Post by Admin on Mar 17, 2015 16:36:43 GMT
How to teach your dog to walk on a loose lead
Many dogs from other countries have never been walked on a lead and we have to teach them to do this. Many will pull at first and there are many reasons why a dog will pull which will be in another article. There are many ways to teach a dog to walk on a loose lead, this is just one of them, it works for me and has done for many others.
I don't insist on my dogs walking to heal, some dogs like to walk a little in front, some a little behind, others next to me, as long as the lead is loose I am happy. Once your dog is walking on a loose lead, if you need him to walk to heel you just build it up by adjusting the length of the lead until your dog is where you want him.
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I always use a harness, any harness will do but much better if the strap comes down both sides of the neck than round the front of the chest which encourage a dog to pull by pushing into the strap to pull us along, the harnesses were the strap goes either side of the neck is more difficult for a dog to push into to pull us along.
I also have a 6ft lead which I attach to the harness, with the dog on my left, can be right but you must use the same side each time, I hold the handle of the lead in my right hand, my left hand picks up the slack of the lead about the middle so you have 2 loops. I say, “Close” to my dogs and start to walk, if their head goes in front of my body, I drop the lead in my left hand and turn and walk the other way, also encouraging my dog to follow me by saying, “This way“. When the dog has caught up with me, again I say “Close“, when my dog goes in front of my body I again turn saying “This way“. I keep this up, often get dizzy, I don't get very far at first, usually just walk up and down the same piece of pavement but it doesn't take long when my dog starts to watch what I am doing and starts to walk next to me.
I have become unpredictable so my dog has to watch me, to watch me she has to walk next to me on a loose lead. After about 5 or 10 minutes, depending on how they are doing, I like to finish on a good note with praising my dog, I stop the training. I do this several times a day if possible, the more I do it the quicker my dog learns, it doesn’t take long until my dog automatically walks close to me, normally about 7 to 10 days. With this method if you forget to drop the lead in your left hand it does pull on the dog but not hard and because he has a harness on, it doesn't hurt him and you are also giving warning when you say “This way“. If your timing is off and you let him get further forward than you want, it won't matter, just make sure next time your timing is better.
It is important that you dog never gets the chance to get to the end of the lead and start to pull, as soon as you see your dog’s head go in front of you, that is when you turn.
I don’t stop and give my dog a treat doing this, I do encourage and praise with my voice, at the end of a session, it should end on a good note so you can reward, they do get a treat or other type of reward, it depends on what the dog finds rewarding.