harness yes and as the dog Puts his head through show him that you have no
treat in your hand and then go and get a treat so There he backed up to get the treat off the floor
i’m going to put the treats away i’m going to say Put on your harness good and then i’m going to
go get the treat from a direction that is facing Forward so if it’s the treat back here you can
see that’s going to make him back out so i have
The treats here put on your harness good and he
didn’t go in all the way i want him to go in more Forcefully so it touches his chest like that so
i’m going to say good and then feed him so that he Leans into the harness like that good job and
he’s backing out before i give the cue so what That tells me is i need to not just do one
treat where he’s then predicting he’s going To do the behavior again but do multiple treats
and then give him a release cue get undressed Or whatever for me it’s going to be free but i
thought get undressed sounds funny for a service Dog the final step is getting rid of the lure
completely either your dog can offer putting their Head in like that and you can mark and reinforce
multiple times before then releasing your dog free Or say your cue if you think your dog’s going to
do it put on your harness but they might not do it In the exact way that you want so see how he kind
of i haven’t worked on this with him but he hasn’t Put his head through as as forcefully or as
far enough into the hoop that i wanted him to So what i can do is because the criteria is
higher and the lore isn’t there i’m going to Mark and reinforce a lower level of behavior
that i want so i say put on your harness yes And then i’m going to feed him for having his
head further in so i’m marking him offering and Feeding in the position that i want him to be and
then see if i can build it now if he doesn’t think To put his head in further and further i can
get some offering put put on your harness good And then i can go back to the game
of just having him touch my hand Ready put on your harness good and build that
desire and push into the harness using the hand Target or the lure and then working in amongst the
trials of doing that on getting him to offer it so If you check out my instagram you might see him
doing a stronger head push into this hula hoop After we’ve practiced it a little bit but this was
his first lesson doing this so just so you know For optimal conditioning i suggest working on the
exercise at least 12 times for a minute every day Before trying it with the real harness and
expecting the dog to find the cue put on Your harness reinforcing and the dog to be able to
generalize it to the new to the old harness now if You need to put your dog in a harness in between
the training sessions you can do something like Go in the car with your dog without the harness
on and just before they’re about to get out of the Door you can slip the harness over their head feed
a treat and jump out the door so the dog isn’t in Your living room with nothing going on and the one
thing that’s going on to their body is a harness I like to describe it as if you’re wearing
uncomfortable clothes and you go to a party And there’s lots of stuff going on you’re less
likely to be conscious of that maybe your shoes Are too tight or your pant your belt is too
tight or you’re wearing a shirt that’s itchy Where if you were in your living room and you
put on some tight fitting shoes you’re going to Be very hyper aware of it so if the only thing in
the environment is the harness touching their body And they don’t like it it’s going to be less
they’re going to have the attention drawn to
It so in between the conditioning of getting
the dog to enjoy putting it on you put it on In an environment where the dog is
interested and motivated to do something And then the harness goes on and then they get to
go on a sniffy walk or or they get into a training Session with treats outside are you ready he said
nope i’m listening to you talk so i’m going to Practice with this harness now so i’m going to
go back to the original step of throwing a treat And then feeding him like this good
job and then i’m also going to practice Walking away from him getting you to get it and
getting him motivated to move fast towards it Good and as you can see he’s not that
big of a fan of having his harness Put on so that’s why i want to train him this
because it’s easy when he’s sitting in my car And i just slip it over his head because he’s
focused on getting out but i’ve not worked on It inside the house like this and you can see
blissey come here if i go to put it on his head I can do it but he’s also backing up so instead
of just continuously doing that i’m going to Work on the cue of him confidently putting
his head through there get it good good good Whoop Put it on good free can you do paw thank you so
much for watching if you’d like to support my work Don’t forget to like this video leave
me a comment as it’s highly reinforcing And subscribe to my channel for more
free dog training videos on how to Train your dog without the use of physical
or psychological intimidation see you later