Starting off

Early training for road and carriage dogs.
By Alison Burgess

I am assuming your dog has been introduced to the horse or carriage, and you are ready to start training. Your aim should be for the dog to establish a consistent position for road or carriage work. In the early stages of training your dog needs to learn his job: to stay with the horse or carriage whether at halt, walk, in trot or at speed, even when passing distractions. This can be achieved through “guided learning”. We show the dog what we require of it. We do not give it the opportunity to get it wrong. It demands many hours of work with the dog on the lead so that the behaviour becomes a pathway in the dog’s brain. A familiar route that is always taken.

A common mistake is to let the dog off the lead too early. The owner thinks the dog is doing so well, that it is ready to run off lead. The lead is unclipped. The dog hears the click and is off! The noise made is one that has been repeated many times on walks. It is associated with freedom! The dog also has an instinct to catch prey by chasing or tracking it down. This instinct may well be stronger than that of following the horse or carriage.

Once the dog has run away, you have a problem! Punishment will spoil your relationship. It may also create a negative association with the work you want your dog to do. However, if you do not give a penalty for the wrong behaviour it is likely to reoccur despite all the positive reinforcement that you give for the desired behaviour.

The rules of learning are that consequences change behaviour! Ask anyone who has ignored the 30 mph signs in a built up area, travelled at 40 mph and then received penalty points as a consequence. But what consequences can you provide for the errant dog? When one of my dogs left my ridden horse to say hi to another dog, I calmly put her somewhere supervised and allowed her to watch me going off on a ride without her. This did not damage my relationship with her. In fact, it enhanced it. More importantly, it provided a consequence for her not being where I had told to her to be. If we want to change a behaviour we have to make the consequence stronger, not strengthen the cue that comes before.

Better to avoid the necessity for correction. Leave the dog on the lead for as long as you can, preferably at least a year. Trained dogs can also work on lead. This will make sure they maintain the position required.

Working on the lead is far more difficult with road dogs. Success will depend on having a horse that will not panic if he feels the lead on his leg. The lead can be dropped immediately if a problem occurs. If you do not have a horse or pony like this, then the work can be established with a bike. When working with road or carriage dogs, for safety reasons, the lead should never be tied.

The first time you intend to have the carriage dog off lead, have a long boot-lace threaded through the collar. After the dog has got into its stride, hold one end and gradually let the lace work free. The dog does not then hear the click of freedom! Remember you are now testing the dog, not training it, so be as sure as you can that it is ready.