Teaching your dog to walk on a loose leash using this simple technique

I don’t know about you, but I really do not like to walk dogs that pull on leash.  I find that when this happens the walk just lost its relaxing quality. Perhaps other people do not feel the same about their dogs walking on a loose leash. Dogs pulling on a leash is so ubiquitous that I joke with myself that I will pay every person that I see walking with a dog on a loose leash.  “I can do this,” I tell myself, because I will not be making a big investment…

So why exactly do dogs pull on leash?

There are several factors that contribute to this behavior.  I am listing them here and not necessarily in order of importance.

1. Not pulling on leash is not part of dog’s natural (read genetic) make-up.  There is no reason in their natural state not to pull, because they are no leashes stopping them
2. Restrain of any kind is aversive for animals in most circumstances. This goes back to having an opportunity to flee should they feel threatened.
3. Their center of gravity is just behind their front legs - so they are kind of already propelled forward.
4. Naturally they think that running or walking fast will get them where they want to go - who can blame them, right? See all the points above!
5. Okay, here is where you come in: NOBODY has taught them that walking on a loose leash pays big time, pulling stops the fun and it will take longer to get “there”.  Another reason on the same vein as not being taught what to do is that someone (perhaps even one person) allows them to pull some of the time when on leash.  Yep, even one person allowing some pulling will do the trick to teach your pup that pulling is a-okay.  (sigh!)

Are you panicking already?  Now, the truth is that while it is actually LOTS of work in the form of consistency and many, many repetitions of the dog walking without pulling, you can teach dogs not to pull.

If you are ready to take the plunge because you are motivated, tired of being jerked around, recovering from a dislocated shoulder, courtesy of your exuberant pup’s pulling habits I must congratulate you.  Follow the training plan (I even made a video - link bellow, for you to watch the steps) below for this very easy technique to teach Fido to walk politely. If you really practice with consistency AND you make sure no one else is allowing him to pull, you will reach success.

NOTE:
When NOT working on the technique below you should walk your dog (clip the leash) to a FRONT clip harness. There are quite a few brands out there.  The thing about a harness like this is that while it does not teach your dog not to pull, it will give you some relief by its mere design - which kind of turns the dog around when they pull.

The second reason I want you to have this tool, is because realistically speaking people do not take their precious pulling pup for a walk and are willing to work on anti-pulling exercises for the length of the walk.  Of course, this is what professional trainers like myself do and why you must pay us the big bucks. LOL… Now back to the training plan:

The way you will use the collar and the front clip harness is as follows:
You will clip your dog’s leash to the FRONT clip harness when walking him.  You will ONLY clip the leash to your dog’s flat collar - not a prong collar or a choke chain, when and only when you will be working on the training plan below. So yes, there will be some back and forth changing the leash so make sure you hold to your dog tight when unclipping.

If you are consistent in working with your dog on every walk even for a few minutes, eventually you will be able to spend more time training during the walks because you are being successful.  Slowly you will see your dog is getting better and now the whole walk can be done on a loose leash.

Your choice at this point as to how you will walk your dog- on a harness or the flat collar.  I repeat: no choke-chain collars or prong.  Your dog deserves be-tt-errr.

Follow the steps below:
With a hungry pup and a flat collar…
Begin your training ideally in a non-distracting environment. Yes, this could be your living room, backyard etc.  If beginning here, you can skip the harness for now since you will be working for short periods on this.  Once you go outside for the real walk put on the front-clip harness and follow the directions above for when to clip to the harness and when to clip to the collar.

Your dog will do what he has done for a while now, reach the end of the leash making it taut.
As he does:
1. STOP MOVING FORWARD!!
2. Either call your dog to you by name, a fun sound or patting your leg
3. When your dog is moving towards you, begin taking a few steps backwards.  Three is enough.
4. Once your dog has cought up with you, he is now next to you or at least the leash is not taut anymore
5. WAIT for at least 3 seconds (count in our head: Mississippi ONE…)  since we want to avoid having your dog taking turns by pulling and not pulling, instead we just want him NOT pull. Or better said: to walk on a loose leash at all times…
6. Give your dog a treat
7. Continue moving forward.
8. Rinse and repeat for the length of time you will be training your pup to walk politely on a loose leash.


I cannot stress enough the benefit of practicing in a non-distracting environment so that you get the sequence correct and the mechanics.  If you choose to take it on the road, do the training almost at the end of the walk instead of the beginning when your pup would have had the opportunity of some sniffing and reliving itself.  As you both improve, you can begin to train earlier on your walk.  Distractions are part of life and what makes the walk interesting for your dog, but they are what makes training much harder to implement. So, do not be too anxious in reaching your goals around distractions.

For those of you living in Santa Fe, NM area, you are in luck!  I am teaching a 1 hr. hands on workshop on Saturday July 29th 8am-9am on loose leash where we will practice the technique show in this video: https://youtu.be/FazJbAq2wyE   in addition to some other fun games to teach proper manners.

You can find the details/sign up for this workshop here: http://www.chacodognewsevents.com/calendar/   You might have to scroll down the calendar to find it.

Happy Training!

Anti-pull gear

As a continuation from last week’s post I want to review some of the most popular gear to help minimize (or not) dog-pulling on leash.

When deciding what kind of equipment to use, there are a few considerations to keep in mind.

1. Efficacy of the equipment 
2. Comfort level for the dog
3. Ability of the person(s) walking the dog in using the equipment appropriately
4. Good fit

Not all anti-pull equipment is as effective in helping with pulling.  Notice that I am not saying that the equipment will prevent or teach the dog not to pull; it will just make it less likely that the dog will pull in most circumstances with the most efficient equipment.

Of all the types of gear available such as: harness with front and back clip, prong collars, flat collars, martingale collars, choke chains and head-halters, the head-halter is hands-down the most efficient in curtailing pulling on leash.

Second best is the FRONT clip harness. 

Third is the choke chain. But, really?  Are we still resorting to this sort of equipment?  The choke collar even though it looks benign is actually “worse” than any of the other type of gear listed above. Not only is it really constricting the dog’s air passage when the dog pulls or the person corrects with a leash pop, but if not fitted correctly, (there is a right way and a “wrong” way of putting the end of the chain through the loop) it can indeed choke the dog!

Some people have problems walking their dogs on leash because for a myriad of reasons their dog barks, growls and lunges at either people and other dogs - or both. Now, if the dog is already engaging in this kind of high-arousal behavior(s) can you see how constricting the air passage will only contribute to more discomfort and the dog not being able to take a full (calming) breath?  Again, just try it on yourself:  Constrict your air passage and report back to me.

The Prong Collar: Even though it looks really “evil” it is less damaging and discomfort inducing than the choke chain. The problem with the prong collar is that dogs can develop a callus to the tightening of the collar making it ineffective. If this callous is not developed by the dog when the prong collar is tightening then the dog is experiencing at least discomfort, potentially pain and for sure constriction of air flow.

Harnesses:  A harness in my view is a good thing to use because it gets us off the dog’s neck.  Big bonus!  However, most harnesses are poorly fitted on dogs.  It could be that the harness is ill fitted because the person did not follow the sizing directions or fitting instructions.  Some, of course, are better than others.  In any case, back clip harnesses do NOT help with the pulling.  The same oppositional reflex (dog pulls, person pulls back dog pulls again against the pull felt) is in place unless the person is actively preventing the dog from pulling i.e.: teaching the dog to walk on a loose leash.

Front Clip harnesses are definitively a good option to lessen the pulling and one of my favorite solutions if it is fitted properly. Notice if the straps to the side of the front legs are preventing the dog from taking a full stride. Similar to us girls expected to walk with a very tight fitted skirt AND high-heels 

Flat and Martingale Collars: Again, not really indicative to stop the pulling or teaching the dog anything. If the person is exercising corrections these too are bad news for the dog.  In my view, flat collars should be used only in two types of scenarios:  Dog has learned to walk nicely on a leash – so the dog is not pulling and for ids.

Quick-Release Collars: They are worth mentioning here because as their name implies, they will come apart easily, if needed.

These collars are the only collars that dogs should wear when playing with other dogs.  There have been quite a few cases of dogs getting stuck in another dog’s collar and choking to death.  It is not a pretty scene and very difficult to right if it happens.

Head-Halters: The head-halter is similar to a horse halter.  It fits on the dog’s head and the leash clips to the bottom of the ring under the chin.  There are quite a few brands out there and while people should pay close attention to sizing and fitting for the brand they are using, they all work the same way.

The only drawback of head-halters is that there is normally a period of acclimatization for the dog.  If one is consistent and bites the bullet it is not long before the dog learns to be comfortable with the halter. 

The head-halter not only is the most efficient piece of equipment to stop pulling but in a pinch it is also the best tool to help re-direct unwanted and even dangerous behavior on leash, because wherever the head goes… the rest of the dog’s body follows. 

If using a head-halter people should be very gentle in maneuvering their dog. Absolutely no jerking of the halter – the position of it high on the dog’s neck can create damage. Head-halters just like any collar should never be used with a long line (sometimes called a drag line or safety line).

In summary:  My preferred recipe for success and the comfort of both parties, is for dogs (with no severe fear or aggression issues) to be fitted with a front clip harness while the dog is learning to walk politely on leash.  This gives the human-side of the equation some relief when they are not willing to practice loose-leash walking.
 
Second best and the only safe option for dogs that lunge at other dogs or people are properly fitted head-halters.  

Still Learning

I am working with some clients and their dog in teaching the dog not to pull on leash. They had come to me after a frustrating full-time pulling outing with their dog.

I take the dog’s leash from my client’s hand and we take off walking, the dog was barely pulling and very interested in what I have to offer him.

My clients who are standing nearby can’t believe their powerful dog is not interested in pulling and jokingly (and probably happy to see their dog can learn) tell me that they are not making stuff up… that the dog was really pulling! I tell them that I know they are not “lying” and that I believe that their dog was pulling because most dogs will pull if they have not been taught otherwise.

As I describe to them what I am doing and why the dog is now not pulling, one of my client’s offers that she thinks her dog is walking nicely without pulling because I am assertive. I tell her that it is not so much that I am assertive (which I am but not the main reason for my nice walking on leash “success”) but that the main reasons are:

1. I know what I want the dog to do. In other words I have a clear picture in my head of what walking nicely on leash is. So I can aim for this goal with less work and more rapidly. Similarly to having good directions when not familiar with a destination.
2. I am paying the dog handsomely for tiny success of him remaining semi-close to me or at least walking in front of me with a loose leash - the opposite of a taut one.

I turn to her and I tell her… the “trick is to recognized that Rover is still learning how to walk nicely on a leash." He is in effect in the first of four stages of learning; the Acquisition stage.

When a dog is in this first stage of learning the dog must learn what we want him to do. What exactly will produce a reinforcer. In order for our learner to move into the next stage we must provide ample feedback (read: treats, smiles, praise etc.- any good stuff that will make the dog want to continue learning and working with you).

Fluency is the next stage. In essence the dog becomes capable (or fluent) in his ability to perform the trained behavior as if on “auto-pilot”. At this stage we are seeing more and more correct responses and as the responses go up in number also the number of times the dog is reinforced for “good answers” and because reinforcement increases the behavior that has been reinforced… the number of correct behaviors continues to increase.

Now we can begin stage 3: Generalization. At this stage the dog learns that the new learning has many relevant applications (or context in which it needs to be performed). In our example of walking nicely on leash the dog is now able to walk without pulling not only in a semi-distracting environment. Say, when being walked in front of his home, a familiar location, but in addition, the dog learns that walking on a loose leash when seeing a familiar dog, getting a scent of an interesting smell etc. is the way to go. I know, it sounds almost impossible but it happens all the time!

The final stage is that of Maintenance. At this last stage our learner is consistent in offering the correct behavior in all sorts of instances or environments.

Now, I just described to you what the learner is learning and the process of learning, but what is the role of the “teacher/coach/ trainer/owner" as we teach our dog to engage in desirable behaviors?

There are so many important skills and knowledge base that is needed in order to teach anyone with efficacy and empathy- dog training is no different! And that is in part what makes it so interesting to some of us and such a big challenge to most people.

The one skill I want to focus on is that one of providing feedback to the dog.

One of the biggest misconceptions in training dogs is that the dog learns by the use of a verbal cue (command). In reality dogs learn in two main ways and one of them is by consequences - good and bad.

What I mean by feedback is the use of a reward (reinforcer) as a form of “payment” to the dog but most importantly as a motivator – something the dog wants or would work for, for doing what I want him to do!

There, the big secret is out!

So what I was doing with my leash-pulling friend was reinforcing him for very small successes that kept him wanting to not only pay attention to what was earning him the reinforcer, but also able to continue to work for me for a longer period of time - so learning was taking place. Trainers often hear the following question: How long will I have to continue feeding my dog? The answer is that is depends.

It all depends on the stage of learning your dog is at for that specific behavior. Yes. It is more complex (and fun) than the description above but in essence that is correct. As the dog becomes successful in what we are aiming to teach him we can scale down on reinforcers.

Curiously enough, this in itself will maintain the behavior going strong - under learned circumstances. Once again, the science of animal learning is much more complex than saying “pay lots at the beginning and then pay less.” The devil is in the details and in the understanding of a few principles that will enable our learner to learn and for everyone involved in the process to enjoy it.