Loose leash walking
Is walking on a loose leash a "built-in" behavior, so to speak? Is it simply present in the operating system dog? Not at all. On the contrary. Walking on a loose leash is about the most un-doglike behavior we can find.
Here are 10 tips for a loose leash.
Tip 1: Have understanding
The first step is to really understand, to feel, what I just described. You need to have the knowledge that your dog was not programmed to walk on a loose leash. You should satisfy needs like free movement as often as you can.
Don't ask for too much at once, and don't expect your dog to really understand the exercises right away. What works one day because your dog is hungry and super eager to work for treats, may not be understood the next day if your dog finds distractions more fun, is full, or just can't concentrate that day.
Walking on a loose leash requires maximum impulse control and attention sharing. Constantly, the dog has to pay attention to you, always know where you are walking. So he always has to put part of the attention on his position to you. This is extremely exhausting.
Tip 2: Train with patience, kindness and fairness
If you really understand this, you also know that you must train only with fair, friendly means. We cannot punish our dog for being a dog.
And nothing else is the reason that he pulls, jumps into the leash, runs crosswise... while we imagine it completely different.
If you punish your dog for this by leash jerking, scolding or even hitting him, the stress level goes up even more and you have it even harder. You know that high arousal is one of the main reasons for many undesirable behaviors.
Here you can find a post about relaxing an excited dog: Chill all the way through the biggest excitements
Impulse control for you
Of course, I know it takes a great deal of impulse control for you, too, to muster that patience and kindness while your dog is just driving you to distraction. What helps you in that moment?
Since people are as individual as dogs, it's hard to come up with a universally applicable rule for this. Breathing is often recommended. Counting to 10, much like we should do when someone has supposedly provoked us.
Thinking is also a good idea when you are overwhelmed by your feelings. But sometimes it's awfully hard, when feelings are just boiling over, to say to yourself, "Hey, you KNOW he's not doing that on purpose!" Just try it, practice it. Over and over until it becomes a habit. Anything that has become a habit is much easier for us to do.
Tip 3: Don't let other people influence you
It's difficult enough to maintain enough impulse control alone with your dog to stay friendly and calm at all times. It's even more challenging when other people are watching, and possibly - as if it were necessary - adding their two cents. "Well, why can't he do that yet?" or good tips that are often not good at all.
Stay completely with you and your dog. I think it's best not to react at all to other people who say stupid things. What do they know? They don't even know why your dog might have special difficulty walking on a loose leash. They don't know how much or little you practice. They don't know what makes you tick....
Just let them. They can't know. They really just want to help, but somehow they also think they could do better. Let them. If they only knew!
Smile. Breathe. Keep moving.
Tip 4: Know what you want
Before you start your training, you should know what you actually mean by "leash walking". It's not always that clear-cut.
You can understand that your dog walks next to you and does not overtake you. He may stop and sniff, or not. Probably he should follow your movements: Stand still or sit down when you stand still, walk slowly or quickly as you are walking. He should follow turns in any direction.
Maybe let your dog walk in front of you? You want to restrict him as little as possible, and just don't want him to pull or jump into the leash?
It is your definition, your goal. Set it now.
Tip 5: Use a leash end signal
One of the most important things in establishing leash walking is a leash end signal. It's meant for walking freely on a longer leash, not so much for walking right next to you. The end of leash signal helps the dog make a prediction of when the end of the leash is reached, thus avoiding the subsequent punishing consequence of turning around.
The signal tells the dog if he does not slow his pace now, he will come to the end of the leash and you will turn around in the opposite direction. This is training with punishment, but by the nature of the punishment and by the announcement, it is fair. When you turn back, you will not jerk your dog with anger because he has rushed back into the leash, but just gently pull him along. That your dog wears a well-fitting, non-tugging chest harness for this exercise and in general is obvious, right?
No, it isn't. Not to everyone. That's why this point should be mentioned again.
Tip 6: Use chest harness and long leash
To learn leash leadership well, a longer leash may be necessary.
But this depends on the dog. Does he need a lot of range of motion? Can he walk better or worse on a long / short leash?
Whether long or short, please always use a well-fitting and padded chest harness with a dog that still pulls or jumps into the leash. This will help you avoid injury to the cervical spine and internal organs in the neck area, such as the larynx or thyroid gland. In addition, you avoid that your dog gets no more air, and thus an undersupply of the brain with oxygen, which would of course be detrimental to the thinking.
If you want your dog to walk on a loose leash, you can attach the leash to the collar for the short exercises, and then to the harness again. Then "leash on harness" means: you may pull a little, and move freely, while "leash on collar" means: pay attention to me and walk properly next to me on a loose leash. Then, of course, the leash is not long either, but just hanging loosely through, while your dog walks right next to you at your height.
Tip 7: Practice consistency
Being consistent means that you always react in the same way. If you let him pull sometimes, maybe because you realize "he just wants to sniff over there!", it is not really understandable for your dog what you are doing. Pulling has paid off, and will be shown again.
By making something worthwhile MANY times, it gets extremely high quality rewards. In this case, that means it reinforces the unwanted pulling quite well.
So if your dog has success every now and then pulling during exercise time and getting where he wants to go without you turning back in time, you have unintentionally rewarded the unwanted pulling.
Be sure to be really consistent. AND stay fair in the process.
Tip 8: Watch your timing
Suppose you have given your end-of-leash signal, and your dog slams into the leash, but you don't react immediately, but take a few more steps because you are distracted at the time, and only turn back after you have realized that this is what you wanted to do. Maybe the leash is already loose again and you are punishing good behavior.
Besides, you have rewarded the pulling by moving on. See above.
A marker signal helps you reward good behavior in a timely manner. Rewarding good behavior should be the largest part of your training.
When your dog takes food, you have it relatively easy. Because you can use your marker signal to mark the good behavior, i.e. walking on a loose leash, and give a treat immediately afterwards.
In the beginning, this has to happen virtually all the time. After every single step. This is the best way for your dog to learn the desired behavior. He'll love walking right next to you because it's rewarding. He will pay a lot of attention to you because he doesn't want to miss a treat.
Gradually, you can walk more steps before another marker signal follows. Always make sure to really give the marker signal when there is good behavior, and not when your dog is about to walk too far forward. Before he does that is the right time.
So that it doesn't just get harder and harder, don't take more steps each time until the next marker signal, but reward at completely irregular intervals.
Tip 9: Find and use rewards
Treats almost always work. And are super handy especially when walking on the leash.
However, there are many dogs that have difficulty with leash walking primarily because the environment is particularly interesting to them. These dogs often find food rewards to be, well, low quality.
If your dog does not take food
If you have a dog like this, you have little choice but to train with environmental rewards. Unfortunately, it's quite difficult for us to perceive a good smelling sniff so that we can use it as a reward. Therefore, those who can't (or don't want to) train with treats will probably train mainly via punishment: "Pulling is not worth it, only when the leash is loose again will you reach your goal" is the message of this training to the dog.
Because when do we notice that our dog has something good in his nose where he wants to go? It's when he pulls. Only now do we know where the reward is and can prevent him from succeeding with his pulling. Instead, we wait for the leash to loosen, for eye contact to be made, or for him to sit, and then immediately send him off to the sniffing spot with the marker signal. Of course, we make sure that the dog has enough leash room, and if necessary, we let go of the leash for a short time or make a small sprint or jump ourselves.
Attention frustration
It is wonderful to be able to reward with the dog's motivation. This is what we mostly strive for, in this respect treats are often the second choice. Because eating is not always the motivation of our dog.
However, we must not forget that we also work with frustration. If Fiffi doesn't get where he wants to go, he is frustrated to begin with. Whether he is at all capable of finding a relaxed solution in this emotional situation, you have to find out.
If your dog doesn't get the idea to loosen the leash, to look for you why it doesn't go forward, or to sit down for a moment to think, try to help him.
Keep the leash short so he can't shoot forward. Stand a little to the side of him, maybe make a slight hand movement or a soft noise to get his attention. Don't badger him with your body language, just try to encourage him to try an appropriate idea.
Don't forget the moment when he does it, because of all the "It could take forever until he looks at me!
Do you know SAM?
Be ready, breathe, and mark and reward the desired behavior with pinpoint accuracy. S A M.
S ei ready
A tme
M ark and reward good behavior.
Now you know SAM.
Tip 10: Provide balance
Always remember that your dog does great things when he walks on a loose leash. It is especially exhausting for him when he does it particularly well. After all, that's when he's really trying hard!
Impulse control without compensation is detrimental to health.
Your dog shows a lot of impulse control when he walks on a loose leash. And even as long as you are still practicing and in your eyes there is too little impulse control in front and behind, he is already using up some.
Compensation comes from sufficient rest periods as well as from times of complete "being allowed to be a dog". Free running would be ideal, if possible seek out places where you can allow your dog to free run without danger.
Understanding canine needs is, after all, very much at the heart of what I do. I never tire of mentioning this over and over again and encourage everyone to take care of their dog's needs.
So if a dog likes to dig, he should always be allowed to do that. If he prefers to sit and look, let him do that. If your dog loves to sniff the most, give him quiet sniffing walks.
Resting after training is a good idea. Because that's when the brain processes what it's learned and anchors it. Rest times are learning times, and I've mentioned that several times. By the way, this also applies to humans.
Oh yes, and that with the needs as well. So if you used up a lot of impulse control in training, be kind to yourself. Give yourself a rest on the sofa with your dog. Enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in your favorite chair with your favorite book. Get in the bath or shower and just nurture yourself lovingly. Do everything that feels good. Your needs are important too.