Leash Training A Dog

No More Pulling on the Leash Wouldn't you like to have your dog walking nicely on the leash without pulling, keeping by your side, so that you both enjoy the walk together. It's not much fun is a constant struggle to restrain your dog. For all kinds of behavior problems and obedience training, Pulling on the leash can be a sign of dominance or of getting too little exercise. See the alpha dog article for more on dominance. If you want to know all aspects of leash training, click here for the Secrets to Dog Training Guide. What ever you do make sure your dog gets enough exercise and walks. Don't cut down on walks because he pulls too much. That would be a vicious circle. The sooner you make the effort to train your dog, the sooner you will be able to enjoy a stress-free walk with your dog. If you train him as a puppy or as young as possible, so much the better.

Tired of your dog pulling on the leash? Click here!

As with all training, you need to positively reinforce the behavior you want and to make absolutely sure that you don't reinforce unwanted behaviors.

Since your dog enjoys going for a walk, if he pulls and you allow him to continue an enjoyable activity, you are reinforcing the behavior. Is this what you want to communicate to him?

You should start as you mean to go on. As soon as you get the leash out, make sure your dog behaves as you want.

The more excited he is, the more likely he is to pull. So, don't put the leash on or approach the door until he's calm. Reinforce when he is calm by giving him a treat. But as soon as he starts to become excited, ignore him. He will soon catch on.

As with all training, patience, consistency and perseverance are necessary. Whatever you do, don't reinforce the behavior you're trying to stop!

It's best to have a normal six foot leash for walking. Don't give too much slack but don't hold the leash taut. Your dog should be on your left with you holding the leash in your right hand and your left hand can hold the leash loosely as it comes across your body. As you set off, give a command such as "Let's walk". If you show your dog that you have a treat in your left hand, he will naturally want to stay with you.

One of the most effective techniques is that as soon as the dog starts to pull, turn and set off in the opposite direction. When he's at your side again and not pulling give a treat and praise him. You can just rinse and repeat until he stops pulling and stays by your side.

As with all training, it's best to keep this session short. After a few corrections you should stop the exercise.

It won't take long for your dog to come to realise that when he starts to pull, he's unsuccessful because you change directions. In contrast, your repeated rewards when he is walking nicely at your side will reinforce that behavior until it is the behavior he naturally prefers.

You can start by practising this exercise at home, so that you can do a short session and then finish. Once, the exercise is successful inside the house, you can venture on a walk outside.

I hope this short article on walking your dog nicely on a leash has been helpful.

Do you want your dog to walk nicely on the leash? If your answer to the above question is yes, then I strongly recommend that you check out the Secrets To Dog Training Guide. It's very in depth and great value for money. There's the downloadable manual, and audio version of the same and some great bonuses. The whole package covers everything you need to know about basic and more advanced obedience training for your dog or puppy. It covers choosing a dog or puppy, caring for your dog, training your dog, dealing with any behavioral problems such as hyperactivity, barking and biting and much more. Click here to check out the Secrets To Dog Training website .