From the Mail Bag - My Dog Pulls On Leash

Hi, my two dogs pull on the lead on a walk. I stop still until the lead is loose before I carry on walking or I change direction to indicate I am the leader. Following off the lead exercise, they walk much better with a loose lead on the way home. Am I doing the right thing?


A lot of people the stop/start method. But I'm not a fan of it as a teaching method.  I might occasionally use as a brief management method when my teaching method has failed ( so my dogs won't self reward). But I use that failure as information that I need to change up my training a bit and go back to basics.

The below video highlights some problems associated with "tree" or "red light/green light"




Changing direction is fine, but:
- We should ensure that we are not yanking the dogs.
- It's better to reward a loose leash instead of punish a tight leash
- And we should ensure we are not frustrating the dogs.

More on changing direction here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdlpthKSQJs
and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOwPkfjz2r0



I would also start teaching loose leash walking training with one dog at a time. When one dog is good, then you can put the two dogs together and start the training all over from the beginning.

More on loose leash walking here: http://www.stubbypuddin.com/2014/07/loose-leash-walking-summary.html

Tell us about your pulling dogs in the comments section below.

Email general questions or comments to education@stubbypuddin.com

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