How is your loose lead walking going?

Loose lead walking is a very important part of the training process. If a dog regards you as the leader, he will naturally walk behind or beside you.

Therefore to explain to him in dog language that you are his leader you need to encourage him to walk in this position.

For this to be effective and get the correct mental mind shift from him, you need to do two things:

1.  Get him into that position in the first place, and

2.  Get him to stay there because it is his idea and not because you are holding him there. That is he is on a very loose lead.

To do this you need to make it uncomfortable for him to be out in front of you and very comfortable when he is beside or just behind you.

You just pull him back when he gets in front and then drop the lead pressure when he is in the correct position. In this way he will start to think, "Gee, I get harassed when I am out in front but I get left alone when I am in close to my owner". It may take a bit of effort to start with, and you will feel like you are pulling him back continually, but I find that most dogs get the idea after about 30 minutes or so and then it is just a matter of maintaining it.

Much better than putting up with a pulling dog for the rest of his lifetime, with both you and he being stressed and uncomfortable. Most dogs work out pretty quickly where the correct place to walk is and choose to do it.

I find if you can teach your dog to walk on a loose lead, it is a game changer when it comes to the general attitude of your dog.