Walking On A Leash UPDATED PICTURES

[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.

[borzoimom]

Sniffing to a dog is like reading the newspaper - what came through- what wasa it- how long ago etc. the ability to sniff around also I believe is a form of stimulation. If I am show conditioning, I take the one and just walk but its on a show lead. So far- each knows the difference - flexi whatever just do not pull, show lead- just walk. ( quickly.. argh- such long legs they have.. lol )

Now my breed naturally walks as a pack- they were bred that way. Its funny to see all 4 walk along- literally stride for stride. I didn't teach them that- its a natural behavior. Occasionally one of them will think they see something, but with the prior training of abrupt turns in the opposite direction- now they just stop and stare. lol. In my breed- I watch the ears- if the ears go up, something is spotted ( like a deer etc). I usually say " okay- lets go home now.." and slowly turn to back home.

As far As Cesar Milan- there are some good points and some bad. The flooding method- I have seen that backfire as much as it works- and I never push a dog that hard with a fear. However- his work with aggressive dogs, that lacked clear instructions- some of the shows are pretty good. Its sad it was lacking all that time before. My dogs understand the order from day one who is who in the pack order. I feed, give treats, and even allow the dogs out the door in a certain order. Its always Hottie, Femka, Zubin, and Galina. And- If Zubin isnt careful and comes flying around the corner into " Hotties space- " and Hottie reacts- we back up Hottie by scolding Zubin. Zubin learns to be more careful around " the boss dog". Also his point on calm and assertive- I have noticed over the years the worry and fear in the owners, causes more problems. This works too.
I use to be really negative about Cesar. Some of his points work- some can NOT be done with every breed type. And the use of a high placed collar, or a prong collar- I have never had to use them, then again- I had clear instruction from the start too..

[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!!

[agilityk9trainer]

Buy a gentle leader they are brilliant!!

I agree. Trained proerly, they are a powerful tool for the average dog owner.

[mike001]

Buy a gentle leader they are brilliant!!

I agree, they are easy on the handler, your dog learns to walk on your left without pulling and once he realizes you are in control you can dispense with it, unless needed for absolute control. They aren't used to train in classes in this area, but lots of people use them to keep the dog under control. When we go out for excercise we are fortunate to have trails and bush a few hundred ft. away and we turn the dogs loose to run free and do all the sniffing they want.

[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!

[SunsetRose]

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!

You forcing a dog to submit to your control is one thing. You training the dog to be willing to submit to your control and enjoy doing it is another. The point isn't about Cesar Millan, but rather about the downsides and cruelness of the old school methods he uses. She holds her head up by herself because of the pressure you are putting on certain places on her neck, so in turn, your still basically forcing it. If you can have the leash literally dragging on the ground it's so slack and she still has her head up like that, then I'll believe she's doing it on her own and you have nothing to do with it.