Focused Loose Leash Walking

Let’s really dig into the details of creating lovely leash walking with your dog!

We are going to begin with concentrating on holding complete focus for a very short marked distance, then rewarding.

When you do this exercise you want to find defined short distances, like parking space lines, cracks in a side walk, mailboxes, sign posts, etc. Don’t just wing it and guess as that will change how hard you focus on holding their attention.

Do not start until your dog’s eyes are on your eyes, if you can’t get that, just work on this! (Say your dog’s name and mark & reward, repeat until their name makes their eyes whip to you in expectation of reward)

Start with your dog at your side (either side is fine) as it’s easier to maintain eye contact if they are beside you.

Have a reward (food or toy) in your hand, hold that hand up so that as your dog gazes at the reward they can also see your face.

As you walk maintain a happy smiling face as you tell your dog how wonderful they are as they look at you.

If they look away, bring the toy/food closer to their face to get their attention and bring it back up again, up the level of your engagement to try and hold them.

When you reach your mark, reward your dog either by hand (bring the toy/food to your side where they are) or by placing the reward on the ground behind your side where they were walking, with a toy you can even give it a little toss back behind you.

If you were not able to hold your dog’s focus for that whole distance find a shorter distance to try next time. Repeat 3-5 times with walking breaks between with no expectations. You can reward your dog if they continue to offer focused walking.

Make your starting and finishing of the focused walking very clearly cued: stop, bring your dog to your side, get their eyes on you, give a verbal cue, hold focus to mark, stop, reward and release.