Episode #169 Secrets to Loose Leash Walking

Welcome to another episode of the Puppy Training Podcast . This is your go-to podcast for all things dog training . I focus on building relationships with our dogs and teaching you how to incorporate your dog into everyday family life . Today , I want to tackle a common challenge teaching your puppy to walk with a loose leash .

But don't worry , because I've got the tips and tricks to make loose leash training possible . It is one of those training things that takes a little bit more time , takes a lot of patience and consistency , but today I have a few tips that you can try .

So , before we dive in , if you are planning or in the planning stages of bringing a dog home , I want to help you get prepared . We have a preparing for my puppy learning module in our member's area of our website , where you learn all about realistic expectations , how to set up your house , bringing your puppy home , having a family meeting and more .

You'll also will have access to our trainers via email and one-on-one sessions to ask whatever questions pop up . I promise you'll have questions . So even if you do not have your dog yet , if you are on a waiting list or you're anticipating bringing a puppy or a new dog into your home anytime soon , we want you in our program now to get and feel prepared .

All right , let's talk leash walking . So we're going to start with the basics . The keys again to successful leash walking are patience and consistency . We have to remember that our puppies are still learning and we'll need gentle guidance every step of the way .

Now I like to just use a lightweight leash , something that's six feet in length , with a little tiny clip . Nothing that's going to weigh my puppy down or feel really heavy on them . I want it to be just nice and light . I like to use a regular flat buckle collar or a harness and I clip the leash to the front of the harness .

So if you are going to get a harness for your dog , make sure it has a front clip . Avoid using retractable leashes , as they can encourage pulling . The tension never goes away and what I'm trying to teach my dog is . When they feel tension , they need to release that tension , and retractable leashes make that really hard .

They're also a little bit dangerous if you're not careful with them , so just avoid those in general . They're just not super helpful when we're trying to teach a puppy to walk on a loose leash . Now I like to begin indoors , inside my home , with minimal distractions .

I choose a time of day when my puppy's a little bit active but not overly rambunctious , and I like to choose a time of day when maybe my family members are doing other things , so there's not a lot of chaos happening in this room . It's just pretty quiet and we just start walking around . Now I want my puppy to start to follow me .

If you think of loose leash walking as you would like , a child in school learning math now , a first grader , or even like a kindergartner , second grader , third grader , any of those elementary ages they're just learning about numbers , they're learning how to put them together , and it's not until high school that I start to introduce this child to calculus .

Okay , now , calculus is a harder level of math and kids do get to the point where , yes , they can understand and do calculus , but it takes some time and there's some pre-work , there's some pre-knowledge that needs to go into that before you can just hand them calculus and be like , okay , let's do calculus Now . Loose leash walking is like calculus for dogs .

So our puppies need skills before they will be ready to just walk around a city block . So today let's talk about some of those skills . The first one is to follow . So no destination walks for now . I know sometimes we get a dog and we think , oh , it's my job to walk them , I must take my dog out on a walk .

I want you to just scratch that off your list for now . When you first get a dog , I want them to learn to follow you . Now , dogs tend to want to follow the trail or the sidewalk or the pathway . I want them to follow you right . We need to teach them that . That's what this is about .

This is about a connection , a relationship between me and my dog and we go places together . So no going around the block for now . Stick to areas instead of trails where you can circle . Make U-turns , lots of figure 8s . You might feel a little bit ridiculous . That means you're doing it right . Walk around furniture . So again you're starting indoors .

So walk around furniture like your sofas , tables , coffee tables . Go to the right , go to the left , make U-turns , go in and out of every room in your home .

Take this practice outside , into your backyard or your private area If you have a patio or something where you can practice or a driveway is great and then , once your dog is fully vaccinated , you're going to take this following practice to the park , but again you're not on a trail or a sidewalk or a pathway , you are at the park and you're picking a nice big

area so that again you can circle and make figure 8s and U-turns as needed . The main rule we have with leash walking is never follow a pulling puppy .

If your puppy starts to pull , we stop or change directions every single time , only start going down sidewalks and pathways when your dog is reliably walking next to you , meaning they follow you without pulling and they know how to be a partner with you . They know how to walk together towards things they want to get to . That's what we're establishing .

So it works out really well that our puppies if you're getting a new puppy , that they're not fully vaccinated yet that you have those weeks and that time to practice at your house inside where we really establish that good following technique , or even if you're rescuing an older dog and they're coming to you , don't be afraid to take those first few weeks of doing

the exact same thing you would as if they were a new puppy . We want to stay inside and then , once your dog's fully vaccinated if they are a puppy you can , yes , go to the parks , but stay off the trails , stay off the sidewalks .

I want you to find an area and circle and figure 8 and U-turns and speeding up and slowing down and just being a little bit unpredictable and exciting so that your puppy wants to follow you . So be patient , go slowly . There's no need to rush this . There's not like this timeline that I have to have my dog walking around the city block by X amount of time .

There's nothing like that that exists . Your dog can get plenty of exercise daily by playing in the backyard or inside your home or on Ghost Nif walks and I'll talk a little bit more about Ghost Nif walks in a minute .

So as we're walking , our puppies following me , I reward in the kitchen area no , this is not your actual kitchen , but the area directly next to your leg . So whenever my puppy's head lines up with my leg , I reward them and I move as I pay them . It helps to have a nice soft , chewy treat versus a hard crunchy one .

Sometimes if you give your dog something crunchy , they want to stop and crunch it . So try to give them a little bit softer reward that they can keep moving as you pay them . So I'm going to reward them with food . You can use praise as well . Tell them they're doing a great job , right . And then I like to stop every few minutes and give them playtime .

Just let them go sniff . Or I pull out a toy and we play . I call it recess . It's just to give them a little brain break . Now , consistency is key here . Be sure to reward good behavior every time it occurs . And I , like I said , keep those sessions short , one to two minutes , then play .

Let them sniff around again , play a little game of tug , whatever your puppy enjoys , because after all , we are rewarding them right , right , all right , let's get started .

Cues like let's go and are you ready I just like to give my dog a little heads up that hey , we're about to move , let's go is kind of my cue , for I'm changing directions or I'm about to walk . You need to pay attention .

And then when I stop , I just drop a little food reward on the ground for them to sniff and find that's fun for them , and it takes a minute for them to find it and they're standing still , which is what I want . And then I start walking again and I repeat that .

Now , to prevent your dog from getting overly excited about seeing others , I use what's called the 9010 rule . 90% of the time I am not going up to people to say hi to them and their dogs , and my dog is not getting that expectation right . So don't set your dog up with the expectation that , hey , you get to run over and say hi to everyone we see .

No , don't do it . Do the 9010 rule . Practice a leave it cue instead . When they see somebody , that leave it means we want them to take their attention away from the person or dog they see and give it back to you . Now let's talk about that . Go sniff walk . This is my favorite kind of walk . This is a much more relaxed walk . Let your dog be a dog .

Especially , this is helpful for those dogs who are maybe cautious outside or seem nervous , or dogs who aren't currently enjoying their walks . Maybe you have a dog that you're like they just seem to have a problem with the walk . I like to get a 10 to 20 foot lead .

It's again a lightweight leash , it's just longer and I let them sniff , I just connect it to the back of their harness . So yes , at this time I'm connecting to the back of their harness because they're kind of dragging that little line along .

But they get to go experience the world through their noses and allowing you know , this allows our puppies to stop and explore interesting smells and it's not only natural but beneficial for our dog's mental stimulation . So try to incorporate these short go sniff breaks into your walks to keep your puppy engaged and happy .

Now you can have an entire walk , be that go sniff walk right Now . Make sure your dog's fully vaccinated first , obviously before you take them to the park .

But you can also do a nice little attention walk , like we've been talking about , where your dog's following you and paying attention , and then you can release them to go sniff for a little while and it can be a nice go sniff walk . So again , a 10 foot leash is probably my favorite because you can do both with the same leash on .

You can have them do a nice little attention walk next to you and then you can release them to go sniff for a little bit and then you can ask them to . You know , do a nice little attention walk again and you can go back and forth .

But just doing an entire go sniff walk that's all you do the entire time is a much more relaxing way for a dog to get exercise and some good mental stimulation by sniffing . Now I often get asked about a heel .

I teach a heel cue for tight spaces on a sidewalk , so if I need to navigate around someone or something it is nice to be able to say heel , and my dog tucks in next to my side and they pay strict attention to me . But we're not doing that for very long .

It's really just to navigate tight spaces and then we're back to that more relaxed attention walk or , even more so , relaxed go sniff walk . Now playing games . You guys , I'm a huge fan of games . If you are part of my program , you know this .

So playing games can also be a great way to relieve stress and make leash training more enjoyable for both you and your dog . Incorporate these short little play breaks into your walks and it just helps keep the intention of your puppy and you're not so bored and it doesn't become so monotonous , because leash training is a little bit monotonous .

You need hundreds of repetitions of just following , just circling figure eights , that kind of thing , so you can see how that gets old pretty quickly . I'm going to give you a game that you can try . It's called the find it game . You simply just toss a treat a short distance away and encourage your puppy to find it .

So this not only provides mental stimulation but also reinforces good leash manners as your puppy learns to focus on you , because you're the one that's saying hey , look over here . Hey , check out this spot over here . Hey , puppy , come check out this over here . And they're finding a little food reward along the way .

You're a pretty good partner on this walk and they start to figure that out pretty quickly . So have some fun . Play that game , see how it goes .

Remember , you guys , that leash training takes time and patience . Try to celebrate the small wins along the way and don't be discouraged by setbacks . They're going to happen . It's okay . With consistency and positive reinforcement , you and your dog will soon be enjoying peaceful walks together .

I promise you'll get to the point where , yes , you can walk around the block together . It just takes time to get there , so be patient . That's all for today's episode on Loose Leash Walking . Thanks for tuning in you guys , and happy training .

If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training question , visit my site BaxterAndBellacom to contact me .