Every dog loves a walk. They learn to look for little signs that tell them you’re about to grab their leash, wagging their tail the second you open a certain cabinet or put your shoes on near the garage. It’s like they have a superpower for this stuff.
While they may live for the chance to smell all the outside smells and investigate new places, that doesn’t mean they behave along the way. Often, dogs do what they want on walks, pulling and veering off course without warning. This is annoying no matter their size, but bigger dogs have the potential of toppling you over when they bolt for a bunny. You don’t have to deal with this misbehavior, though. Here’s how to teach your dog to walk without pulling you.
Start in a Controlled Environment
When you teach a dog a new skill, you want to have their focus. While it’s tempting to teach them to walk on a trek through the neighborhood, a distracting bird, bunny, smell, lawnmower, or neighbor can hamper your efforts. Start in your backyard or a quiet open area so you have their undivided attention.
Reward Walking By Your Side, Not Pulling
In this quiet spot, give them a literal long leash and reward them whenever they choose to walk near you. Don’t force them. Many dogs work for treats, though others may prefer playing with a toy or verbal praise and petting when they do what you want. The more they walk next to you, the more they will associate your side with treats. To reinforce this association quickly, incorporate a clicker.
When they become consistent with walking next to you in a controlled setting, take them onto the sidewalks. Though you will need to reteach them, they will catch on again quickly. When your dog pulls, do not reward it. Though you don’t realize it, letting them tug you toward a new smell, even if you pull them away after a sniff, is its own incentive for bad behavior. To break this cycle, stop when your dog pulls. This may become tedious, but being consistent about not allowing them forward when they resist you establishes rules they need to follow to get what they want. Though retraining a puller is difficult like this, any dog can improve their walking skills through these measures.
Use a Harness
One tool to use to teach your dog to walk without pulling is a harness. Though there are several types of harnesses that function a bit differently from one another, all of them distribute the force you exert to resist their pulls. As long as you put them on right (a common struggle at first), a harness makes stopping whenever they pull much easier.
In the end, applying these training methods will produce a gradual change in your dog’s walking behavior. The underlying key is your consistency with them. Once they obey, you both are then able to fully enjoy your time outside together.
