Who's Pulling On The Leash, You Or Your Dog?

by Juanita Bellavance

Hopefully no one is pulling the leash. The
ideal situation is that you and your dog are
equally enjoying the walk and neither is
pulling and tugging the other in any certain
direction. If your dog tends to be pulling you
off into its own direction a large amount of
the time you are walking, you can train the dog
to stop doing this.

What's interesting is that you have actually
been training the dog to do this behavior
not only by allowing it but by supporting it
without realizing it.

There are various reasons that cause a dog
to automatically pull on the leash. For example,
when a beagle sees a squirrel or other animal
scurry quickly across in front of him, he is
going to go berzerk. You can count on that.
So be ready to hold on strongly if you plan
to keep the beagle in tow in a situation
like this.

Just holding the dog in tow is not enough,
though, since this will reinforce the dog's
desire to pull. Think of it as a training
opportunity! To use it as a training opportunity,
you will need to know exactly how you are
going to train.

Another example of the dog pulling on the
leash is when a dog wants to sniff out an
area, he will automatically go to the area
with no thought of you who are on the other
end of his leash.

Expert trainers have techniques to keep a
dog focused in the direction of your choice.
You want to take care not to reward the dog
when he goes off your chosen path and expects
you to go with him. Since it takes you by
surprise, you may inadvertently reward him
by following him, impulsively reacting to
his sudden behavior.

Now you may take a look at what you are doing
that is rewarding this behavior. You say, "I'm
not rewarding him! I don't give him a treat for
doing this." This is the time to consider what a dog
considers a reward, then. To a dog a reward is when
you give him something which brings him happiness
whether you meant it as a reward or not. As you know,
treats are not the only thing that brings happiness
in a dog'slife. Consider that you are rewarding the
dog when he is allowed to pull you off course at his
whim.

Any dog can be trained to stop pulling on the leash.
There are no limits as to age or how long the dog
has been allowed to pull on the leash.

From what you have read here and with some patience,
focus and repetition you can train your dog to stop
pulling on the leash. The bad news is that this training
takes some education. The good news is that this
education is available and the training is possible
for anyone who can physically hold the dog on a leash.

And more good news: there is no pain or punishment
involved at all, neither for you nor for your dog!
An expert trainer can give you some basic steps to
getting the results you want by following a specified
formula.

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Mogens Elliasen of K9joy is an expert trainer with
30+ years of experience and author of the fabulous
resource at http://www.PullingOnTheLeash.com.

Juanita Bellavance, the author of this article can be
contacted at http://www.mycopywritingspecialist.com