Loose leash walking..what worked for you?

I am at a loss.
Merlin has a great paying attention training/treats heel...but when it comes to casual everyday walking and staying NEXT to me. Oy. HE JUST MUST GO AHEAD/SURGE FORWARD.

He is not a yanker or a bad puller by any means...it's just enough so that he's in front (slowly but surely...) and the leash is taut

Right now our walks are like (he gets in front, I stop, he comes back next to me, good boy, I keep walking, he surges forward... rinse and repeat)

Sometimes I feel like he has a 4 second attention span before he forgets and goes back to walking in front.

ANY IDEAS?

Currently trying to do something with Feist's leash walking, but I won't even go there. Wesley did the same exact thing you're describing, he would just kind of space out and slowly get in front, no matter how many treats he got for being in the right position..honestly, maturity was the only thing that helped.

I have no answers for you, just sympathy. This is life with Gusto. He doesn't even really "pull" - I can have one finger hooked in the leash loop and hold him. But walk on a loose leash? Not a chance.

Oh no not maturity :rofl1:
I keep trying to make being next to me interesting (treats etc..) but out front just is more alluring I guess because slowly but surely he is over there.


EXACTLY! I hate trying to explain it to people because It's not like I'm gripping the leash and he is pulling ME kind of thing, I could hold it with my pinky...he is just insistent on being out front! LOL

Management?

I just, can't do loose leash walking. I don't have the patience or the consistency for it. I have an "attention heel" which is actually a be at my side for a short amount of time and then be released to it the end of the leash and pull like mad.

Traveler gets the prong collar if I need him not to pull and I think I'm going to be getting an easy walk harness or something similar for Fergus.

I feel like with a lot of dogs (unless you have one of those magical, mythical dogs that just walk nice naturally) you have to be completely consistent for awhile and really not let them get away or make headway with pulling at all. Be the tree, change direction etc. but to not let it go ever. Which results in very, very short or unproductive walks for awhile.

This might be the reason I very rarely do leash walks with my dogs?

Good luck!

ETA: I guess I missed that he's not pulling! Disregard my post then!

The only time I care if the dog is right next to me is when I'm in a crowd, and then I just shorten the leash so the dog HAS to walk right next to me. I've never really cared if the leash is taut, so long as there is no pulling envloved. And I use a prong or no pull harness to stop pulling.

So, basically....I have no advice. Lol The only time I've had a dog walk right beside me on a loose leash is when they're really tired. Although I did have a Basset I fostered who did a remarkable job, but that was because his fast gait was the same as mine and he couldn't forge ahead unless he ran. Lol

I teach it initially like it sounds like you did.

Then I add a pinch collar (Kastle) and/or leash corrections (Limit/Eden). I want to be able to reel them in tight, not have to manhandle them to get through tight places (like at agility when dogs may or may not be lunging towards their faces...which Limit is NOT a fan of), and have them politely walk next to me. They know not to tug on the line so if I want to let them out front (like hiking), they can be at the end of the line but it's still loose. If I want them beside me, I choke up on the line, and it's still loose. I also walk them ALL the time, in lots of places. Oh, I didn't add corrections until they were old enough/mature enough to handle it.

Treats when you're walking nice and leash corrections when you're not. I'm not super consistent with it but seriously, adding in corrections is what made us get practical results.

I also make myself look like a dork and will get them amped up by running and smacking them around lol and that makes them super focused and engaged during the walk. It's a nice way to start the walk.

I'm really happy with Juno's leash walking but she used to be horrible. Now Cajun needs work!

Gentle Leader lol. Lincoln and Charlie walk very nice on leash except they like to swerve. Nimbus is so small you don't really notice her pulling. The only time mine ever LLW is when we go running.

Consistency? I worked really hard on LLW with Siri when she was a baby. Even if she doesn't do it for anyone else, she remembers every time I take her out. She may initially leap to the end of her leash but I back up and she falls into place.

I worked even harder with Gabby and hers is super reliable if I attach a leash to her collar. I generally don't care about tension on the leash, so she knows that if she's wearing a harness she certainly isn't allowed to drag me around, but she can move around quite a bit.

For both dogs I backed up if they hit the end of the leash, and I expect checking in/eye contact regularly. I still reinforce with food for good leash skills occasionally, but it's not every x number of steps anymore.

Worded way better than what I was trying to type out. Just making sure the dog understood and was rewarded for the set criteria.

I hate poor leash manners. Hate.

I used to do the stop, have the dog come back, reward, repeat. But then my trainer pointed out that it was becoming a cycle that she was being rewarded for.

Soooo... we worked on something slightly different which helped a fair bit. Any time she does something I don't like (gets too far ahead of me, tries to sniff something, etc) I slide my hand down the leash to her collar and quickly back up 5 steps (or more if needed to get her focus back). Release the collar and stand still. Let the dog make the decision. If she went ahead of me, dropped her head to sniff, etc. we repeated until she made the decision to stand at my side. Then we would start walking and I would reward her after a step of two. If she got ahead or tried to sniff... Repeat. Worked really well. The only thing it hasn't been super great for is if she sees a squirrel... but it does still help a little.

What worked for me? Taking the leash off.

lol, so true. Feist does wonderfully off leash. Unfortunately I really want her to have nice leash manners, so training is happening.

I've always had dogs that walk well on and off leash but they're smaller so maybe they just realize they're not going to get anywhere if they pull. Mia pitched some fits and was really reactive on a leash for a while and I just would wait her out.

I like to change directions a LOT when I am teaching a puppy to walk on a leash though. THat way they can't really anticipate and hit the end of the leash (theoretically). Not really like a stop and 'be a tree', I just change directions until they seem to realize they need to pay attention to me.

I've honestly never had luck teaching LLW with the "be a tree" method. Backing up has worked for me most consistently.

I read this again and maybe there is something in your delivery of praise/other reward. Instead of praising when he comes back to you, make it so it's: you stop, he comes back, you take a couple steps and THEN praise him for staying with you?

Otherwise I can see where the yo-yoing becomes a behavior chain vs. him actually being rewarded for keeping the leash loose.

The trick with backing up, I have found, is you need to do it the moment the dog stops thinking about you. If he's already at the end of the leash, you're too late. There's a point between the dog sneaking forward and getting to the end of the leash where they start thinking more about the environment and less about you. THAT is the moment to start backing up.

2nd, starting today loose leashes is a Law of the Universe. At the very least, tight leashes never go the direction the dog wants to go. Decide on your criteria and stick to it.

Give up and get an x-back and a skijor belt.

But when I care about LLW, "penalty yards" and premack works best for me.

Most of the time, simply stopping has NOT worked for me. What works better is to change directions with no warning when he gets in front of you (and before he hits the end of the leash...try to prevent the leash getting tight. Remember it takes TWO to make the leash tight). Make a u-turn or even just a 90 degree turn and keep going. Don't give him any indication that you're about to turn, just do it. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat.And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Eventually it'll get there.


The other thing is...do you plan on working him in a harness? If so, what position do you want him in for that? If you're going to want him to pull in harness, then don't worry too much about LLW at this point, because it'll only make teaching him to pull into the harness that much harder. Once he has the concept down, THEN teach him the difference between LLW and harness work.