Why Your Dog Pulls On Leash – And What You Can Do About It

Boy comes home with all F’s on his report card. Shows his dad the report card and then asks: “Well dad, what do you think it is? Genetics or environment?”

Funny joke with a lot of truth to it.

The boy holds the father accountable for his poor results.

Training a dog can be tough because the results are up to us and one of the most difficult commands is leash walking.

Most dogs pull because they constantly get rewarded for it.

Think about it for a second. Your dog is on leash and sees a telephone pole he wants to sniff and pee on.

He starts to pull to get to the pole. We hang on and pull back on the leash but the dog eventually gets to the pole.

Your dog has just been rewarded. It was unintentional but it was still a reward.

So your job training your dog is to be aware of intentional AND unintentional rewards.

A good exercise to do is walk in the other direction when your dog pulls. Then turn around and walk back to whatever your dog was pulling towards. If your dog starts to pull, go in the opposite direction again.

Basically you are teaching your dog that the only way to make forward progress, to get what they want, is on a loose, slack leash.

I know – easier said than done.

That’s why we spend so much time helping dog owners teach their dog how to walk on leash without pulling. If you’d like your dog to walk without pulling check out our dog training classes by going here NEXT:

Dog Training Class

Best,

Eric