Teaching
loose leash walking
Candi
Moon
There
are two ways of walking with your dog on leash; one is to teach your
dog to heel at your left hand side, while focusing on you. This is
useful in some situations but is physically difficult and tiring for
your dog to maintain for long periods. The other way, which I will
discuss in this article, is what most of us would use to walk our
dogs; the dog can sniff around and explore her environment but should
be under control and not pulling on her leash.
There
are four ways to teach your dog not to pull on her leash:
1.
Be a tree
This
is most suitable for puppies who haven’t yet established a habit of
pulling. Walk with your puppy on leash. If he makes the leash go
tight your legs just stop working. Stand still and wait, the moment
the puppy loosens the tension on the leash begin walking forward
again. This method works very well provided you are consistent. Don’t
let your dog pull sometimes, however, this will undo all of your hard
work.
For
older dogs who have begun to pull already the other methods will be
more effective:
2.
Changing direction
Every
time your dog pulls on her leash change direction and walk the other
way. Your dog, who was ahead of you, is now behind and has to run to
catch up. This method works well with most dogs, but you will
probably have to work on it over a few walks before your dog really
starts to get it.
3.
Running backwards
When
your dog hits the end of his leash say ‘oops’ and run backwards.
Your dog will now start to move backwards also. Once your dog gets
level with you, at your side, praise him and begin to walk forward
again. This method gets results quite quickly but is best for fit
handlers as you need to run backwards fast and will need to do this
several times the first time you try it for the dog to get the
message.
4.
Sit and step
This
method works really well for dogs who pull very hard and also don’t
pay much attention to their owners, it takes a bit of time and
patience at first, but is very effective and simple for anyone to do.
Take one giant step and ask your dog to sit, once she complies take
another giant step and ask for a sit. The dog’s reward for
performing the sit is getting to move forward afterwards. Once your
dog is sitting quickly after each step then move on to three steps
and asking your dog to sit, then five before asking for a sit and so
on until you have a dog who is walking calmly and nicely with you.
The
method that will work best depends on both you and on what works best
for your dog. If you are unsure try all the different methods and see
which you think will work for you.
Once
you have made up your mind which method to use, use only this one
method to avoid confusing your dog and frustrating yourself. If you
find, after trying it for a week or two, that the method you have
picked is not working well, then stop using it and try another one.
This
article may be freely distributed provided it is left intact and the source is credited.
Download the pdf of this article
|
||||||
 |
||||||
