Smart Leash Handling: Enjoying Harmonious Walks with Your Dog

1. Leash Walking

You are about to start training your dog to walk properly on a leash. What could be easier? All you need is a soft nylon or leather leash about five feet long, and a plain flat collar made of the same material.

Why does it matter that your dog walks properly on leash? For one thing, if your dog walks well on leash, you will be more inclined to take it out more often and stay out longer. A highly excitable dog dragging its owner down the street leaves a bad impression, because the dog looks—and is—out of control. Also, because they are more easily aroused, dogs that pull hard on leash are more likely to be on the edge of aggression, and they often trigger aggression in other dogs that approach them.

Why would any dog want to pull on the leash? The truth is that a dog cannot tighten a leash unless there is something to pull against, and that is the heart of the problem. If you keep the leash too tight and apply constant pressure to your dog's neck, you teach it to defend itself against the pressure you are applying.

In addition, letting your dog off leash in the park to run around and have a wonderful time also strongly encourages it to stretch out the pulling during the part of the walk when it is out and about. You should also pay attention to how much attention a dog gets when it pulls on the leash. Many owners only talk to or pay attention to their dogs when the dog is pulling on the leash. Walking properly on leash without pulling is rarely noticed, so if you were a dog and wanted your owner's attention, what would you do?

Now for the practical training side. If you do it right, you should see a noticeable improvement in your dog's behavior on leash within ten minutes. If you go to a dog training class, they may ask you to teach your dog the "heel" command. This goes back to the days when most classes used exercises required for competitive obedience, where a dog needed to walk in precise position for two minutes in front of a judge. Forget "heel"—no command is needed. Even if you have a dog that is extremely difficult to train, it should realize that when you attach a leash to its collar, its range of movement is limited to five feet from you.

The next thing to understand is that you really do not need to use food. The walk itself is the reward. There is no question that the purpose of taking your dog out for a walk is to give it some physical and sensory exercise.

How would you feel if I took you for a walk in a very interesting place but made you keep your eyes on me while I held some very tempting food? What would be the point? The idea of using food to train a dog to walk goes back once again to competition, where a dog needs to walk in a specific way and focus all its attention on the trainer. It is like equestrian dressage: overcontrolled and standardized for a very short period of time. At the same time, by using food, you will keep your dog in a state of higher excitement, when what you really want is a relaxed dog.

You also need to understand that going for a walk is not an obedience-driven behavior; it should benefit both dog and owner. So if you want to stop and enjoy a particular view for a minute or two, I hope your dog will wait patiently until you are ready to continue the walk. Likewise, if your dog finds an interesting smell, as long as it is not pulling you, you need to wait patiently for it to continue the walk. If your dog pulls hard on leash, there are many ways to solve the problem. As long as you and your dog have a good emotional bond—though this may be questionable if you have more than one dog—this first technique usually produces good results in just a few minutes.

Now simply start walking. When your dog applies enough pressure to the leash, you just need to trip and fall to the ground. Pretend to be hurt, and your dog should show concern for your safety. You can now see why there must be a very good emotional bond between you. Stay low for a while with a pained expression on your face. Your dog should blink and lick your face, upset by your fall. When you get up, make sure you get up slowly and carefully, and when you start walking forward, you should really stagger along for the first hundred yards or so. Repeating this two or three times whenever your dog applies any pressure to the leash should be enough to get results, especially with young dogs.

The next two techniques are both based on the principle of reversal, meaning we want to reverse the dog's thinking. Start a regular loop walk that ends back at your front door. Have your dog stand on your right side, hold the leash loosely in your left hand, and walk forward.

When your dog begins to apply enough pressure to the leash through your hand, immediately turn 180 degrees to the right and keep your leash hand as low as possible. Now gently pull your dog forward. When your dog walks ahead of you and you turn in place, your dog will now be behind you. Pulling gently forward is very important, because it is the opposite of the direction in which your dog expects you to apply pressure to the leash. Its immediate reaction will be to lean back against the pressure you are applying. Remember, the pull should come from below your dog's neck, not above it. That is why your hand must be kept very low, so your dog can lean back as much as possible. Once your dog is even with you, relax the leash as much as possible and keep walking.

2. Biting or Tugging the Leash

Why do dogs learn to grab the leash and pull hard on it during walks? Usually it happens like this. When the dog is still very young, owners begin playing tug-of-war with a soft rope or some kind of fabric toy. The dog becomes excited when the game starts. To hold onto the toy, the owner has to grip it with both hands because the dog is pulling hard. Owners encourage their dogs to grip the toy more tightly, and soon this becomes the dog's favorite game. Now, this young dog is in a state of high excitement because it is about to go out for a walk. With a rope or piece of fabric (the leash) in your hand, what is your dog likely to think? The problem gets worse because the owner keeps trying to make the dog let go of the leash, which increases the competition, and in this situation the dog becomes obsessed with this exciting game.

How do you stop it? Use common sense again. Attach two ropes to your dog's collar, then hold both ropes in one hand. If your dog grabs one of the ropes, simply let go of that rope and continue walking it on the second rope. After a few yards, your dog should let go of the rope it was biting, because this is not a game of tug-of-war. Then it will bite the one you are holding, so just pick up the one it dropped and let go of the one it is pulling. It will soon get tired of this, because you are no longer playing tug-of-war with it. Some people try to give their dog a toy to hold so it will not bite the leash. This rarely works, because when the dog bites the toy, the owner tends to ignore it, but when it bites the leash, it immediately gets attention. So if you want to use this trick, you must convince it that you are competing for the toy throughout the entire walk.

Try to imagine that the tug toy is the thing you do not want your dog to bite, while at the same time you should find that it is the only thing it is interested in. Understanding this concept will bring you closer to understanding dog behavior and the rules of training.

3. Refusing to Go Out

This is usually caused by some kind of fear issue. Almost all dogs love going out for walks, if only to exercise their senses in the constantly changing world around them. If your dog begins to feel uneasy about going out for a walk, you simply need to find a good reason for it to want to go out.

Sometimes you can first drive your dog a short distance, then get out and walk home. At least your dog now has a reason to walk with you. You can also start feeding your dog outside your home, beginning a few yards from the front door and slowly moving the food bowl farther and farther away. This will be the only food your dog gets; no other food should be available for at least two weeks.