How to train your dog the collar grab. It is very important for your puppy to feel comfortable with being caught or grabbed when loose. At some point in your puppy’s life, he might be loose and someone might be trying to catch him, if he got lost for example. A lot of dogs without previous training, will be scared if a stranger tries to grab at their neck or harness and will run away, making it very hard to catch the dog, and potentially dangerous. Other dogs might bite the person’s hand out of fear.
We can teach puppies and dogs to feel comfortable and trust us when we grab their collar.
If your dog is aggressive, has bitten, doesn't like being touched, or you are simply worried to touch the dog's collar, get help from a professional dog trainer who uses positive reinforcement first.
Thank you for continuing to make videos. We love each and every one.
I would love to know if you could apply a similar technique as in this video for getting comfortable with having paws handled?
My dog is totally fine with me handling his paws but when I’ve taken him to get his nails done by a stranger it can be a very stressful experience for him.
Thanks again
+Jessica I would suggest perhaps doing the nails yourself, teaching him to give you his paws as a trick, work on the upsidedown settle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EITYvqs32Hg for nail trimming, and do the nails more frequently- my terrier if I wait too long to do his nails he really starts to go back to square one, so by doing them weekly and just having to take off a tiny bit it keeps him happy.
That makes a lot more sense, what was I thinking.. I will do that.
Thank you so much
Awesome! This is one of my favorite behaviors to teach! I actually made a video a few years ago showing some of the handling exercises I’ve done with my dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UDfVDlwSZk She does not like strangers, but turning the handling exercises into “tricks” has helped her interact more positively with others 🙂
+CelloFleming That was really awesome! 🙂 Splash my border collie as a puppy and adolescent was reactive to strangers and strange dogs and we worked on similar tricks- along with other training and she is Miss Happy Go Lucky sweetheart that she is today 🙂
I love this video. Its so important to teach dogs (especially Huskies) to accept being manipulated in all sorts of ways with a positive method. Way to go! 🙂
+Jean Peter Thanks 🙂 Yes, I thought the same with including the Husky in the video 🙂
Thank you for this video! I was just looking for a good one on the collar grab for my friend and couldn’t find one quite as I would have liked and now a few days later I find this in my subscription box! I find this one of the skills every dog should be taught even if you don’t plan on teaching anything to your dog at all. Recall, collar grab and crate games are essential for each and every dog!
+Jagervision Totally 🙂 And clients seem more driven to work on the collar grab, than if you give them exercises on handling… for some reason. It seems to make more sense to them
Lumos is so precious! I love how he offered that little pivot for you! 😀
This is such a great topic and I wish I had known to teach this 4 years ago when I first got Zoe. She didn’t like having her collar grabbed back then and she hated being led anywhere. I figured out very quickly that I needed to train it and now she’s fine. Thank you for making this!
Love your channel. I am a forensic psychologist/criminologist & I am a hard core behaviorist. I had a working dog (full sized Spitz) back in college. I had a great time training her & learning the basics of reinforcements. She was a great dog & had a good long life 3/15/79 – 2/2/98 and I was heartbroken when she passed.
After that I became a people trainer. I forgot how rewarding it is having a great dog in my life. lol Unlike inmates, dogs actually want to please you. Anyways, I first saw your vids about 6 months ago & it reminded me of the great times with my old dog. That got the wheels turning. About two months later my friend’s daughter called. She remembered “that cool fluffy white dog I had that did all the tricks” and wondered if I wanted one of her German Shepard puppies. I couldn’t say no. Now we are having a great time with a new puppy. While I am familiar with behaviorist techniques, the application is different with a dog & I forgot lots of stuff since my last dog. My partner & I have found your videos very helpful in getting us back up to speed on training. The new pup has all the basics down, except she still likes to jump up when excited, and I have taught her a few funny routines.
+shananagans5 That is so cool! Congrats on the new pup! For most puppies it takes time to teach them to not jump up.
I love your videos, the training is so positive for both dog and owner, and your methods simply make sense. I will definitely be using your methods when I get a dog 🙂 Thanks for sharing what you know!
Compassionate dog training. Thanks!
My shepherd loves her collar,and when I take it off,she can’t wait for me to put it on.Lilah also trains my other shepherd pup,Pepper,when Pepper is called and doesn’t come immediately,Lilah runs over and nudges her and ushers her to me.
How long per day would you suggest spending on training a specific task?
My pup is a bordercollie/husky and around 4 months old. I feel like I should be working with him more, but I’ve read a lot to keep things relatively short. He also gets distracted easily which makes things a bit hard..
Love you videos! Thank you!
Love how you breakdown the behavior step by step. Really important step at 1:45! Thank you for doing such great videos!
As always, great job! We love using your videos to help train our fosters and educate our adopters as management while waiting to begin training classes.
You are the best dog trainer for training shy and fearful aggressive dog. I have a dog with very severe fearful aggression. I have watched all the clips and I can feel the relationship between me and my dog is getting better and better. Thank you so much, kikopup.
I didn’t realize my pup wasn’t into the collar grab! We’re practicing now, thanks so much for posting this video.
I just taught this to my dog. I can’t believe how easy it was to do and how useful it is and how fun it was to teach really. It actually works just as well if the dog is really, really comfortable on a couch 🙂
Well done! That is awesome!
I had a black lab who was the sweetest dog. However when she started getting old, she would growl at you if you grabbed her collar. She never bit anyone, just growled. It was weird because she never did that when she was younger.
I would get her neck and back examined by a physical therapist. Sometimes vets cant see an issue if its muscular. This sounds a lot like there could be pain or discomfort. Also full health check up like looking for ear infections loose teeth etc.
I didn’t realize my pup didn’t like to be lead by the collar until someone tried to do this weekend. I had never tried to do it myself. With your guidance, we are now practicing. She hasn’t responded as quickly as your Lumas but we will keep practicing. Thanks for the compassionate way of how to train leading by the collar.
Oh but Lumos was really good with handling. My dog wish it took months of lessons of handling… to be as confident as how he was “born”.
I have done this literally THOUSANDS of times with my 5 month old pup. He has no issue with anyone grabbing the collar UNLESS he is being naughty and someone needs to hold the collar to get him in control. THEN, he snaps and bites. He is pretty much an angel any other time- but there are times a dog MUST be moved or controlled by holding the collar (or what if a child did it?). This desensitizing thing has NOT worked! What else can I do?
This is SO SO SO important – thank you! We have a puppy after many puppy free years, and you’re helping me to remember my dog “values” (safety, calm, trust) and put those values in action in a way that serves my dog. I really, really appreciate your work.