Walking On A Leash UPDATED PICTURES

[SunsetRose]

Pulling on a leash is typically not a dominant behavior. Walking on a leash is not normal to a dog, if you do not teach them and show them what you expect them to do, they will do what comes naturally and that means to pull and try to go whatever way they can. Some dogs do naturally heel and walk next to you, others you actually have to teach.

But luckily, teaching heel is actually pretty simple. You don't even need a leash to begin with. Just call your dog to you and lure her into the heel position with a piece of food while saying heel. When she gets there, give her the treat. Then walk 2 or 3 steps while saying heel. Sometimes it helps to put the treat up near your face at your chest so she's focused on you and looking up at you. I also find it helpful to keep the treat in a balled fist, this makes it easier to fade the treat. Then give her the treat after those few steps. Now snap the leash on and do the same thing without holding onto the leash; let it drag first. This is so you can eliminate any previous experiences with the leash like pulling. Many times, you can teach heel and the dog is great at it, but if you just snap the leash on and go out, it won't work and it'll seem like the dog was never trained in the first place. Once you can snap the leash on and she doesn't get overly excited, then pick it up and again do the heel exercise. By this time, you should only be giving treats periodically and the primary reward for the dog should be praise.

When you first go outside again, it may be helpful to take treats with you so she stays focused on you and obeys as there are along of distractions out there. It also helps to keep talking to the dog in baby talk, telling her she's a good girl, making kiss noises as you walk, so she stays focused on you. Eventually it'll become habit to walk nicely at your side.

If she starts to pull, the best thing is just to stop, don't say a word. She'll probably look back at you, puzzled as to why your not moving. Have her heel and then keep going and don't forget to praise her.

Your probably reading this thinking it's a long hard thing to teach, but really it's not. A relatively intelligent dog will often pick up on it in one training session. Some dogs you will have to work with for a few days, but it's really not all that difficult to teach. Just be consistent and be patient.

I allow my dogs to walk ahead of me as long as the leash is slacked.

[borzoimom]

All my dogs will walk along on a loose lead- because if they pull, I do an abrupt turn . With dogs higher in the waist to chest in height- This is taught and backed up every time. Consistancy is required. One day it took me 30 minutes longer to get home to make the point. My dogs NEVER pull.

[mike001]

If you take training classes you will be taught that your dog should always walk on your left....except for special circumstances.

[agilityk9trainer]

If you take training classes you will be taught that your dog should always walk on your left....except for special circumstances.

Not true. Most housedog obedince classes today don't teach this formal "heel." A "heel" is where you teach your dog to walk at your left side. Most classes these days teach your dog to walk on a loose leash near you. Whether that's on your right or left is up to you. It doesn't matter if the dog is a bit in front or behind. You don't even have to give a command to demand this behavior. As long as the dog isn't pulling, it's doing it's job.

"Heeling" isn't really helpful or fun for the dog on casual walks. I never make my dogs :"heel" on walks. They're allowed to roam on the leash, as long as it's loose. If I need more control - say walking through a crowd - then I ask for a "heel" where my dog is directly at my left leg. If I stop, my dog stops to sit. They don't go in front or in back. It's a very forma command, and I only use it on walks when there's a real need for it.

Otherwise, my dogs are allowed to walk freely, as long as they don't pull.

One story. I was at Petsmart with my American Eskimo, Laika. It was a very busy day, and we were walking through the store with Laika on a loose leash. As I appoached the front of the store, I was going to have to walk her through a very crowed area of people and dogs. I asked her to "set up" on my left and told her to "heel." We walked easily through the crowd with her obeying my command. She walked close to me right at my left leg. After we passed the crowd, I released her from her heel, praised her, and let her get back to just loose leash walking.

Later in the store a lady ran me down. She said she had never seen anything like that before, and the my dog was the best trained dog she had ever seen (OK, she must not have much experience with dogs!). Anyway, it demonstrates the difference between a heel and loose leash walking.

[GraceByDesign]

Dottie was a MAJOR puller on the leash, yanking me spastically down the sidewalk with her for about 1.5 miles each day. My arms were very sore after 2 days of her dragging me around.

I found the following advice by Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, to be indespensible...

Place the collar or loop directly behind the dogs head, not down on her neck. It will probably sit just behind her ears. Think of dog shows, where the loop of the lead is placed up close to the head. (info found in the book Cesar's Way) (ETA: not a direct quote)

I placed her collar as advised, and kept a short firm lead (not tight, but not slack - again, like a show dog). She held herself much more proudly and just fell into place and trotted along side me. No pulling at all. No choking either. It was amazing!! I chose the right side, as I am right handed, and know nothing about right or left for 'heel'. That was all I did. I did not say anything to her, nor did I give her treats. I praise her occasionally. And walks became enjoyable, instead of struggles of will. We also practice sitting at intersections and at other times on our walks. I praise her for good sitting.

Our walks are for exercise. After the first 2 days of her pulling and sniffing every blade of grass, I realized she never pottied while on our walks anyway. So I take her out to potty first, then we go for exercise. For potty purposes in our yard, I let her sniff about on a loose lead. She (almost) never pulls when she is smelling out a place to 'go'.

HTH

[agilityk9trainer]

I placed her collar as advised, and kept a short firm lead (not tight, but not slack - again, like a show dog). She held herself much more proudly and just fell into place and trotted along side me. No pulling at all. No choking either. It was amazing!! I chose the right side, as I am right handed, and know nothing about right or left for 'heel'. That was all I did. I did not say anything to her, nor did I give her treats. I praise her occasionally. And walks became enjoyable, instead of struggles of will. We also practice sitting at intersections and at other times on our walks. I praise her for good sitting.

Our walks are for exercise. After the first 2 days of her pulling and sniffing every blade of grass, I realized she never pottied while on our walks anyway. So I take her out to potty first, then we go for exercise. For potty purposes in our yard, I let her sniff about on a loose lead. She (almost) never pulls when she is smelling out a place to 'go'.

HTH

I find this sad. No offense to GraceByDesign (and I love the name), but the whole idea of a walk with the dog is to give the dog pleasure. Dogs love to sniff. We will never understand the enjoyment they get from their noses. By forcing a dog to walk with the head up, you're taking away the dogs, well, dogginess. You can still let the dog be a dog without making it walk head up at a brisk pace. There are better methods.

I'm not a fan of Cesar in part because his methods remove the "doggieness" of being a dog. This is an instance. You can train a dog to walk on a loose leash without taking away their fun. They can still sniff, they can still enjoy themselves. They can still be dogs...not robots that walk at our side.

My dogs are highly trained, but they're DOGS. I allow them to sniff grass when not on cue. As long as they don't pull me, they're good to go. They can be themselves. I am known for my dogs' trained abilities. i am also known for my dogs' personalities. Their personalities just shine in the show ring because they LOVE to work for me. Because they get REWARDED for working for me. And, I never put them on a tight lead or ask them to be robot dogs.

Sorry. You did hit a bit of a hot botton with me. As a professor from the vet. school at Tufts said, Cesar has put dog training back 20 years. See, we used to use those methods 20 years ago. I've used them. Others have, too. It's old school, and we've moved beyond them. Yes. They work. No. They're not the best for your dog. The bond I have with my dogs using the treat method is 100 percent stronger than when I used the methods Cesar is now claiming to be his.

I will never use those old, tired methods again. I want my dogs to work for me because it's fun. Not because my leash is so tight they have no other option. And, not because I'll collar pop, finger poke or any other punishment. My dogs work because it's fun, and because they love it. Period. And their personalities shine. And, my bond with them is stornger than anything I've experienced before.

[SunsetRose]

I completely agree.

I disagree with Cesar's methods. There are much better ways to train and treat a dog.

I have seen the way he walks dogs and the position he has the leash at, that is very uncomfortable for a dog for the leash to be that high and constantly held taught so he has no other choice but to keep it up and look ahead. You may as well have a puppet on strings.

If I want my dog's nose to be off the ground, there is a very simple command I taught called "watch me". I can say that command and my dog will be looking lovingly up at my face.

I too used to be a fan of Cesar. Although I never had to use his methods on my own dogs (because they were trained properly to begin with), I thought he was an amazing dog trainer. Truth is, he isn't a trainer. Looking back on it, I cannot understand how I could have held him so high in my mind when he had to hire a professional dog trainer to teach a dog the simple command of sit.

[lizbud]

Place the collar or loop directly behind the dogs head, not down on her neck. It will probably sit just behind her ears. Think of dog shows, where the loop of the lead is placed up close to the head. (info found in the book Cesar's Way) (ETA: not a direct quote)

I placed her collar as advised, and kept a short firm lead (not tight, but not slack - again, like a show dog). She held herself much more proudly and just fell into place and trotted along side me. No pulling at all. No choking either. It was amazing!! I chose the right side, as I am right handed, and know nothing about right or left for 'heel'. That was all I did. I did not say anything to her, nor did I give her treats. I praise her occasionally. And walks became enjoyable, instead of struggles of will. We also practice sitting at intersections and at other times on our walks. I praise her for good sitting.

HTH

I have to agree, because I think the first thing you need to get across
to a full grown Boxer, is that you control the dog's movements and not the
other way around. Your first aim(with a strong breed) is to gain control on
the walk. Once a dog understands you are the "director", the leash can be
loosened for a more casual style of walking.

[gwen]

Buy a gentle leader they are brilliant!!

[GraceByDesign]

... the first thing you need to get across
to a full grown Boxer, is that you control the dog's movements and not the
other way around. Your first aim(with a strong breed) is to gain control on
the walk. Once a dog understands you are the "director", the leash can be
loosened for a more casual style of walking.

Yes, this was what I was trying to say! We have only had Dot (16 month boxer/bulldog/hound/?? mix, 50#) for a week, so I have limited experience. It is not my plan for her to have to walk head up all the time. I needed to get some control, and then we could gradually train her to a slack lead.

It was not enjoyable for either of us, when I was being yanked along and she was gagging and choking the whole way. Also with the high collar, she holds her head up. I do not force it up. The short lead is firm so I will maintain control if she tries to start pulling again.

I was just trying to offer a suggestion to the OP that had worked for us, not start a debate on the merits of Cesar's way.

Best of luck!

[lizbud]

Sounds like you want to just get Daisy used to walking with a leash.
Just normal walking is easily taught, but folks usually start at a very early
stage in development. Some pups don't like it at first, but with patience,
eventually catch on. There is also a walking "at heel" method that is a bit more stuctured & precise. You could probably "google" dog leash walking,
and get a ton of methods that teach the same basic thing.