Fixing Problems - Walking On Leash

Why do so many owners struggle to walk with their dogs on leash?. Im not talking about a full "heel", where the dog paces to the owner and sits automatically at stops.....Im talking about just being able to walk with your dog from the car to the door, or just on a nice family walk in the evening - what are the real obstacles that are keeping you from being able to have an enjoyable walk with your dog?

Breed, Age, and Temperament are always going to be where every owner needs to start their expectations of what will be needed to create an environment where you can have an enjoyable walk without getting your arm pulled out socket or completely tripped up every five seconds. Example - you always hope to start on leash work while the dog is under a year - it will just make it easier to motivate with affection alone and you can set early precedents that your dog will take in as simply its routine. The older a dog gets, the more you, as the handler, have to consider the breed and temperament when beginning your leash work. Examples would be establishing the routine in private, walking the same route over and over to limit distractions until the routine is learned, and whether to accelerate treating for correct work and how to go about correcting poor work. These answers are different for a heeler and a pug, a shepherd and a retreiver - and they vary more as the dogs age.

Your Tools - How are you working with your dog? Your main tool here is the leash itself. If you are accelerating collaring (choke chains, pinch collars) you are compensating for the lack of ability to communicate via the tether (leash) and flat buckle collar. In that case our handling must improve. You will find a common answer in these problems is that your handling must improve to increase the competent level of work accomplished. So, a 6 foot leash and a flat buckle collar, or a 6 foot slip lead are often the simplest and easiest ways to accomplish the needed physical conversation to help our leash walking. Harnesses only help mute your desires and directional moves with the leash - the better you become as a handler, the more you will become aggravated with harness use and its lack off effectiveness. The use of pinch collars and anything above a martingale style collar for safety, will amplify the handlers leash tones..... this is only good or bad dependent on the handlers experience. So it is a tool that compensates the handlers lack of leash ability in most cases - which will not improve the walking product overall. We would be better served in most cases to simply work on being better leash handlers. How do you become a better handler? Walk more often and vary the dogs and expectations when you walk.

Our Understanding of the "Walk" from the Dogs perspective. Truly, this is simply the easiest way to begin to improve your walk with your dog, is to take a realistic look at what the walk is to him/her. Are they dictating the starts and stops? Even if its to smell, or to "mark" something - who is dictating when that happens? If the dog is, and 90% of dogs are - then we are creating curious balances of power that we arent clear about when they open and close - in other words, we are only leading the parts of the walk that are conflicting, and the dog is likely seeing the agreeable parts as the windows that they are in control. Its a back and forth, and we get frustrated with off and on performances. The easy truth is, you would do better to teach a mature dog (5+ yrs) how to walk that way, and even then it wont be as easy to pick up for the dog as if you presented the "Walk" as a job for the dog. All dogs want and desire a job to have, if you dont give them a few - they will assume a few. Walking on lead can be seen as a job, look at it as such. Have requirements, and stick to them. If they are "on the clock" (on the leash) then they are being asked to keep that tether as slack as possible while maintaining YOUR pace. This will require tugs accompanied by vocal instructions or tones, and redirections. You need to decide if you want your dog to walk on one side of you or if you will allow both as long as the leash is slack. You need to have your dog "sit" when you come to a stop for any period of time to maintain working and give them a job to hold until they are walking again - dont allow them to punch out because you take a phone call or check a text. When you are done working on leash, make it clear they are done and let it be an excited moment for a job accomplished - try not to end a leash walk by going straight to a crate or straight to an undesirable option. Dont start the walk with allowing your dog to walk in front of you, and the acceptable pace isnt a constantly tight leash - the goal is to explain to the dog that they have the requirement and ability to keep the slack in the leash. This requires you to start in that position - it has to be starting from a "sit" or a standing calm position, not wrestling the leash on. Remembering that we want it to seem more work like to the dog will help improve your anticipation of how to work alongside.

And, as always, remember that on leash work is only a small portion of whether your dog grasps the overall concepts of not to run away or run off. Work off leash in instances where you can, especially when you can make it part of reward for well done leash work.