All dogs must learn how to walk on a leash without pulling. This is one of the
most fundamental skills that puppies need to begin learning from a very young
age. Walking a dog that pulls on the leash is not only stressful but can also
cause strain and injury to the dog's neck. To help your dog overcome this
problem you have to first realize that dogs are not born knowing how to walk on
a leash and must be taught using patience and positive reinforcement. The
good news is that there are a lot of things that you can do to stop or
prevent your dog from pulling and make walking a much more enjoyable experience
for both you and your dog, but first let's take a look at why dogs pull in
the first place. There are two main reasons: the first is that dogs are
interested in exploring their environment. Their sense of smell is a
primary source of information and the environment is full of things to sniff.
Walking a young dog is also a very stimulating experience and can trigger a
lot of excitement. Combine this with a lack of self-control and you get a
strong motivation to pull. The second reason why dogs pull is because they are
so easily reinforced for pulling. Anytime that there is tension on the leash and
the dog is sniffing, they're actually learning to pull and will do it more a
lot of the time this happens by accident and we might even reinforce and teach
pulling behavior without knowing it or wanting it. This can become a vicious
cycle that may start small but the more your dog pulls the more they learn that
pulling is effective in meeting their needs and they will be more likely to
continue or even increase the amount of pulling over time.
Dogs have an opposition reflex which is a natural tendency to pull against
pressure that is applied on the leash. By reinforcing the behavior of giving in to
the leash you can establish the framework for what comes next. Start this
exercise with your dog on a leash in a low distraction environment. Begin by
applying very gentle pressure on the leash and the moment the dog gives into
it mark the behavior with a word or a clicker and reinforce. Instead of
letting the tension become a negative consequence we are focused on teaching
the dog how to react to tension so he wants to keep the leash loose.
Practice this a few times until your dog gets the idea and also notice that I'm
not using any verbal cues at this point.
Yes!
The leash is not meant to be used to control or direct your dog. At this early
stage the goal is to teach the dog to want to stay with you and pay attention
to your movement
Watson, let's go!
It's important to know your dog and use what they find to be distracting
remember that you can always add or remove distractions based on how the dog
is doing set them up to be successful at every stage take this exercise into
other environments and around more distractions
if your dog fails to pay attention go back to working on leash pressure or
lower the reward criteria this is how you can start building the foundation
for loose leash walking for puppies it is far more effective to teach them what
you want them to do instead of punishing them for not understanding human rules
As the dog gets better at this with practice you can start to lower the
amount of food reinforcement and begin training for more advanced loose leash
walking
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