Loose Lead Walking

Loose Lead Walking
You are walking down the street dog in a harness; a loose lead and they are ‘checking in’ with you every few seconds the sun is shining, and all is cool in the world. Perfect!! Or are you being dragged along, dog pulling on the lead ignoring you and you and the dog are having a miserable walk and there is no joy and walking the dog is not something you look forward to?
Why do dogs pull on the lead? Dominance? No, that’s idea has been completely discarded now. Do they want to be pack leader? Absolutely not!! Guess what? They have four legs and can walk faster than us!! Simples!!

What you must do is teach your dog that walking at whatever your pace is the quickest way to get the best treats, to get to the park or the next great smell!! Start off the lead, stand in front of your dog (in a safe location!!), have your fist laden with treats in front of you, slowly walk back with small steps with your fist in front of you. Once they look at you and are moving forward say good – treat. Change direction, maybe to the side, again whenever they look at you say good – treat. Move in different directions always with the same mantra. Moving forward, looking at you -treat. Now we can attach the lead to the harness and as before do the same, dog moves forward look at you - treat. Now walk sideways, same criteria, after a couple of yards slowly face forward, still doing – dog moves forward, looks at you treat, guess what you are now moving forward, and your dog is looking up at you and you are loose lead walking!!!

Repeat Repeat Repeat Repeat All my training is reward based, and centres around positivity, I look upon treat based training as not a bribe but wage’s if you like for a job well done. I believe in building a relationship based on trust and absolutely would never advocate punishment of any type to train a dog. Its counter productive and I want my dog to know that I have its ‘back’. Any trouble then it knows it only has to look at me for help, and I will solve the situation, usually by moving my dog out of harm’s way!! You now have two of the major building blocks in training your dog.