Loose Leash Tips and Tricks

Equipment needed for quick success:

Long line (5m/15ft) – no retractables. (You can eventually transition to a 4-6ft leash without a bungee.)

https://a.co/d/hztQjDe - 5 meter ( appx 15 ft )

https://a.co/d/3wRgxuI - 6ft with safety loop

https://a.co/d/0PNRxYI - Another favorite for around the waist

Once your dog consistently does not pull, you can transition to a 4-6 foot leash (I don’t recommend bungee or retractables, they teach pulling). Also, you can consider a wide collar with snap buckle that is well fitted to your dog's neck.

https://www.dubdog.pet/dog-collars

Front & back clip harness. Clip to the back when training, the front when you are not in a good mood or don’t have time to train.

A variety of high-value treats.

5 Loose Leash Walking Tips

1. Start Slow

Ensure your dog is calm before heading out. This might involve practicing door manners, playing the up & down game, or taking a step back to teach your puppy to leash up calmly.

2. Use High-Value Food

Reward your dog in the heel position (nose behind your moving leg). Gradually increase the distance between treats as your dog improves. Use kibble or meal replacement food in the beginning, and feed your puppy lots of food during walks. You will be able to decrease over time.

3. STOP When Your Dog Pulls

If your dog pulls, stop immediately ("be a tree"). Wait for them to check in with you, then decide whether to reward with high-value food or by allowing them to move forward without pulling. Pulling becomes a habit; allowing it, even occasionally, reinforces the behavior.

4. Change Directions & Speeds

Keep your dog engaged by frequently changing direction and speed. Walk, run, take baby steps—be unpredictable! Use plenty of praise and a high-pitched, encouraging voice to make the experience fun, especially in new environments.

5. Vary Rewards, Including Sniffari Time

Alternate between food, moving forward, sniffing, and play as rewards. Remember, this is their walk, too. Allowing your dog to be a dog (sniffing and exploring) will make them more willing to do what you want over time. A rewarding walk benefits both you and your dog, but patience is key.

Loose Leash Training

Video Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm8D1Vr2GUTl3d0gV_LP-9O_D_NizjAJv

This is one all of us struggle with. If you practice what it takes to create a loose leash when your dog is young, you can build a lifelong habit that is easy to maintain once built. It is worth the extra work.

I prefer starting with a long line connected to a back clipped harness. You can and eventually shift to a shorter leash and/or a wide well fitted collar on the neck, wait until the behavior is consistent.

If your dog pulls on a leash it: destroys connection, teaches your dog to ignore you, can be dangerous for everyone. It can also create long term damage to your dog's body and disruption of normal movement.

For many dogs pulling becomes a CUE to walk forward, this will increase if you don’t make changes. If you let your Pup pull on leash PULLING = WALKING for your dog, the dog thinks, if I pull, I get to go forward. As we shift this with patient training, remember that if you allow your dog to pull just a little bit to do a short walk or get somewhere fast, they will regress into following the old rule of pulling = walking. It will take time for you to create new rules, it’s worth the work.

If you’re struggling and your older dog is already dragging you down the road, it will take longer to change but there are plenty of techniques that can get you there. Reminder - your Pup won’t stop pulling if they have a chance to practice pulling every day.

Start all new behaviors in short successful sessions. It’s too challenging to start training heel position next to a squirrel! Teach them how to succeed in a calm environment until you both reach a point of success, then move to more challenging environments.

If you have 2 dogs, doing all the work with each separately is necessary.

1. Use a long line after you understand and practice all of the safety protocols, remember to practice your long line skills where it is safe (not near streets and too many distractions too soon) Turn it into a short line when distractions are too much. Use the long line on a back clip harness.

2. Break the excitement cycle for your walking routine - train for calmness at the doors, create calmness while putting on shoes, if your Pup is too excited when the leash and harness comes out and you're not able to wait for them to be calm, they will have a tendency to bolt out doors and into ‘DisneyLand’ with no desire to connect with you.

3. Treat in heel position inside off leash - one treat every step, then every 2, then 4, the 12 etc. The heel position is having your dog's nose behind your front moving leg.

4. Reward generously by your side with both you and your dog facing forward. This takes time, your dog is used to getting more rewards in front of you for things like SIT & RECALLS.

5. Use the walls and couch to help your Pup find the position. Use the wall of a building outside.

6. Walk using different speeds and directions. Move like a high speed drunk sailor and you’ll be surprised by how interesting this is for your dog to be in the game of following your strange pattern. This is similar to how dogs naturally move. They don’t walk in straight lines in the backyard or anywhere they are having fun off leash.

The long line and you dancing around with them here and there on a walk or practice time in a parking lot will make all the difference in building a strong loose leash behavior.

Keep in mind that leash tension increases and maintains arousal. A loose leash = a calmer dog & handler.

If you’re struggling remember to…

🙾 Practice the foundation pattern games before leash work

Up & Down, Find Me, 123

🙾 Increase your rate of reinforcement.

🙾 Increase the value of the food, try hotdogs or cheese.

🙾 Do shorter sessions. Reward for engaging with you on a loose leash.

🙾 Be the only one who walks your Pup until the behavior is working for you.

🙾 Reward the sweet spot in heel position, especially behind you, touch your back pocket then give a treat.

🙾 Reward & praise and create eye contact/engagement with you!

🙾 Vary the rewards - sometimes the opportunity to move, sometimes food, sometimes sniffs, sometimes play!

🙾 Cross the streets to increase the distance between you and other dogs/people etc. Use your environment to block the visual if needed. Use parked cars, bushes etc.

🙾 Take control and make decisions. Don't wait until a reaction happens. Get out of the situation as soon as you can to prevent any undesired reactions.

🙾 If you are not able to react fast enough, Cue SCATTER and toss food on the ground to find (practice this at home first). Let the distraction pass while they are busy cleaning up the food.

🙾 U-turn - The goal is that your dog moves with you when she hears a “this way” cue or learn the 1, 2, 3 pattern game with a turn or treat magnet with a turn.

Remember that a refusal to take treats says 'I am too excited, too scared or too frustrated to learn right now.

WALK UP THE LEASH:

When your Pup gets in front or lunges or pulls forward, you can calmly STOP and be still. Be a tree, Be a statue, Take a deep breath.

Once your pup stops, give a little with the leash, this helps them to get back into balance and they are more likely to check in with you and then come back towards you rather than being so forward focused. If they continue to be distracted and forward focused, WALK forward with your hands walking up the leash… you will be moving forward as you reach hand over hand on the leash, when you get to the front flirt with them to come back and have fun with you then reward when they are engage with you. You can use a treat magnet on their nose to lure them back, feed the treat after they come back with you and are moving forward in heel position.

STOP, give a little for a check IN, if no check IN, ladder up the leash until you get a check IN, be ready to MARK & REWARD as soon as you get a CHECK IN. Review all of the CHECK IN work if you’re struggling.

You are walking forward and gently touching the leash hand over hand, you are not standing still pulling the leash to you.

The more we shape good behavior by waiting for it, the more our dogs will make great choices without being prompted to do so. If you’re always talking to your dog and not getting quick responses, you’re the one that needs to change what you’re doing.

BECOME DISNEYLAND

Make it FUN and worthwhile to hang out next to you. We need to inspire our dogs to ignore their Disneyland distractions… interesting smells, animals to chase, people to say HI!

Asking a dog to walk in a straight line beside us is a challenge. This goes against their natural instincts.

Our gate is usually slower than their natural gate.

Dogs love to meander and change their pace from being still smelling something awesome to darting for the lizard that they saw out of the corner of their eye, running after small animals, say HI! to awesome people and dog friends.

We need to make walking near you a HUGE FUN REWARD. Be willing to invoke your inner 4 year-old to build up a pattern of having FUN walking beside you. This happens over time, as you learn smart timing and mechanics of rewards and body movement, you will build patterns that last.

Reward your Pup for being at your side, use lots of high value food to start this process, you can't give too many treats the first few weeks. You will use less treats as they understand, you will be building duration with longer periods of time between rewards. Walking itself is a strong reward, walking can eventually become the sole reward.

MANAGE DIFFICULT DISTRACTIONS

Treat Magnet - Train a candy machine option like a pez dispenser... give treat rewards one after the other while you're walking with your dog by your side. Increase the distance between treats and eventually your fist will become the magnet with or with out the treats if build it slowly and always reward when the are where you want them.

Do this and all of the foundation work...

🔲 INSIDE IN A QUIET SMALL SPACE ( BATHROOMS ARE IDEAL TO START IN)
🔲 IN MULTIPLE ROOM
🔲 YOU IN MULTIPLE POSITIONS
🔲 THEN OUTSIDE
🔲 IN THE BACK YARD
🔲 IN THE FRONT YARD
🔲 IN THE NEIGHBORS DRIVEWAY

They will love this. It’s a good ½ meal replacement session. It will take time for you to learn how to walk and release lots of food to their mouth from your pez hand, You don’t want to drop food on the ground. This is a get out of dodge trained technique. Your dog will want to stay with you and focus on THE HIGH VALUE FOOD vs the triggers.

Choose high distraction environments at a slow steady pace.

Make it really worth their while to hang with you and ignore the distraction. With LOOSE LEASH WALKING you’re teaching a dog to go against their natural inclinations to zig zag, greet, run, etc. Make the reinforcement history for walking near you HUGE! After you practice in the backyard, drive to empty parking lots, it’s worth it to practice this a few times to get a pattern of a loose leash. 

Let your Pup SNIFFARI https://thepuppycarecompany.com/sniffari/

Getting out and about to smell and explore is what all dogs pulling on a leash are after. Prevent the pulling by starting your walks with a long line clipped to the back of a harness that has s front clip options. (like the Freedom, Ruff Wear, or Perfect Fit).

Take your Pup on a Safe Sniffari for 5-10 minutes to start. You are following them, you're letting them be ahead or behind you anywhere safe. You are stopping and waiting when they smell something fun. As long as they are not picking up and ingesting things from the ground, you are letting them ‘read the newspaper’ at their pace. When they are ready to focus on you vs the ground you can make the long line shorter or shift to a 6ft lead clipped to the front for focused loose lead training.

Tip - Keep in mind all the safety tips we went over with the long line, they can be dangerous if not handled with care.

If you frequently find yourself pulling your dog by their neck, it’s time to make some changes. If possible, follow your dog when they follow a scent and let them fully engage in the experience. If there is a need to change direction quickly or move away from something, encourage your dog verbally or with a learned cue that you’ve practiced in the backyard first (e.g. “let’s go”, “this way”, “here”).

It’s much more pleasant when someone invites you to check something out rather than having them forcefully drag you there, especially if you are already engaged in an enjoyable activity. Timing is everything with training. Wait for them to move a front foot and cue 'let’s go’ at that moment.

Here is a video that explains a bit more about a sniffari:
https://www.facebook.com/puppyhelp/posts/2191881471038470

More information on why sniffing is so important:
https://www.silentconversations.com/importance-of-allowing-your-dog-to-sniff/