Leash Training for Adult Dogs

Leashes are wonderful things for dogs. Leashes mean getting to go out of the house and yard to all sorts of interesting places. Leashes mean enjoying the outside world, protected from myriad dangers. With a little training, your dog will happily greet the sight of the leash, and walk along on it easily without pulling.

Does this sound too good to be true? There's a trick to it! The hardest part is remembering to use the trick every single time you and your dog use the leash together. Once you form the habit, your dog will too.

It's a good idea to start with treats in the early stages, to develop the ability to bring the dog to your side with a minimum of effort and without stress to either of you. See Attention, Please! for those instructions. If your dog is still a puppy, you'll want to do the foundation training as noted in Leash Training for Puppies. The puppy leash training also applies with a timid dog who is afraid of the leash.

For competition training to heel in formal obedience, it's wise to continue the treats. The sport of obedience requires precise position and movement from the dog, and skillful treat training achieves such precision while keeping the dog happy.

Going for walks is not the same as obedience competition, though. Treats will help make walks into happy experiences for dogs who tend to be fearful, so don't hesitate to continue the treats if they seem to help at all. Observe your dog's body language to make sure the dog enjoys the walks as much as you do.

If you are training your dog for dog sports, you'll need a different word cue for recreational walking. The heel or other competition cue word means precision, and certain other things, depending on the sport involved. It also means full attention.

Walking down the street to exercise and socialize, you'll take your attention off your dog and allow the dog's attention to wander, too. So you need a cue for this walking that doesn't require full attention. It can be any word or phrase you like. You can also teach your dog one word cue for walking on your left and another for walking on your right side!

When the dog pulls on the leash, pressure on the dog can cause damage, no matter what type of collar you use. The constant pressure also reduces the dog's ability to feel your motions with the leash, resulting in the need for excessive pressure to restrain the dog if that should become necessary. This excessive pressure can cause temperament problems in some dogs.

Keeping a loose leash is really simple. All you have to do is react every time the leash goes tight. Don't try to determine when the dog is pulling. Instead, make it black and white by reacting whenever there is tension on the leash.

So here's what you do. Start out for your walk. Make sure your arm holding the leash is comfortably bent, elbow in to your side. Walking along with your arm extended is not a good control position for working a dog. The instant the leash goes tight use one of three options. 1) Stop -- works well for sensitive dogs and young puppies. 2) Back up -- works well for highly trained dogs. You can have the dog come to heel position from left or right directions (vary it), or take backward steps. 3) Quickly straighten your arm to create momentary slack in the leash, and step off abruptly in a new direction, taking a right turn or right-about turn.

With the third option, the dog may feel a slight pop on the leash, but will immediately realize that you made a move and the dog missed it. This doesn't feel unfair or upsetting to the dog, and gives the dog an easy way to prevent it from happening again, by simply paying more attention to your movements. Moving this way gives the dog something to DO, and you employ body language to clearly communicate what you need. You don't have to be athletic, either. Just a few quick steps are enough of a change of direction for even a large dog.

When the dog turns attention to you and moves to get back close to you, praise, praise, praise! And keep moving -- make yourself and your actions unpredictable enough and interesting enough that the dog has to make an effort to keep with you. Continue to generously praise the dog for this effort.

The loose leash needs to be your new habit, for all situations. Never stand there, or walk along, with the leash tight again. The dog will quickly think you WANT it tight if you go back to that habit, even after you've taught the dog to walk on a loose leash. It's so natural for the dog to pull when the leash is tight that most dogs, even trained dogs, will nearly always do it when someone tightens up on the leash. In fact, the dog may HAVE to pull on the leash when the leash is tight, to keep from being off balance.

It's really we humans who cause this problem because by holding the leash tight, we teach dogs that a tight leash is normal. That's why it is so quick to retrain a dog on this. And forever afterward, you'll have an easier dog!

When you get used to this handling, it's very good-natured and happy on your part, and the dog has a great time, too. You'll always need to react to a tight leash with some sort of change in direction for the life of the dog, but it becomes second nature. You won't look foolish to the neighbors, you'll look fantastic.
By Kathy Diamond Davis
Author and Trainer