Walking Nicely On Lead

No doubt about it, walking nicely on lead is not easy – for dogs or humans! Dogs naturally walk much faster than us. Convincing them it’s better to walk half their natural speed does require some effort, mainly by showing them you’re just as awesome - or even more so - than all the other exciting stuff outdoors. At home you may be their #1 awesome person, but outside you often drop down the ‘Exciting Stuff’ list compared to sniffs, other dogs, birds and more.

I got thinking about this as I recently saw someone struggling with their little dog and they jerked the lead so hard that if flipped their dog into its back, tumbling it off the sidewalk. I honestly don’t know what he thought his dog learned from that experience, except that his owner turns into a bit of a dick on walkies. It’s no wonder the poor dog just got up and went straight back to pulling – I’d want to get away from him too. It’s sad that so many people still think that using punishment and outdated thinking is how to teach our dogs to behave how we’d like them to.

There are loads of rewarding training techniques to teach your dogs these behaviours without making them think you’re a dick. Rewards-based training is effective because it makes them love spending time with you more, and they’re more motivated to keep working with you because it’s fun! It can even help them feel happier and less worried about things, which is often the cause of pulling on lead. If you want to find out more, I’m always happy to help and there are so many other great trainers around NZ using rewards-based training as well.

Remember a happy dog will always learn so much more and be happy to keep learning!