The large brown dog came charging towards me, dragging his owner behind him like a pennant. (His owner had about as much effect on his behaviour as a flag would, too).
“Morning”, she gasped as she sailed past, “Sorry, can’t stop, he’s a bit strong.”
I’ve written before about how pulling on lead is a normal behaviour for most dogs. One of most common questions we’re asked is how to stop a dog pulling on lead.
Well, you can’t. (Bear with me here…)
“Stop it,” “No,” and “Don’t” are meaningless words – because they don’t give any useful information to your dog.
It’s impossible to teach a negative.
Instead of asking “How do I stop my dog pulling on lead” you need to ask “What do I want my dog to do instead?”
The key to teaching your dog to walk nicely on lead is to teach him that wonderful things happen when he’s by your side – he gets super tasty treats, or his favourite toy, or the most fuss and petting.
For most dogs (and probably yours), most of the good things that happen actually occur when your dog is in front of you, rather than at your side. Dogs seek eye contact and because your human eyes look forward, your dog learns very quickly that the best place to get your attention is by being in front of you.
If you don’t respond to those big puppy eyes gazing up at you then you’re probably not human…
Your puppy or new dog learns very, very quickly that in order to get your attention, fuss and petting, or their food, sitting or standing in front of you usually gets the required response. (Equally many dogs also learn that chin-on-knee, or paw-on-leg gets a similar satisfactory response).
Your initial training encourages that too. How did you teach your dog to sit? With him sitting in front of you almost certainly. same with down, wait/stay, give a paw and most other things you’ve taught.
Even playing our recall games, such as the name game and to and fro, can encourage your dog to believe that good stuff only happens in front of you. Though it’s easy to reward these games at your side instead – if you can remember to!
Today I’m going to ask you to note how many of your interactions with your dog happen when he’s in front of you. You may be surprised…
So if you want to teach your dog to walk nicely by your side rather than pulling, you need to put a lot of effort into making the area by your leg a wonderful place to be.
And don’t just practice on walks, either. You can reinforce your message throughout the day whenever you interact with your dog. Instead of petting and fussing him in front of you, move so that he’s at your side to get the good stuff he wants. Reward your recall games there, pet and fuss him there.
Make that area by your trouser seam a wonderful place to be and your dog will want to be there.
Then it’s a matter of practise, practise, practise out on walks.
We’ll chat later this week about some other lead walking problems you might face.
Keep training – at your side, mainly!
Carol