LEASH WALKING
Foundation Leash Walking Exercises
Teaching our dogs to go around stuff
So this looks like a silly little game, but I actually use this game to teach my dogs a lot of other foundation behaviors. You don’t have to go buy traffic cones, you can use anything tall enough that it makes sense to your dog to come around it instead of over or on it. You can use things like lamps, trash cans, chairs, etc.
You can see with Nick the very first stages of helping him go around the cones from very close, and then with Emily the stages I work to. My first goal is to be able to stand still a few feet away and have my dog go out and around the pole without me. But as you see with Nick, at first I am right there at the cone to start. Once you get the send around one object then see if you can get a figure 8 by adding a second object.
Notice that I am always rewarding on the ground rather than from my hands. I want to encourage movement and I want to encourage independence from me so if I am not feeding from my hands my dog is looking more towards that objects and the path In front of them.
EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE NO PLAN FOR EVER TEACHING YOUR DOG A FORMAL HEEL
It’ still helps them tremendously when you teach them how to orient to your side when you ask, and how to orient to your front. The understanding of these positions helps your dog in both the quality and consistency of their recall commands and their loose leash walking. So even when I never intend to compete with my dogs I still want my dogs to know how to come in very close to me in either position and I use them all the time in real life. Tucking in close to me as we walk through a cafe or store, waiting next to me at the vet as I pay, etc.
Here’s a secret, if you approach training Heel and Come as a PLACE rather than an action your dog will have a much better understanding of the behavior! When I say heel to my dogs it doesn’t mean slow down and don’t pull, it means line up to my left leg and focus on me whether I am still or moving. When I say come, my dog’s know that is a place directly in front of my feet that pays cookies and love in heaps after you hear that word. So I play a LOT of games to help my dogs know these places before I expect them to be able to easily do it in real life.
Do NOT work on this until your dog has mastered the figure 8 from the first cone work video. You need for your dog to know how to go out around the cones without you needing to move much. But seeing that a few people already have that I’m going to share this next step now, but don’t rush, get a good foundation with your around behavior is you don’t yet have that.
Once you have your figure 8 go around with the cones. Set them up like I have them in the video, a slightly off set figure 8. As you can see I have strategically placed the “front” cone next to my cabinet so there is a small channel for him to sit in, which will create a nice straight sit. The second cone for my heel is wider so I can step back and use my legs next to the cone to create the nice tight channel to again create a straighter sit.
I use my left hand to direct him out around the front cone, and step slightly forward with my left foot as well as I want to make sure it’s totally clear which side of the cone I want him wrapping around. When he comes around I use my treats and hands to help him sit in that front position. If you are struggling to get a tight straight sit remember that hand movement I had you do in the recall video, you draw the dog to your legs and then move your hand up, if you move your hands up too quickly your dog might sit before the get all the way to you.
Once my pup sits I reward. Then I step back with my left foot, as I use my left hand you point out around the cone to come around to my heel side. When he comes around the cone I use my treat in my left hand to help him sit, also helping with a “sit” command. I don’t say “heel” until my dog is understanding the position, until then I just use my hands to help. I add the “heel” and “front” once my dog is able to go into the position without much lure help and is sitting where and how I want them.
As my dog get’s the idea I move my body and hands less and less. I added the next part to show you where this is going. But please don’t rush this stage, you have a lot of time to get this foundation really solid. So the second part of the video where I have removed the cones is only for those who already have a front and heel and want to work on perfecting it. But I want you to see where this goes so you understand a bit more of the process as you work this beginning stage.
Continuing cone heel work and
a fun game for working two dogs.
I’ve shown you more ways I use the cones and the figure 8 pattern to really work on having my dog line up to my side. As you can see in the video, I work BOTH sides so my dog understands that both sides might be used. I use this practically all the time! When I negotiate town with my puppies I’m training I often flip them around to the other side when I need to pass things and want to put my body between the dog and the thing.
I also show you one of the fun games I like to play with training both my dogs at once. We will go into more details about helping your dogs get better at this. The key is to start the game with whichever is the more easily trained dog as the one going around and the one who needs the most help with impulse control doing the stay in front. For this to work your dogs already have to be able to sit side by side and be comfortable taking treats around each other. If they have resource guarding issues or can’t yet do basic commands side by side, you can wait as I will be going into that process in more detail as we move forward with Academy fun. But I threw this one in here since we had the fun cones out.
When I am doing these figure 8”s with Nick, notice that each time I send him around the cone I am turning so that when he comes around he is ending up on the other side so he is now in position to be sent around then next cone. It’s easier for the dog if they are on the outside of your body as you send them out around the cone as this more easily supports the natural curve of their body as it relates to you, as they are curving towards you which is what their bodies naturally do as they look at you. Notice that when I send him out around the cone I signal that using the hand and leg that is next to him, and my food is in the other hand ready to reward the sit when he comes to that new side. They are little details but they convey a lot of information to our dogs.
This exercise we are going to make sure we have a strong foundation around our leash & collar skills!
Before we dive into loose leash walking we want to look at our dog’s foundations skills around getting leashed up and off. Several issues can take root that sink our engagement and training before we ever even leave the house or car, so let’s look at some of those. Today we are going to look at getting your dog’s into their collars or harnesses. We can have issues on both ends of the spectrums, we can have dog’s like Nick that lose their minds and practically knock you out when you touch their collar because they are so excited. Or we can have dogs that cringe and head for the hills when they see the dreaded harness come out.
There is a LONG video about helping dog’s acclimate to harnesses and a shorter video with more foundation help and how to work on collaring. This might seem like really basic stuff, but many dogs really struggle with the process, so if your dog is one of these, take a look at both videos. When you watch the videos pay close attention to our positioning. This is the number one mistake I see people make when trying to collar or harness reluctant dogs, is the position you approach it from. Here’s a hint, think about how many dogs we saw in the recall and engagement challenges that did NOT like when people leaned into them from the front.
If this is not something you struggle with, maybe brush up on their manners of being collared and leashed under control in preparation for a challenge coming ;)
You can apply this acclimation process to all sorts of things, sweaters, raincoats, Elizabethan collars.
DOES YOUR DOG RUN FOR THE HILLS WHEN THEY HEAR YOU UN-CLICK THEIR LEASH? OR AVOID YOU WHEN IT’S IN YOUR HAND WHEN YOU WANT TO LEASH THEM WHEN IT’S TIME TO LEAVE THE PARK?
These are such common scenarios and we want to change what being leashed and unleashed means to our dogs. Ideally a leash should mean very little to your dogs and they should have no change in how they engage with you whether it is on or off. If they do, that is a product of how you use your leash and what it represents, so we want to start to change that today!
So step one is to play in the house with your leash, putting it on and off as demonstrated in the video. Have your dog sit and calmly put the leash on, then reward, then take the leash calmly off, then reward. Keep repeating until your dog can remain calmly sitting as you put the leash on and off. Then start to play a game where the leash coming off means it’s play time, then pause the play, and the play restarts after the leash is put back on.
Step two is to change the association of all your dog’s release and exit points from automatic disconnect to automatic orient to you. So when you walk out the front door, stop and wait for your dog to look back at you, then reward before carrying on. When you get them out of a crate, reward them for sitting and looking at you once out. When you let them out of the car, reward them for sitting and looking at you after they exit. When you get to the park where you usually take the leash off and let them run, play the leash off and on game like you did inside the house. We want to change the association that the leash is about control and we want to use engagement to have our dogs want to be connected to us and for that to be the real leash.
Ready for some silly fun?
Ok, let’s see if you can get your dog collared and leashed while you hold an egg on a spoon in one hand!
As you watch this video you can see how still and how hard Nick is concentrated on staying still, there is only one reason for this, because *I* am concentrating so hard on being still and calm to keep that egg from falling. The egg makes me slow way down and not rush anything. If your dog and you make a mistake and break the egg, please laugh and have fun. If you don’t have eggs or your family is not about to let you break eggs on the floor, you can also use a tennis ball on a spoon, it will be harder since that will be heavier but you can do that as an option. This is a game meant to get you to slow down and concentrate on each move of the process while staying connected to your dog. It’s hard! It took me two eggs just to figure out how to even do it.
LOOSE LEASH WALKING
So once you have done your cone games and have your dog taking a few great focused steps inside and once you have worked on your dog’s leash associations it’s time to take those high quality steps outside. Start in an easy place outside, like an empty parking lot or other quiet lower distraction area and then gradually build your way to a more distracting environment. Keep your work to just a few high quality successful steps. Keep reward rates very high. Focus and attention matters more than position and precision.
Again why does this heel training matter if you only care about casual loose leash walking? Because if your dog understands when you ask them to stay close and follow you, it is much easier for them to stay connected to you and pay closer attention to how you move so they can adjust to your pace. Loose leash walking and heeling are both all about a dog’s ability to stay connected and aware of your pace.
LOOSE LEASH WALKING IS ABOUT CONNECTION NOT CONTROL
I do my initial loose leash walking on a long line rather than the usual short 4-6ft leash. The idea is to begin building connection rather than using physical control to keep your dog walking with you.
Don’t start until you have your dog’s focus.
Start with your pup at your side.
Let most of the long line drag as you hold it loosely around the half way point, if your pup starts to run quickly at something do quick grab and releases as the second half of the line feeds out to gently break so they don’t hit the end of the line at a dead run.
Stop and turn around the MOMENT you see you have lost your dog’s connection, don’t wait for them to be pulling. If you watch you can see when they are no longer paying attention to you, that is the moment to turn.
As soon as the dog starts moving towards you start praising and cheering for them.
Reward when they reach your side.
Continue to chat and engage sweetly with them as long as they are connected to you.
Loose Leash Walking
Once your dog is able to walk on a long line and they are staying close to you because they realize this is where all the good stuff happens, then it’s time to move to a regular 4-6ft leash.
Ok here is where the real work happens. Here is the thing about leash walking, it’s all about reinforcement history and so much of the time the dog is being reinforced by the environment more for pulling then they are from you for walking nicely.
People vastly under reinforce polite leash walking.
At the same time people often start slipping into their own heads when they walk and disconnect from their dogs, and don’t even realize the moment they have disconnected until the dog is dragging them down the street on leash.
So stay present!!!
Don’t put headphones in and play music.
Don’t scroll on your phone as you walk.
Don’t walk with other people while you are training, your dog needs your full attention!
Every single time you take your dog out on leash you are training them! Be ready!
Have a plan on what you are going to do if they pull!
stop and wait until they reconnect with you
turn around and go the other way, rewarding when they reconnect
Don’t ever start walking if your dog is already disconnected.
Give your dog a set length of leash, don’t keep changing how much leash slack you give, otherwise they can’t learn how much room they have to work with.
REINFORCE WHAT YOU WANT, WHERE YOU WANT IT
Always reward at your side, right next to your leg for a small, med dog and right near your hip for a large dog.
Always reward with your palm facing the dog’s nose, if your palm faces forward or out the dog needs to turn their head to reach it and this will spin them out more in front of you to reach the reward.
Reward when the dog is doing what you want, not as a way to get them back! This is often a huge problem, people ignore great walking, then the dog pulls and the handler uses a treat to get the dog back, which reinforces the pulling. If they are pulling use one of the methods you use to stop pulling, then get the dog back to walking nicely and THEN REWARD.
Great training places to look for:
Empty parking lots for malls, cinemas, shops.
Vacant parking areas
Big boring paved wide open areas- parks and walking paths are being overrun now as so many look to places they can go, but these vacant concrete jungles can be totally empty and make amazing training areas! You have lines painted for parking spots that you can use to walk straight on. You can see for big distances if any distractions are coming.
STAY EMOTIONALLY CONNECTED THE WHOLE TIME YOU WALK TOGETHER WHILE TRAINING!
LEASH WALKING FINE TUNING
EXERCISE 1
Find an area that has definable visual breaks to the space. You can use a parking lot like I am here, or you can use mailboxes along the side of the road, lines on a sidewalk, driveways you cross, you want things that are falling in somewhat of a predictable pattern of distance.
As you approach the area pick your starting marker.
When you hit that marker stop.
Get your dog focused on you, don’t start until your dog’s eyes are on yours!
Hold the treat you will reward with in your hands together at your belly button or chest (chest if you have a big dog that will jump at lower hands). Don’t hold your hands in your dog’s face or in a treat pouch or pocket.
Try to keep your dog’s eyes on your eyes as you walk, if they look away, stop and try again.
When you hit the next marker, stop and reward your dog.
You can reward from your hands, use the hand closest to the dog to deliver, and bring the treat hand to your side where you want the dog to walk, reward with the palm of your hand facing your dog’s nose.
You can also reward by placing the reward on the ground slightly behind the heel position. You also add in some tossed around rewards for finding fun after they get that first treat you dropped in that specific spot.
We have three main focuses during this exercise
MOTIVATION- you need to use a level of reward that your dog wants enough to focus on you in that environment.
TINY achievable definable spaces to cross together. You want measurable spaces so as we move forward in training we know exactly how far our dogs are capable of holding focus. It should feel so easy! If you are struggling your spaces are too big, find something smaller.
EMOTION! To change and create new habits we need to light up that positive part of the brain. The change needs to feel good and we get that by pairing emotion with the behavior we want. So emote, be fun, be silly, laugh, smile, celebrate, high five your dog, feel great about those baby steps.
Getting our dogs and ourselves ready for some off leash heeling
You need to work the foundation exercises to get ready for this exercise, only work on this if you have decent loose leash walking at your side.
Work in a low distraction area, with a dog that has already been exercised.
Tie your leash around your waist or shoulders, you need a long enough leash that they still have a bit of slack.
Do not start walking until your dog is sitting at your side and focused on you.
Give them your walk at your side cue you have trained for heeling or at your side loose leash walking.
Start walking.
As soon as the dog starts to leave your side stop and help them come back to your side WITHOUT TOUCHING THE LEASH.
You can pat your leg as you step back, pet your dog, gently guide with your hand in the collar (don’t yank them).
Give them some good affection before moving on.
You can give treats once they are in position but do not use the treats to get them into position.
The whole goal of this is to help our dogs feel like our hands on them is a good thing and nothing to avoid, if your dog is jumping away from you as you reach, SLOW down and be gentle! This is not a manhandle your dogs exercise.
Your dogs should think this is affection not correction.
Don’t move on to the off leash exercises until you can do this exercise for at least 100yards without needing to touch them to help.
Figure 8’s and Circles
Mix it up!!! When we always just walk forward this makes it boring and easy for the dog to disconnect and only focus forward.
Let's see you do some figure 8's circles, turns. Make it fun to watch you. Don't just barge into them, help them with your rewards, hand positions and shoulders.