Loose leash walking: How to stop pulling and enjoy walks with your dog.
Walking your dog should be enjoyable for both you and your dog. It is an activity that you are doing together and should be balanced for the both of you. It is no fun being dragged down the street by your dog and it isn’t any fun for the dog to just be constantly marching. Using the right structure, concepts, and consistency you can teach your dog to walk with you. However, How the walk is viewed by you needs to change as well.
Why dogs pull on leash
Dogs don’t pull just to make things difficult for you. Nor is it dominance or being stubborn.
They find value in it. They have learned that pulling into the pressure of the leash leads them to the things they want to get to. For example, bushes, people, other dogs etc.
Being excited to be outside and doing something so the energy goes into to the dog moving forward to explore.
The dogs pacing is much faster than ours. Dogs naturally move faster than we do and if we are move slow and they are moving faster, pulling is bound to happen.
Learning why your dog is pulling can help you teach them to walk with you. It is important to observe your dog outside on the leash.
The Mindset Shift
Instead of looking at the problem as “How do I stop my dog from pulling?” try to see it as “How do I teach my dog to walk with me?” When we have a clear goal and understanding of what needs to be done, real progress can be made. We also need to adjust how the walk is viewed. If the dog is just stuck walking at your side as your slow place, it isn’t going to be enjoyable. Structured walks have their place and so does note being at your side. This is where toggling between structured walk and a moving on leash walk comes in.
Step-by-step plan
Mark sure you have a marker system in place
Markers give your dog a clean indication of a moment in time and what they were doing when they heard the marker. However, the dog won’t just automatically know the word so you have to create meaning to the words. You can watch a youtube video here about teaching markers.
The ones i use are Good (keep doing the behavior, I will give you a reward), Yes (finished performing behavior, Take a reward from me), OK (done with working do what you want)
2.Teach a heel position
Teaching the dog where to be when you give the command is the first piece in getting your dog to walk beside you. You’ll want to use a lure for this and once they get into position mark and reward with lure.
3. Add duration to the position
Once you are able to ask for the position and your dog goes into it, ask them to hold it. With it being stationary this should be fairly simple and not take too many sessions.
4. Layer the leash over getting in the position
Layering the leash is going to help give you a follow through. This happens once the dog knows the behavior and building it with a lure.
5. Start to add motion
Start by taking a few stops then stopping. have your leash be short but not tight so it can help communicate to your dog that you are stopping. Once you and your dog both stop, mark and reward. Repeat this a bunch of time.
6. Left and right turns
As the distance and duration of the command get longer add left and right turns to your practice. Since you are adding in a new piece of information I recommend keeping the duration short and increase over time.
7. Mix it in
When you are ready to go walk, I like to use a 15 long line or a retractable, start mixing in your heel command to your time outside on a leash. Move with your dog, give them the command, once they get in to position mark and reward. As you practice increase the time and movement with the dog at your side.
8. Troubleshooting
As you are able to start asking for “heel” and if your dog drifts out of the position, you can stop, so the leash creates tension and once the dog stops, they may adjust themselves, you can also say heel first them stop and once they do guide the back into position with the leash. You can condition an “interrupter marker” so when the dog starts to move out of position you can give the interrupter marker to remind the dog of their position
Common Mistakes
Avoid Having constant tension on the leash. This will create frustration and be counterproductive to how the leash should be used. Moments of tension with the leash should be intentional and help give information to the dog.
Don’t start with expectations. As you practice these steps you will start to create expectations that will grow and evolve with where your dog is at. Having expectations too early will create frustration.
Be consistent and clear when you ask for heel. If you get sloppy so will your heel. If you ask for it make sure you follow through. If the challenge is too much, scale back what you are looking for. You do need to push your dog but also be ready to make adjustments to make sure things are productive and not creating conflict.
Real Life Benefits
Dogs who know how to walk well on a leash:
safer to walk (no lunging at squirrels, cars or people)
more enjoyable to walk as they are predictable which creates less stress from having to worry about what they might do.
reaffirms the bond between dog and owner through the time and effort that goes into the training.
Final Thoughts
Teaching loose leash walking take time, effort and patience but the juice is worth the squeeze because you will want to take your dog to do more things with you and you will have the trust developed to do so. the enjoyment that you will both get from it will pay off in the day to day life that you live together.
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