# Loose leash walking tips



## mamabear (May 17, 2011)

Rock on!!! That will be helpful to many...including me!  Thank you!


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## goldenagain (Jul 19, 2011)

Thank you Zombo for some great tips. This is what we have been trying to do with Dewey. The pulling is not good. What kind of leash and collar do you use? For reward treats we use cheerios, recomended by my daughters boyfriend who is going into his second year of vet school. You get alot of them in one box and saves on some money to.


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## Zombo (Nov 2, 2010)

goldenagain said:


> Thank you Zombo for some great tips. This is what we have been trying to do with Dewey. The pulling is not good. What kind of leash and collar do you use? For reward treats we use cheerios, recomended by my daughters boyfriend who is going into his second year of vet school. You get alot of them in one box and saves on some money to.


We're using a flat collar and a 6' nylon leash. The collar is a medium size Kong, chosen because it's 1" wide (most mediums are 0.75") which means less pressure on her neck when she does pull. Also, it means I don't have to spring for another boomerang tag when she grows into a large.


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## samericntree (Jan 30, 2011)

Our puppy used to be a good walker... We did all the loose leash exercises you could think of.

Now that he's 9 months, he's a puller through and through. Treats don't work anymore.

How old is your pup?

My ultimate goal is heeling.


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## Zombo (Nov 2, 2010)

samericntree said:


> Our puppy used to be a good walker... We did all the loose leash exercises you could think of.
> 
> Now that he's 9 months, he's a puller through and through. Treats don't work anymore.


My guess would be that your puppy is finding pulling more rewarding than the treats somehow. Try to prevent your puppy from getting anything positive from pulling . You may also need to use treats that are super high value to start with. If you've tried all of that, I'd talk to a professional trainer.



> How old is your pup?
> 
> My ultimate goal is heeling.


Our pup is 5.5 months old.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Love the clicker tips! I've never trained with one before and am working on incorporating with our new puppy, Mack. Congratulations on making great progress!


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## Zombo (Nov 2, 2010)

One aspect of loose leash walking I haven't made much progress at is meeting other dogs. Most of the times, pup pulls forward because she wants to meet this other dog NOW. I respond by stopping all tree-like. Then, pup gets rewarded by meeting the other dog because the other owner keeps walking towards us. 

Any tips for training "loose leash greeting" other dogs? Should I try turning around and walking away for 10-15'? I really want our pup to meet all of these dogs for socialization purposes.


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## BriGuy (Aug 31, 2010)

That's a hard one because it take the cooperation of both dog owners. We practice this one at home using things that excite Cookie as much as meeting other dogs - a chunk of hot dog on the floor or a friend acting excited would work. 

Then walk toward the distraction watching the clip on the collar. When it starts to move upward (the leash is getting tight, but not tight yet), say "Let's go" and turn around. I click and treat when Cookie is beside me again and I do a tight turn before heading back toward the distraction. I repeat until we get to the distraction with a loose leash.

There is a much better explanation in Morgan Spector's book titled "Clicker Training for Obedience".


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## Zombo (Nov 2, 2010)

Well, it's been several months since I started this thread, so I thought it might be time for an update. Our pup continued to progress using this method until she plateaued to around 85% of where we wanted her to be. The majority of time she'd walk ok with the leash loose. We'd click/treat for walking next to us, but continue walking as long as the leash was loose. If she did hit the end of the leash, she'd turn around on her own the majority of the time and get lined back up.

That being said, there always seemed to be a few occasions or circumstances when she'd really pull, even though she wasn't making any forward progress. One thing that had some success was doing a 180 and guiding her back into place, then doing another 180 to resume our normal walk. Again, this solved the problem most of the time, but there were always times when you make the second 180 and she takes off like a rocket to the end of the leash. 

We really don't want our pup hurting her tracheae when this happens, so last night we decided to stop walking her on a flat collar and use the Gentle Leader. She adapted to its unfamiliar sensation quite fast -- it took longer to adjust the fit on her than it did for her to stop pawing at it (distracting with indoor walking + treats helped). With all of the loose leash training we've done so far, she was able to pick up the new "loose harness" walking quite rapidly. This morning's walk with the Gentle Leader was similar to many morning walks I've had in the past with the exception that when a rabbit came into view, I didn't have to brace myself to make sure our pup didn't get rewarded for pulling after it. She knew she couldn't pull on the harness and stopped herself. 

If I had it to do over again, I'd definitely get the Gentle Leader earlier; however, I also know that it's not a magic bullet and training and consistency with its use is required. I'll post more once I get more time and walks under my belt with it.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> We really don't want our pup hurting her tracheae when this happens,


Based on all the dogs we've had that went through the *pull-pull-full of energy-pull* phase, I think it would take a lot of pulling and choking to hurt your dog's trachea. Unless you have a thin necked dog breed. Their noses are a lot more sensitive...


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## GoldenWoman (Oct 3, 2020)

Zombo said:


> I know there are quite a few posts on loose leash walking and/or pulling problems, but I didn't want any confusion by bumping up an old thread. What I do want to do is share some of the tips I've learned training my puppy.
> 
> If you're like me, you've got a friendly ball of energy that wants to explore the world and investigate anything and everything. You've browsed forum threads, watched tv shows or youtube videos, and read books; however, things just aren't progressing like you want. You've done the "tree" thing, you've done the walking in random directions thing, but it just seems like your pup isn't getting it.
> 
> ...


Good information. Thank you for sharing. I adopted my male at 18 months and he was not leash trained. He had a huge backyard. He’s now 3 and I’m working on his pulling. He’s very strong and I’ve fallen 3 times in the winter on slick surfaces so this has to stop.
I am using these techniques and he wears a harness because I’m afraid he’ll pull out of his collar. We live in a big and very busy city. He’s a little better but it’s taking a long time. He’s a sweetheart and wants to go everywhere fast and sniff everything, meet everyone and eat every stick. Is he too old to learn or too young and energetic and will just calm down eventually?


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Zombo said:


> Any tips for training "loose leash greeting" other dogs?


Don't. 
There is nothing to be gained. If you do it with enough dogs, you will eventually find one that attacks your dog.


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