Dear Inquisitive Canine,

With patience on my part and a lot of practice, my dogs Ady and Ashley are coming along ok. However, one area that we need help is loose leash walking. They are pretty good, but only about 75% of the time.

If they see a pigeon, cat or dog, it’s all over. I’m no longer the center of the universe but some chump they’re dragging along for the ride. I’m sure there is something that I should be doing differently but what is it?  Can you give us some advice?

Thanks,

Arlene

Dear Arlene,

Allow me to commend you on having patience and practicing with your dogs. Any amount of training is a good amount. Little by little you will indeed get to your final goal. Let’s see if we can help you get to the upper ninetieth percentile range, shall we?

First I’ll go over my general training plan for teaching a dog to walk on leash. Then I’ll address your issue specifically.

When it comes to teaching dogs to walk on leash, I like to break training up into three segments. This is how I teach this exercise in my own dog training classes, as well as with my private and virtual coaching dog training clients:

Level I: Reward What You Want!!! And reward your dogs enough to keep you at the center of their universe. You have to feed them anyway, so just take their meals with you on the road.

Level II: “Red Light Green Light” game. Leash tight = red light, leash loose = green light. If your dog pulls and the leash tightens, you STOP! When there is slack in the leash, you GO.

Level III: Introduce “real life” rewards into the mix. Ask for a “Watch me” or a “Sit” before allowing you dogs to sniff a tree, greet another person or play with another dog.

You can find additional loose leash walking tips on our Inquisitive Canine dog training blog.

When practicing walking nicely on leash with Ady and Ashely, here are some specific dog training techniques you’ll want to consider:

Provide higher value items (like steak vs. a doggie biscuit) to motivate your dog in challenging situations (like that 25% of the time that they aren’t demonstrating their loose leash walking skills!) And if giving them a better motivator isn’t working and they don’t want to play by the rules, then take them home. Short “time-outs!” can be effective if done immediately!

Use high value treats like pieces of steak or chicken, but ONLY in highly distracting situations like when other dogs, kitties, pigeons enter the picture. Ask for a behavior, like “watch me” and reward with “Good girls!” and treats. This way they only get the yummies while distractions are around, plus you’re giving them something to do instead of the behavior you don’t want.

Think 3-D training: Distance, Duration and Distractions. Each parameter will make a behavior easier or more difficult for your dogs to learn. Increase only one “D” at a time, and possibly lowering the other two just to make it even easier. Us humans tend to be a little pushy at times and want to increase all three “D’s” at once!

Finally, you might want to consider training one dog at a time and then take them for walks together. It might be more of an inconvenience initially, but think of the great payoff in the end!

Following these simple guidelines will help set you and your dogs up for success while also keeping you the center of their universe and not some chump at the end of the leash.

Dear Inquisitive Canine is written by Joan Mayer and her trusty sidekick Poncho. Joan is a certified professional dog trainer and human-canine relationship coach. Poncho is a ten-pound mutt that knows a lot about human and canine behavior. Their column is known for its simple common sense approach to dog training and behavior, as well as its entertaining insight into implementing proven techniques that reward both owner and dog.

Joan is also the founder of the Inquisitive Canine and developer of the Out of the Box Dog Training Game where her love-of-dog training approach highlights the importance of understanding canine behavior. If you or your dog have questions about behavior, training or life with each other, please email them directly.

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