A Leash Training Tutorial

Walking on Leash:

Once you have managed to attach the leash to your dog’s collar and you have both maintained the calm, alert energy, you are ready to walk.

But don’t walk right away – stay where you are.  Your dog will likely walk to the end of the leash and be stopped with the pull on her collar.  She will probably continue pulling the leash.  She may dance around a bit.

• To stop your dog from pulling on a leash, stand still, she will soon realize that you are not going anywhere and will probably move close to you.

• As soon as she is close, give her a lot of encouraging praise and keep the energy controlled to reinforce your effort to stop dog pulling on leash.

• Next you can try walking around with her, stopping each time she begins pulling the leash.  Stay still again until she returns to you, and then praise her.  Soon, she will discover that calm walking is what triggers your praise, and dogs love to be praised.

• A leash training tip:  Don’t take her on a walk outside until she can maintain her calm on the leash inside the house.  It is also important to keep a leash training sessions short, and to end them on a mutually happy note with you in control.

Take it Outside:

When your confidence increases in her ability to walk reasonably on the leash while in the house, you can take it outside.  Here there will be many distractions in the form of tempting smells, sights and activity.  With all this going on, you are likely to experience your dog pulling on leash again.

Revert to the strategy of standing still and waiting for her to calm, then praising her.  Be patient – she will get it faster.

Set your dog up for success by beginning your outside leash work in a quiet area then progressing to busier places as she becomes more adept at maintaining control of herself.

Over time, as confidence develops, you can take her around other people walking their dogs, people wanting to pet her, cats and other small animals running nearby, and even food vendors.  Until then, avoid situations that will be too distracting for your dog and you will both enjoy yourselves more.

Ready Set Go:

When you are comfortable going for a walk with your dog behaving well on her leash, you may want to teach her to heel.  Good advice is to teach the heel before going places where the distractions may be too intense for your dog.  It is a leash training that provides a more controlled way of walking with your dog, where she will walk close beside you at all times and stop to sit whenever you stop.  It is not difficult and is very much worth the effort.

Happy Trails.

www.GoodDogAdvice.co.uk   Crew