I am wondering how everyone trains their dogs to work on a treadmill. We just bought one for me and I want to use it to condition the dogs before the show season starts up again. Outdoor stuff isn't always possible here in the icy cold north so I wanted other options for them.

It has a 54" deck on it so I hope it's long enough

TIA

I start it on slow, then have the dog on lead and walk them on to it. Once they get comfortable, bump up the speed.

MWK

I have now trained 3 out of my 4 boys to walk on the treadmill. I first got them used to the noise by walking by it with them on lead and then having them stand next to it. When they got used to the noise, I used a buckle collar and a leather lead.... placed the dog on the treadmill, straddling them, place my husband in front of it (for encouragement and also so they would try to jump off the front) and then started it. There was some resistance at first but we kept talking to them. I put each boy up there for about 2-3 minutes for the first time, then made them wait until I could get off and also had them stand on it with the treadmill off so they knew they had to wait for my command that they could "escape" LOL. They got a cookie and then we repeated the whole experience again about 1/2 hour later. Within a couple days I no longer had to be up there with them and now my middle boy jogs on it without even needing a lead. My younger boy has a slip lead on him that I wrap around the bar... but it is not tied to it so if he jumps off he does not hurt himself. I am now able to put the boys up there, turn my timer on and am able to leave them up there without having to watch them every second. (don't take me wrong, we are nearby and are always watching them and offering encouraging words) Also, when we first started out I would lead them to it and say " treadmill" and when they got up there I would give them a cookie. I also started it at a normal walk speed for them, I noticed that if it was started to slow that they had a hard time adjusting to the pace as it wasn't a normal speed for them. My middle boy would sometimes get to far back on the deck in the beginning and my husband (good guy that he is) would talk to him and the dog would move up further where he needed to be.
I think also the positioning of our treadmill worked to our advantage, the side is up against a wall and the back of it has the wall right behind it. So we only had to worry about the side and the front.

Hope this helps! It has certainly worked to keep my kids in shape as I am not able to always get them out into our field and since it is used in the summer for horses/cattle and in the winter is a landing zone for geese.... I am sure that you all can imagine that going for a run was not foremost in their minds! It's usually who can get to the "GOOD STUFF" first. YUCK!!