Teaching a High Energy Lab to Walk with a Loose Leash

For this Omaha dog training session we worked with a dog who’s guardian passed away a few months ago. 7 year-old Black Lab mix Riley gets over excited at times, doesn’t always listen and pulls on the leash.

Riley was adopted by his guardians daughter who moved into a new apartment with her mother and the dog.

We started the session off by covering a number of common mistakes that people make with dogs. How and when to pet, command words, exercise, structure, maintenance are all continuing factors that need to be addressed when rehabilitating a dog.

A big reason why I’m usually able to help most clients in one session is because I point out all these common mistakes that humans have done that contributed to the problems, as well as a solution to them. This way the human attacks the problem at both ends which results in much quicker progress.

As we were wrapping up the discussion on common mistakes people make, I shared some dog behavior tips to help with a few new problems like Riley barking at anyone who passed by the apartment windows.

Next I handed my camera to one of his guardians so that I could cover a number of loose leash walking tips to help the dog behave better on walks and stop pulling on the leash.

After going over all these positive dog training tips to stop Riley from pulling on the leash, we headed outside so that I could coach his guardian up on them as she practiced.

Riley showed some dog reactivity when a few other dogs in the complex came out to do some business. I’m hoping that the addition of structure in the home Will help Riley feel more relaxed and stop his aggressive behavior towards other dogs. But if Riley continues to be leash and dog reactive a month after the session, the guardians may want to call us to set up a one-hour follow-up session to work on that specific issue.

To help the guardians remember all of the dog behaviorist tricks and secrets I shared in this in home dog training session, we shot a roadmap to success video that you can check out below.