5 Tips to help stop your dog from pulling on the lead
Does your dog start jumping in anticipation as he sees you go to get his lead?
Does he continue jumping and start barking as you put it on?
Does he drag you all the way to the park?
Dogs are always observing us and making associations between our actions.
They naturally move much faster than we do, and if you follow the same route every day, will want to get there as soon as possible.
Ways to help reduce your dog pulling on the lead.
- During the day, bring out your dog’s lead and clip it on. Say how good he is, take it off and continue what you were doing before. Repeat this 5-6 times a few times a week until he starts losing interest when you go towards his lead.
- Once he is calmly accepting having his lead put on, as soon as you stand up, say ‘good’ or any other marker word, place a treat by your feet and take one step. Repeat the steps with saying ‘good’ and then treating by your feet. Start slowly increasing the number of steps between each treat. When you can walk a few steps with your dog happily trotting on a loose lead, you can start going outside.
- Just outside your front door, allow your dog to sniff as long as he wants, and reinforce him with a treat whenever the lead is loose. Help him be successful by rewarding him frequently, every 1,2 or 3 steps in the beginning.
- When he gets into the rhythm of being in your vicinity, you can increase the number of steps between each treat.
- If he stops to sniff, stay there, keeping the lead loose.
After all, whose walk is it anyway? (link to the blog on this subject): https://happydogsandcats.co.uk/blogs/post/1/Walking-with-your-dog.html
As with all dog behaviour, there are always several possible reasons and it is important to explore the different reasons. Seek the help of a professional dog behaviourist with recognised credentials, and those only using, kind, positive, reward-based techniques.