The importance of the tie-out

  I would say that one of the very first foundation building blocks missed early on, when pup comes home, is being tied out. 

We tend to forget that and put that on the back burner when in reality, it should be done right away.

Pup needs to learn that good things will happen in the course of its life with regard to be handled around the neck.  All too often we don’t teach pup that lesson and later try to do yard work and the young pup is frightened out of its wits, flopping and flailing about as we try to begin lessons with a leash.  Pup makes a negative association with you and the leash and it may take days or weeks to overcome that.

In my ‘8 weeks to 8 months’ tm article, I discuss teaching pup to learn to be tied out so will not go in to details here.

What you should know is that the pup needs to learn that been handled around the neck in the form of an ordinary dog collar and being restrained by that collar / tie-out is a good thing not a bad thing.  The younger you begin this training the better!  Pup should learn to comfortably be tied out.  That means he should be relaxed, sip his water, eat some food, etc. when on the tie-out.  He should act like being on a tie-out is a normal part of life.

If you accomlish this early there will be less drama, I assure you.  There is nothing more disturbing then to watch a 6 month old pup, that has never been on a tie out or made to walk with a leash, get hooked up to a tie-out.  The dog flips, flops, wail, cries, bites at the chain, pulls hard against the tie-out and usually will set himself up to maintain hard pressure against the tie-out as if resisting an enemy.  If this dog slips his collar during the first lesson, he will attempt to slip his collar for the rest of his life.  The first lessons should be done with a snug collar (not too tight!) so that it can’t be slipped over the head.  After the lesson, you can loosen it back up.

When you transition from tie-out’s and / or chain gangs, you will find that the leash and collar lessons described on my free training tips page are actually much easier to perform because a foundation has been laid.  You dog associates pleasant things with being tie’d out such as food, snacks, water, birds, watching other dogs being trained, etc.

The tie-out, underrated and underused in the early days by many novice trainers.  Start ‘em early!

Happy trainin’!  Next time your pup is on a tie-out, give ‘em a treat for me and tell ‘em Dave says “Good Dog!”

Dave

Here are some life’s journey tie-out examples of what a Brittany can expect, especially if with a pro: