Using a Tag Line
When you first hear the question – What is a Tagline? – you might think about business taglines. However, here we are talking about a thin, light line with a small clip on the end that attaches to your puppy’s collar. These are sometimes called houselines or longlines. These lines give you a handle to teach your pup proper behavior while keeping your hands safe from those puppy teeth. It is simple to make a tagline by purchasing a cheap lightweight cat leash and cutting the handle off.
Puppies aren’t born understanding our rules like don’t bite my hands, chew my furniture, pre-wash the dishes, or steal my sandwich off the counter. Our job is to teach them the behaviors we want but that can be challenging since pups are armed with dagger-like teeth. When we reach for most normal puppies, they mouth our hands or fingers, resisting learning those new rules.
A tagline gives you a handle that allows you to teach your puppy while keeping your body safe. You can step on or reach for the tagline before helping your puppy do the right thing.
In addition to being a handle, you can also use the tagline and your pup’s opposition reflex to teach good behaviors. Dogs naturally oppose physical pressure so when you pull against them, their bodies naturally pull away from you. If you pull back on your pup’s leash, it will naturally pull forward. And, if your pup jumps on the counter and pull it down, its body will naturally go back to the counter, exactly what you don’t want. Rather than pulling down and back, if you use the tagline to gently pull up, your pup will come down.
If instead of the tagline, you reach for your pup’s collar, it is likely to grab your hand. Ouch! In addition, your pup will learn that doing bad things is a way to get your attention. And in short order, your pup will learn to keep its collar away from you because you are spoiling its fun. Some pups will become fearful while others think it's great to play keep away. These last pups start to look for trouble to get into in order to start a game of chase. Taglines give you a handle that keeps your hands (arms, legs, shoes, pants, and more) at a distance from your pup while teaching good behaviors.
Taglines work because they allow you to safely and calmly keep your puppy from getting any reinforcement, intentional or not, from his unwanted behaviors. It saves you from yelling “No!” constantly at your pup. It also does not learn to run from you when you reach for his collar. Finally, your pup doesn’t learn to use its needle-sharp teeth to keep you at bay, even in play.