An Easy Tip to Stop Dogs From Pulling on Walks

For this Omaha dog training session we worked with Golden Retriever Milo; sharing tips to stop dogs from pulling on walks.

I actually did 3 sessions with Milo, covering a number of dog behavior fundamentals like how to use a marker word, hand targeting, dog consent, some creative exercise tips and how to teach a dog to come when called.

Anytime you’re working with a dog, it’s important to establish the fundamentals first. Many people progress way too fast or don’t actually teach their dog what they want them to do. Instead they just get mad when the dog does something else.

The same principle applies if you have a dog that doesn’t come when you call it, jumps up on you, barks at the window or pulls on the leash.

How to Stop Dogs From Pulling on Walks

The number one reason that dogs pull on the leash is it works. Eventually the dog is able to get to whatever it is that they are interested in.

If you are looking for a trick to stop dogs from pulling on walks, it’s important to set your dog up for success. The number one reason people fail to teach their dog to walk with a loose leash, is they try to teach the dog on an actual walk.

But we don’t learn to drive our car on the freeway. We learn in a parking lot so that we are able to focus on learning the basics first. Once we have that down, then we can start graduating two more difficult situations like navigating between cones, driving next to another car, parallel parking, etc.

For the purposes of the positive dog training video that I shot, we did it outside. But I had spent the majority of our sessions in the dog’s home so that we could teach them what we wanted free of distractions.

Many people think that walking their dog on a leash in their home is silly. But this is actually the best place to start teaching a dog to stop pulling on walks. The dog has already smelled everything, very little has changed in the environment, there are fewer distractions and it’s more convenient for the human. Think of practicing inside as your dog’s learning classroom.

There are a number of ways to get dogs to stop pulling on walks, but a foundational element is to make sure that the dog checks in with you. Many people get their dog really excited before they put the leash on, and then this causes the dog to set the pace for the walk.

While I am a big proponent of letting a dog sniff as long as it’s safe to do so, if your dog doesn’t check in with you periodically on walks, it’s going be hard for you to go where you want.

We headed out for a short walk so that I could record a short video on how to stop dogs from pulling on walks. If you have a dog that pulls on the leash, you should definitely check out the positive dog training video below.

By stopping periodically and waiting for the dog to check in on their own, we can help our dog get into a habit of looking back to us instead of pulling forward to get to the next thing.

As I mentioned in the video, I like to wait in one location until a dog is checking in with me in under 30 seconds between looks before I move to a new location.

For this reason, I recommend people practice this loose leash walking tip periodically when they are not planning on going for a walk. Simply allowing 5 to 10 minutes to work on this exercise a couple of times a day can be transformative.

After a while the dogs expectation is not to complete a walking circuit, but to explore the environment around them. This is really helpful because most people walk their dogs to burn energy. And most people are unaware of the fact that dogs burn significantly more energy on a walk by sniffing than walking alone.

I would like to see the guardians practicing this technique to stop dogs from pulling on walks a couple of times a day for a week. At first they can practice as soon as they exit their home but eventually they want to go to different locations, so the dog practice is checking in in different scenarios and situations.

I really like using a clicker for this exercise because many dogs go into work mode once they recognize that clicking means they’re gonna get a lot of treats.

This loose leash walking tip is really gonna make a difference from Milo. While they are wonderful dogs, golden retrievers are notorious for pulling with a lot of torque. And of course most people do exactly the wrong thing when their dogs pull on the leash, they pull back.

The problem with this is that dogs have something called an opposition response. They’re basically programmed to pull back. So every time you pull your dog on the leash, you were training your dog to pull against you.

The great thing about this secret to stop dogs from pulling on walks is we’re using operant conditioning. That’s a fancy way of saying that we’re waiting for the dog to offer us the action instead of directing them.

Since the dog is making the decision, it is genuine to them and it is quicker when it comes to forming a habit.

Now this simple exercise on its own is not going to teach Milo to walk with a loose leash. But it will dramatically reduce his pulling and get him in the habit of checking in with his human.

If they are mindful to bring treats with them and mark and reward Milo each time he looks at them, he will spend more of the walk near them as opposed to pulling away from them.

I suggested the guardians reach out for us to do our full loose leash walking program with Milo if they really want to take his loose leash walking to the next level.