Walking on a loose lead is one of the most important skills you and your dog can cultivate. It’s your dog’s key to freedom in walks around the neighborhood just as “recall” is key to true freedom in a park or other less restrictive setting. What you “buy” with your patience in training loose-lead walking is exercise and time together—priceless gifts for you and your dog.
When you combine various recommended techniques with dozens of different kinds of leashes and collars or harnesses, you could come up with maybe 9,000 different ways to teach your dog to walk nicely on a leash.
I’ve got a definite preference as to technique, which I share below, and some recommendations about equipment to go with the technique. But let’s start with some basics.
Be Consistent
Choosing a technique for teaching loose-lead walking is like choosing a diet: Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, vegan… There are too many choices! But the thing is, which one you choose matters less than choosing one and sticking to it. Bouncing around from one diet to another is what gets you into trouble.
So with teaching your dog to walk nicely on a lead. Don’t abandon a method just because it seems to be taking a while to learn. Any progress you make using my technique while the dog is wearing a harness will be lost if you switch to a different method and a collar.
Be Patient
Walking on a loose leash is a vital skill, but, from the dog’s perspective, it’s entirely unnatural. Some dogs actually have an instinct to pull things—think sled dogs. No dog has an instinct for being tied up.
You’re the one who knows how important loose-lead walking is, so you have to take the lead. But you must be patient, particularly if you’re working with a dog who really likes to pull.
If you can start when the dog is a puppy, training will be much easier. Using the technique below, you’ll have him walking on a loose lead in no time. It’s a lot harder with an older dog who has been allowed to pull all his life.
In fact, a highly regarded dog trainer whom I hold in high esteem says there is little chance of teaching an adult dog who has been pulling on a leash all his life to walk on a loose lead. In this case, I simply have to disagree with this trainer—and with the implication that it isn’t worth trying. I know it is worth trying, because I’ve done it using the technique described below.
Technique
We raised Logan as an “off-lead” dog in his early years, only to eventually notice he was a disaster on-lead. I tried several methods, feeling unsure each time. Eventually I discovered, fell in love with, and most importantly committed to the method described by Turid Rugaas in her book “What Do I Do When My Dog Pulls”. It took a year of training, but he’s a loose-lead walker now. The technique I used with him and recommend using with any dog is, like all my training methods, based on rewarding positive behavior.
The basic method is to reward the dog for walking loose and to stop when he pulls. Never move while the dog is pulling. Instead, redirect him.
Redirect by making a sound—I click my tongue—until the dog looks at you. Keep clicking till he turns. Now turn in the opposite direction from the one you had been pursuing, tap your leg, and verbally encourage the dog to follow you in this new direction.
Be aware: This takes patience. I’ve stood there clicking my tongue for a whole minute before I got Logan’s attention. Until you and your dog get good at this, you’ll do more redirecting than walking.
On the positive side, reward your dog when he is walking in such a way that he keeps the leash loose. Occasionally call his name and issue a treat. It’s especially important to treat when the dog self-corrects: He feels the leash getting tight and moves so that it goes loose again. That gets an extra “Good boy! Yes!” along with the treat.
Logan enjoying an international horse show... because he walks around nicely on leash!
As in any training, you must be consistent:
- Define what “pull” feels like and stick to it. Your dog will take longer to learn if you let him pull a little bit one day, but the next day you stop and redirect when he pulls that much.
- Always use the same sound for the redirecting. Practice making your sound for a whole minute at a time before you decide!
You must also never stop training. You can never move forward when your dog is pulling. This is really hard when you really need to get someplace. What I had to do was to set up an emergency style of walking that is so different from normal walking that the dog can’t get confused. Here’s my system:
- Normal training: treat for loose leash, stop and redirect for pulling.
- Emergency walk: Grab the dog’s harness like a suitcase and walk him so you get where you need to go. This can work with an ordinary leather collar, too, but with other kinds of restraints you might need to devise a new method.
An advanced version of walking on a loose lead is “heel.” In “heel,” your dog stays at a specific position right next to you, while on a loose lead he can go wherever he wants within the circumference of the leash length. “Heel” can be useful in specific situations—in crowds, for example, or when other, possibly less-well-trained dogs are present.
Walking on a loose lead, by contrast, is useful every time you take your dog out for a walk. You’ll be happier not to be hauled around like…well, like a dog sled, and your dog will be happier because you’re happier. Everyone wins.
