What is loose lead walking and what does it look like?
Well, honestly, it can look a little different for different dogs but essentially its teaching your dog how to walk with you while on a loose lead.
This doesn’t mean they have to be next to your side all the time, it means they can sniff and explore the world around them, just without pulling on their lead. Its about teaching your dog how to walk together with you, as a team.
Is it hard to teach a dog loose lead walking?
Yes and no! If it were easy then everyone would have their dog walking beautifully next to them all the time but unfortunately that's not the case. However if you understand why it can be tricky for our dogs to walk on a loose lead and what techniques we can use to help them to understand what we want from them then that makes our training much easier.
So why do dogs struggle to walk on a loose lead?
There are many reasons that dogs can struggle to walk on a loose lead but some of the most common are;
- The world is an exciting place! For most of our dogs the only time they get out and about is during their walks so when they’re out they just want to explore. To sniff all the lamp posts, to say hello to other people and to dogs and to get their physical energy out while they can.
- Humans walk really slow. For most of our dogs their natural pace is actually a lot quicker than our walking speed so for them to slow down to match our pace is a skill that we need to teach them.
- They haven’t been taught how to walk on a lead properly. Some people are lucky and their dog will naturally walk on a lead without pulling, however for most of us we have to teach our dogs that skill. Dogs aren’t born knowing what a lead is and how they should walk on one. That's our responsibility, to teach them what we would like them to do.
- We aren’t being consistent with our training. If we sometimes let our dog pull and sometimes we don’t it can be very confusing for our dog to understand what is expected of them and this can massively slow down our progress. Consistency is definitely key when it comes to loose lead walking.
Loose lead walking training is an investment in your dog. One that is going to take time, patience and consistency to improve but is so worth the effort that you put into the training as your walks will become less stressful for both you and your dog.