Did you see the story from poor Janet in our last blog?
Janet adores her dog, Rusty, but dreads the daily walk.
Rusty pulls so hard Janet suffers with arm and shoulder problems. They ache so much after an hour of being pulled round the park that Janet has to rest for a while before she can even drive home.
The bad news – it’s impossible to teach a dog to stop doing something as natural as pulling on the lead.
The good news – you can teach him to do something different instead.
Here’s the first of several tips for you:
TIP 1: Using food
The simplest way to stop your dog pulling is to use something he loves to teach him how to walk nicely beside you. For most dogs – and certainly for a Labrador like Rusty – the easy way is to use food.
Use your dog’s normal food. Instead of feeding breakfast for free in a bowl, take it out with you on your walk. Mix it with some of your dog’s favourite treats too, all broken up into tiny bits.
You want each piece to be small – no bigger than your little fingernail. Too big and it’ll take your dog too long to eat. Too big and it’ll fill him up too quickly.
Keep the food in either a treat pouch, or bum bag, or in a bag in your pocket. The food needs to be easy to reach with one hand.
Once you’ve got that sorted, start your walk.
Chat to your dog and give him a piece of food every time he is somewhere by your side on a loose lead. You can see why the pieces need to be tiny – you’re going to need a lot!
Be careful where you give him the treat – hold your hand by your leg rather than reach out to your dog. Make him come to you to get it. Be really careful not to try to bribe him by holding out the treat and using that to lure him back to you.
Work on getting him to be on a loose lead by you for ten treats.
Break up very short sessions of rewarding him with food like this by letting him have a good sniff at the nearest lamppost, bush or gate, to give both of you a rest.
You may not get very far the first few times, but stick with it.
Enjoy your walks and keep training,
Carol