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Loose Leash Training The Most Effective Way To Train Your Dog (part 2)
When you put a leash on your puppy, can you go for a pleasant walk around the block, or is it more of a drag? Walks do not have to turn into a tug-of-war with your puppy. Train your little friend loose-leash skills by using these expert techniques.
Polite Vs. Free Walk
The reason loose-leash walking is so difficult for the average dog owner to master is because they don't understand the absolute necessity of 100 percent consistency. When you're busy or distracted, it's too easy to forget and just let the dog pull. These intermittent lapses cause training setbacks because they reinforce pulling. If the dog discovers that pulling works some of the time, it will keep testing to see if it works every time.
Dogs that have an established pulling habit often start lunging ahead as soon as you clip the leash on. To retrain dedicated pullers that start out unable to take more than one step without lunging would require super-human patience and pre-planning for every outing. It's especially difficult for people who don't have a fenced yard and must walk the dog several times a day.
For dogs like this, it's best that the owner use two different sets of equipment – one for training polite walking, and one for just controlling the dog when you're too rushed or tired to train. Use a flat buckle collar for training, and a no-pull harness or head halter for free walking - when you don't have time to train.
When the free-walking equipment is used, the dog is allowed to walk the same way it's always walked, but when you use the training equipment, you must be 100 percent consistent about not allowing pulling. The dog must not even get 1 inch closer to whatever it's pulling toward. As the dog gets better on the flat collar, the free-walking equipment eventually won't be needed.
The Simplest & Quickest Technique Ever Created
This is one of the most popular positive methods for teaching polite leash walking. It's especially good with puppies just learning to walk on-leash. It's simple, but you must be consistent. It's called the Stop-n-Go, or the Tree Method, and here's how it works:
Whenever the dog puts tension on the leash, you must stop and stand still. When it quits pulling, you walk again. That's it! Simple, isn't it? The dog is rewarded for walking on a loose leash when you walk forward again. This method teaches the dog that pulling on the leash doesn't work. It takes longer to get anywhere when the puppy tries to hurry you by pulling.
BONUS : Loose-Leash Training: The Most Effective Way To Train Your Dog (Part 3)
Walking Toward A Goal
On any walking route, certain places are especially attractive to dogs. When dogs near those places, their excitement increases and the urge to pull is strong. You can use those places both as walking goals and training rewards.
Start toward the attractive goal, such as a bush or clump of grass where all the neighborhood dogs leave “pee-mail”. As soon as your dog starts to pull, stop walking. Stand still one second so the dog is fully stopped, too, then turn around and neutrally (non-grouchily) walk your dog five paces farther from the goal. Remember that spot, because that will be your starting line for this training session.
Stand there for a second, then start walking toward the goal again and repeat the lesson. The instant you feel leash tightness, stop walking, pause for one second, then retreat to the start line again. After that happens a few times, your dog will figure out how this game operates, and will be able to take a couple of steps closer to the goal each time. When you finally reach the goal, encourage your dog to sniff, and give it a few minutes to enjoy that spot.
Be Unpredictable
Sometimes the Stop-N-Go method (or Tree Method) doesn't always work on every dog at first because your pooch may not be paying attention. This happened to me personally with my third puppy. At first I tried the Stop-N-Go technique. Although I found this method worked well for my other two dogs when they were puppies, it had little effect on my larger, more energetic Retriever.
Looking for a workable method, I reasoned that if I wanted my dog to pay attention to what I was trying to teach it, then he should behave in an interesting way. This is when I came up with the crazy walk, so to speak.
This is best done in an open space, not a narrow sidewalk. The crazy walk is erratic. I would take one step straight ahead, one 45 degrees to the left, one backward, two straight ahead, one side-step to the right, and so on.
At the same time, I also varied the length of my steps and the time interval between them. When the dog is sufficiently puzzled that it starts paying constant attention, I gradually start increasing the number of steps straight ahead. Eventually, the side and backward steps are eliminated.
It may take several weeks of training the crazy walk for your dog to learn that pulling doesn't get it where it wants to go. After it's learned to not pull, your puppy may still become excited at times and resume pulling. Use the crazy walk at these times to remind your puppy that it needs to pay attention to you, instead of pulling.
Walking Toward A Goal
On any walking route, certain places are especially attractive to dogs. When dogs near those places, their excitement increases and the urge to pull is strong. You can use those places both as walking goals and training rewards.
Start toward the attractive goal, such as a bush or clump of grass where all the neighborhood dogs leave “pee-mail”. As soon as your dog starts to pull, stop walking. Stand still one second so the dog is fully stopped, too, then turn around and neutrally (non-grouchily) walk your dog five paces farther from the goal. Remember that spot, because that will be your starting line for this training session.
Stand there for a second, then start walking toward the goal again and repeat the lesson. The instant you feel leash tightness, stop walking, pause for one second, then retreat to the start line again. After that happens a few times, your dog will figure out how this game operates, and will be able to take a couple of steps closer to the goal each time. When you finally reach the goal, encourage your dog to sniff, and give it a few minutes to enjoy that spot.
Be Unpredictable
Sometimes the Stop-N-Go method (or Tree Method) doesn't always work on every dog at first because your pooch may not be paying attention. This happened to me personally with my third puppy. At first I tried the Stop-N-Go technique. Although I found this method worked well for my other two dogs when they were puppies, it had little effect on my larger, more energetic Retriever.
Looking for a workable method, I reasoned that if I wanted my dog to pay attention to what I was trying to teach it, then he should behave in an interesting way. This is when I came up with the crazy walk, so to speak.
This is best done in an open space, not a narrow sidewalk. The crazy walk is erratic. I would take one step straight ahead, one 45 degrees to the left, one backward, two straight ahead, one side-step to the right, and so on.
At the same time, I also varied the length of my steps and the time interval between them. When the dog is sufficiently puzzled that it starts paying constant attention, I gradually start increasing the number of steps straight ahead. Eventually, the side and backward steps are eliminated.
It may take several weeks of training the crazy walk for your dog to learn that pulling doesn't get it where it wants to go. After it's learned to not pull, your puppy may still become excited at times and resume pulling. Use the crazy walk at these times to remind your puppy that it needs to pay attention to you, instead of pulling.
