Key Topics

• Why You Should Leash Train Your Dog

• You Can Grow Your Dog’s Leash Walking Skills

• Three Strategies To Change How Your Dog Walks On Leash

• Implement The Three Strategies

• Taking It On The Road

Introduction

What dog doesn’t pull on leash. From an early age, your dog learns that to get to the good stuff, they need to drag you over to it.

Walking nicely on leash becomes especially challenging when your puppy enters adolescence. Now rather than wanting to stay close to you, they want to wander and explore, and the leash is preventing that from happening!

You have probably tried a variety of different strategies to get your dog to walk nicely. Some work, some don’t. At this point, you may have given up and are now hoping that perhaps your dog will outgrow the behaviour!

They won’t. Dogs get better at what they practice every day.

But, in defense of your dog, let’s face it, it isn’t easy to be walked on leash.

• Dogs have an opposition reflex. They feel pressure and it is a reflexive action to pull against that pressure.

• You walk so much slower than your dog. How would you like to be tethered to a toddler and have to walk at the toddler’s pace twice a day, every day. Not likely!

• Outside is exciting! So much to smell, so much to explore. Dogs spend much of their day in the house or in the yard and when they finally get to go outside and explore, they are restrained by the leash and must walk with you even when their agenda and goal for the walk is different from yours.

Growing the skill of loose leash walking will improve your relationship and make walks more enjoyable for both of you.

Why You Should Leash Train Your Dog

There are many good reasons for your dog to be on leash and they are related to the busy world we live in and the expectations that society places on our dogs. You need to be able to walk your dog on leash to:

• Meet the ‘leash requirement’ laws

• Prevent your dog from running up to other people and dogs

• Keep your dog safe along roads and highways

You Can Grow Your Dog’s Leash Walking Skills

The first step is recognizing that when your dog pulls on leash, they aren’t being difficult they are just being a dog.

Your dog’s brain is going to give an outcome whenever you put them on leash. You might hope that “maybe this time my dog won’t pull me down the street” but without skilling up your dog, that outcome is never going to change.

Three strategies To Change How Your Dog Walks On Leash

Change the equipment. While you are teaching your dog to walk nicely on a leash, you will need a way to communicate when you are training and when your aren't training. A subtle change in the equipment makes the picture clear for your dog.

Change how the walk starts. When you step out the door, is your dog’s brain in the moment? How can you tell? If your dog goes through the front door like the start of the Kentucky Derby, their brain is definitely not in the moment. If your dog steps through the threshold, checks in with you and can respond to you, their brain is in the moment.

Grow skills using games. The three skills that will make the biggest difference on your walks are:

• Calmness

• Proximity

• Disengagement

Implement The Three Strategies

Now that you know what the three strategies are, here is how to put them into practice.

Change the equipment picture. If you usually walk on a collar, purchase a harness. When you are practicing loose leash walking skills, use the harness. When you aren’t practicing, use the collar.

If you already use the harness and it has two points of attachment, use the front clip when you aren’t practicing and the back clip when you are practicing.

If your harness has only one clip, use the harness when you aren’t training and tie a bandana around their neck when you are training….you get the idea.

Change how the walk starts. At the front door, in the yard, or at the gate, play one (or both) of these games to get your dog’s brain in the moment and focused on you:

Food scatter. Take a few steps backward, scatter a few treats (you will need something really tasty in the beginning). Sniffing for the food will help to bring your dog’s arousal down. Repeat a few times until your dog is readily following you as your step backward and eagerly hunting for the food you scatter on the ground.

Paws on an Object. Teach your dog to put their front paws on an object. Place the object down, two paws on, walk a few steps, repeat. Your dog will start looking for the opportunity to engage rather than predicting what exciting thing may be coming up just around the corner.

During your walk, you can use objects in the environment to connect with your dog. Objects such as cement barricades, tree stumps, logs, or benches make for a great game of ‘paws on’.

Grow skills using games. These games will help to grow the skills needed for walking nicely on leash.

Calmness. A calm dog is a dog who can make good decisions. The skill of Pattern Walking (walking a Figure 8, Zig Zag, or Circle) along with pace changes will teach your dog to moderate their own arousal. If the arousal comes down, their ability to engage and respond to you increases.

Value for proximity to you. The foundation of loose leash walking is proximity. If your dog values proximity to you, they will be more likely to stay close. Playing the Orientation and Proximity Zone games will grow this skill.

Disengagement. Check Me Out Circle Game. This is a great game to grow both disengagement from the environment and value for being close to you. By sending your dog away when they come in close, you build drive and desire to check you out rather than the environment.

Taking It On The Road

Practice the games off-leash in the house. Once your dog is ready, then practice with the leash on. When you add the leash, incorporate the new equipment picture.

With the leash on, practice in the house, and then outside in a quiet environment. When your dog is responding, start to incorporate the games into your walk.

If your dog is struggling to focus on you at the start of your walk, either skip the walk and play the games at home, or set the equipment picture to “it’s okay to pull” and do a short walk instead.

Conclusion

Having a dog who will walk on leash without pulling makes walks more enjoyable for both of you.

• Changing the equipment picture, will give you a fresh starting point.

• Getting your dog’s brain, ‘in-the-moment’ will set the tone of the walk right from the beginning.

• Growing calmness, value for proximity, and disengagement will help grow engagement with you.

Together these strategies grow leash walking skills your dog friends will envy!

References

Adapted from teachings in the Help! My Dog Hub.

Additional Resources:

The following courses will help you grow amazing loose leash walking skills by using the power of games-based training! Check out our Upcoming Classes webpage for dates and times.

Loose Leash Walking. Focus on growing your dog’s leash skills with this six-week class.

90 Days to a Well-Behaved Dog. Shift from struggling to get your dog to listen to having a dog that happily responds the first time you ask even around distractions. Along with basic obedience, this course focuses on recall and loose leash walking.

The Help! My Dog podcast:

Apple Podcast

Spotify