Some Tips to Stop a Dog From Pulling on the Leash

For this West LA dog training session we worked with 3 year-old Husky Mix Boomer and his roomie Nellie, sharing tips to stop a dog from pulling on the leash.

Because Boomer has difficulty listening to his guardians win his outside, we started the session in their backyard. I went over a number of fundamentals, marker words, how and when to introduce cues, hand targeting, the importance of celebrating desired behaviors when we don’t ask for them, how to teach dogs manners as well as some tips on exercise and mental stimulation.

Boomner was standoffish with me throughout the session so I gave him space, waited for him to come to me and used soft body language and minimized movements. This helped him relax a bit, but his trepadation is something I was contemplating for much of this session.

Since Boomer is not comfortable around new people I also covered dog body language and cut off signals with his humans. Being able to recognize when a dog is giving consent (or cut of signals) and not forcing them to do things can go a long ways towards helping a dog feel more secure and confident. I recommended that all guests ignore Boomer until he has approcahed them a few times on his own. Even then, the guest should be passive, offering a hand out to sniff and refrain from trying to pet too soon. Additionally, sudden movements can be offputting to some dogs.

It would be good to have a differnet passive friend come by for a short visit weekly so Boomer can practice meeting new people who respect his boundaries and wait for him to come to them. Once that happens, going out for a short walk together and the guest giving Boomer many treats can go a long way towards helping him feel more comfortable with strangers. The guardians may also want to consider using a lick mat when guests visit as licking these release the feel good endorphone into dog’s brains.

Playing a game of fetch or tug 30 minutes or so before the guest comes over can also help set Boomer up for success.

How to Stop a Dog From Pulling on the Leash

The bulk of this session was spent sharing loose leash walking tips. Loose leash walk training is the best way to stop dogs from pulling on walks. Many people get frustrated when their dog pulls the leash on walks and turn to a number of methods to stop them. As much as it would be nice to have a magic tool that would stop dogs from pulling, they simply don’t exist. Pinch and prong collars cause nerve damage, can puncture the skin and often release cortisol (the stress hormone) into the dog’s blood. If you want your dog to walk with a loose leash, you need to do some positive leash training to do so.

We have developed an awesome loose leash walking program that breaks down the individual elements of why dogs pull on the leash, and show the dog’s guardians exercises to help counter each part of their leash pulling problem.

Training dogs to stop pulling on the leash is one of our more popular dog training requests. Since everyone walks their dog at sometime or other, knowing some secrets to stop leash pulling comes in handy for every dog guardian.

If your dog pulls on the leash, you should definitely check out the the free positive dog training video below for some loose leash walking tips.

By breaking down loose leash walking into a number of individual exercises, you can set your dog up for success. I made sure I stressed to the guardians the importance of practicing each exercise inside until the dog is doing it proficiently and only then moving to the next level of difficulty. Moving to a environment that is too distracting (like an actual walk) is the number one reason people fail to stop dogs from pulling the leash on walks. That’s why we ask our clients to practice these simple exercises to stop dogs from pulling in their living room for a couple of minutes each day to start.

Just like humans learning to drive a car, it’s important the dog learns the basics and fundamentals of the exercises in an easy environment before we start making them more challenging.

Although we went over a number of these exercises in one session, it’s important for the guardians to practice each lesson separately and level up completely in the way that I described before they move onto the next exercise. Most people take 4 to 6 weeks to fully master this loose leash walking technique.

We love helping people to teach their dogs to walk without pulling on the leash because we know we’re making a difference that people will benefit from for years.

We covered a lot of other dog behavior tips in this in-home West LA dog training session. To help the guardians remember everything, we recorded a roadmap to success summary video that you can check out below.