Leash Training

Raven is not that great walking on a leash. To be fair, the only time I ever had her on a leash was to go in and out of PetSmart on the weekends. There's lots of excitement for her in that. If the leash was attached to the collar then she could yank me around, crossing in front of me and making me trip. It was a mess. I switched her to a harness so that I could maintain more physical control but she was still pulling with all her might so that really wasn't a solution.

Recently I was watching some Dog Whisperer episodes and in one of them something Cesar said struck me. He was training an owner to walk 3 excitable and strong Huskies properly. He told her not to pull tensely on the leash.

Cesar, are you telling me that if I don't pull on the leash, the dog won't pull either? Shut up, it's not that simple. Is it?

To test his theory we went on a family bonding walk this morning. I reconfigured Raven's leash as a slip loop and placed it high around her neck by the head. Away we went.

At first I held the leash high by pulling up so it was perpendicular to her. She couldn't pull me that way. Once she realized she wasn't getting anywhere, I loosened my grip on the leash and let my arm hang loosely by my side, giving her about 2-3 ft of leash space. If she started to pull I gave a quick, gentle tug as a correction.

She actually responded! She would slow down a little after the corrections. The leash was always taut but my arm was never tense. A few times the loop slipped down her neck. Then she put her head down and went into pulling mode. We stopped so I could slide the loop back up her neck and we were back in business. When passing barking neighborhood dogs, her ears perked up and she got a bounce in her step. But otherwise she was good. If she tried crossing in front of me I gave her a nudge with my leg. That solved that.

It was such a pleasant walk and I'm so proud of my girl. I'm so proud of ME! Heck, I was the one walking her wrong obviously. Sorry about that, Raven. I'll do better from now on.

Here's an excerpt from the episode I watched. Full episode is below. It is one of the best episodes that I've seen and definitely worth a look.


episodes expire periodically so watch while you can!