Top Tip To Help Your Dog Walk Nicely On Lead
Great news!
Having your dog walk nicely with you when on lead, also known as loose lead walking, is easy to train.
Not so great news…
And before you read this, keep going for the better news, and video demo’ below…
I can’t lie to anyone and say that loose lead walking training is overly fun to be honest because, it is what it is. It’s fairly repetitive to train and it takes time. When I say this though, I am talking about the absolute fundamental foundations of training loose lead walking that everyone needs to go through first. It’s really easy, but you have to stick with it because there is almost nothing worse than walking a dog who pulls your arm off or pulls you over when you walk them…for the years and years (hopefully) that you have them.
I’m not trying to put you off training them to walk nicely on lead at all here by the way, I think it is an absolutely essential piece of training you need to do. I want you to be prepared that it is one exercise that you probably won’t find overly exciting to train and you’ll need to just get on and do it.
The other thing about loose lead walking is that it is really hard for our dogs to learn and that is because they don’t naturally walk as slowly as us. So when we are asking them to walk nicely without pulling us down the street, we are asking them to physically change the way that they would walk naturally and engage with their environment. That’s a seriously big ask we make of them. So yeah, this one is going to take a little time. Go with it, keep consistently training and you’ll get there. Can you imagine suddenly having to change the way you naturally walk overnight? It would take you loads of practice to get it right.
However…
Saying all of that, if the only way you train your dog to walk nicely on the lead is the basic formal way, which is how most dog owners are sadly being taught, then you’re completely and utterly missing a huge trick here. Because, in actual fact, training loose lead walking isn’t boring or repetitive at all, and neither should it be!
The lead is not a steering wheel, it is a seat belt. It is purely there to keep your dog safe. It is not there to restrict your dog and keep them close to you. The only thing that should be doing that is your relationship and their understanding and motivation to stay close.
So what should we be doing?
Stop worrying about simply getting from A to B when you are either walking with your dog or working on loose lead walking with your dog and start helping them to absolutely love being on lead with you. How do we do that? We play games when they are on lead. We train them anything and everything they love when they are on lead. We muck around and run around and do things as we walk along that remind or teach our dogs that being next to or near to us when they are on lead is actually pretty cool.
You might be walking along and suddenly excitedly ask them to sit. Throw a huge party when they do. You might throw in a few tricks as you’re walking or play with a toy together or even scatter food that they have to find in the grass. You might use things you find on walks as little agility tasks, like crawling under a bench or jumping over a log and all the while, you’re asking your dog to do this in a really encouraging and exciting tone of voice and celebrating when they do it all. You’re making being on lead with you, fun!
Go on, give it a go. Train the more boring essentials first, they are needed after all, but then start to make it actually worthwhile for your dog. They love it and this can absolutely transform how it feels to walk your dog and how your dog walks on lead!
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Here’s a little demo of my dog and me ‘training’ loose lead walking, enjoy xx
Training your dog to walk nicely on lead without pulling
