Forward Momentum Pull
Added 2025-03-17 21:18:45 +0000 UTCTeaching forward momentum pull can be done in a variety of ways. The previous post titled Mobility Tasks: Forward Momentum & Counterbalance provides a detailed conversation about the safety of these tasks. We did want to remind you to be sure that you are keeping safety of your dog in mind when developing this task.
In this video, Belle has already been doing forward momentum pull (FMP) for several months but we are needing to refine a few things.
First we are working on giving Belle a specific target to move toward so we do several repetitions of simply touching the cone with a nose target from various directions. Then we slowly start building distance.
The main thing I'm working on in this video is helping Belle learn to control her pull strength and the speed that she moves. Obviously she can walk much faster than I can and sometimes Belle may be excited to reach the target causing her to go a bit too fast and pulling too hard. The session was designed to give her an opportunity to see just how hard she should be pulling and how hard is too hard.
After Belle has taken me to the cone a few times, we switch the target to be a tossed treat. This allows me to control the distance we are walking but also get Belle's excitement up just enough that she wants to go faster but can still easily control her excitement.
Some trainers teach FMP using targets such as this and lots of practice in the controlled environment. I prefer to use our leash walks to teach the directional cues that I will need for this task and the environment to predict when to pull and when to keep the leash loose. That way my dogs have very heavily reinforced cues long before I start the final touches of teaching the tasks that will use FMP.
