Long Line – Lunge Line Dog Handling Video

Long Line (Lunge Line) Dog Handling Video

Traditionally in dog training the long line has been called a lunge line. I think this is because people used lunge lines from horse training. It doesn’t matter which term you use I will use them interchangeably.

Safety is the most important considerations when using a long line. Make sure you know where the line is at all times and don’t get tangled in it. It’s very easy to fall if the line is behind you. Tripping in this scenario is quite likely if you are backing up. Such as when taking up line when the dog is coming to you.

For dog obedience training or teaching basic manners I will barrow some long line handling techniques from tracker dog training. When training with the long line I usually run the rope or line over my right hand. This is shown in the video. I refer to the right hand as the guide hand.

The dog in this video was very energetic and sometime playfully wild and crazy. Usually I will not give a command if don’t think the dog will respond. the first video doesn’t show this but the next one I post will show the dog did not respond the way I had thought it would on a few occasions. This video was from the first day I worked the dog on a long line. So it was very early in the long line training. In fact you will notice in the beginning she is afraid of the long line. The dog did much better after a few days of training.

Many of the dog’s most severe problems reappeared when I started the long line training. Some of these problems were wild running and jumping, very forceful play biting, and picking up objects from the ground and not dropping or giving them. As I mentioned the dog was doing quite well on the 6 foot training leash. The dog also did well off leash around the house.

Since I did this series of videos we have trained the same dog at central park in Huntington Beach on a weekend and she did very good. Even with the ducks, and a teenager running up to play with her.

Tying the Long Line, the king of knot you use can make a difference. If you’re not good at tying knots use a line with a snap instead

In this video I am not using food reward. That is because I forgot her special treats. Those of you who know me might ask why I didn’t use the treats I usually have in my truck. Well this dog was on a special diet so I was using her special treats. When dog training we sometimes have limitations or requirements that determine what training techniques we use. I think it’s best to stay flexible in how you train. This dog was in for a Board and Train / in kennel training program so I had several weeks to work with her.

While I do the majority of my training in the Orange County and Long Beach area this video was taken just north of the Orange county line in the Rowland Heights and La Habra Heights area. As you can see I also serve some parts of the San Gabriel Valley. California has a lot of great places to adventure with dogs and some good place for training too.

In this video you will see some short clips of the dog displaying its typical problematic wild behavior. The snake in the video I believe is a garter snake. After training the recall from the snake this dog did much better on fallowing days, and not only from the snake but other interesting discoveries too. At one point in the video you can see me manipulating the line to keep it from getting tangled. I left that in mainly for the benefit of people I am working with. I wanted people who are training with me to see how important it is to be aware of where the line is at all times. The video is a little over 7 minutes long.