Train Your Puppy to Walk Nicely on Leash
Leash pulling is one of the number one reasons clients seek out a dog trainer. Especially when you own a big dog in a city with small streets, leash walking becomes a critical skill for many dogs. Follow these easy steps to teach your dog to walk alongside you rather than dragging you down the street.
Step 1: Build Skills Indoor First
The biggest mistake most clients make is to try to teach their dog leash walking outside. The city streets are home to infinite distractions. Your dog isn’t absorbing what you are trying to teach them when they are focused on just about everything else but you.
Start indoors with your dog in their walking gear.
Treat, or reinforce, your dog for moving alongside you.
Be patient, don’t tug on the leash or use your voice to cue them to you. Instead, wait for the moment when they move with you on their own accord.
Step 2: Increase Difficulty Slowly
Once you have established the behavior you’d like your dog to offer on leash it’s time to increase difficulty by asking them to perform this behavior in different environments. That doesn’t necessarily mean you head right to the sidewalk though!
Practice loose leash walking (LLW) in different environments. Try the hallway or lobby of your building first before heading to the sidewalk.
As your dog gets used to moving with you, you may decide you would also like to reinforce them for offering eye-contact occasionally.
Consider increasing the value of the treats you are using as you move to more difficult environments.
Step 3: Temper Your Expectations for the Real World
Now that you’ve worked your way to the sidewalk it’s a good idea to set expectations for yourself and your dog. Remember you have worked really hard on building this new skill but it’s still a NEW skill and there’s a lot going on in the world!
Don’t expect your dog to maintain a nice LLW position for your entire walk.
Focus on reinforcing LLW for short segments of the walk and then release your dog to explore their environment.
Limit on-leash greetings with other dogs and people. If you don’t your dog could become more focused on socializing with other dogs than training with you!
