Loose Leash Walking is difficult for dogs. Consider that DOGS, of their own accord:
- rarely walk in a straight line for long
- change gait and frequently stop and start
- generally ambulate faster than humans
This makes walking “at the glacial pace of death” next to us as we head down the sidewalk in a straight line maintaining a consistent gait, extremely difficult for dogs.
As you can imagine, it requires a lot of impulse control on the part of the dog and thus, we need to teach them what we’d like them to do instead of the crazy walk they will otherwise offer!
Here’s an overview:
- create a history of reinforcement on one side of your body; be consistent as to which side (choose left if it doesn’t matter to you particularly)
- practice off the leash at first, this way you don’t use the leash as a steering wheel and the dog doesn’t rehearse pulling while you’re learning to train
- i like to practice “sit to sit” by reinforcing sit by my side, then taking a few steps, then sitting again
- reposition your puppy if they get out of position
- practice turns a lot! this is when puppy tends to ‘loose you’ and wander off
- an anti-pull harness, such as a sensation harness can help reduce the degree of pulling while puppy is learning to keep the leash loose
Here are a few videos to help:
Teaching puppy to meet people without jumping up.