Loose-Leash Walking

The face that greets me at lunch time.

Each day at lunch the dogs go for a walk. Sometimes all three dogs walk together, and sometimes I walk Owen by himself so we can train. It is near impossible to effectively train three dogs at once, especially when one is at a dramatically different level than another dog!

Owen "roos" at me in the elevator.

One of the skills I like to train his loose-leash walking. This is seperate from doing a heel. A heel requires exacting placement and the dog needs to remain in that position during the heel. Not much fun to just heel for an hour! Instead I focus on loose-leash walking, which means being in my vicinity and not pulling. I don't much care where the dog wants to walk - ahead of me, beside me, close, or a couple feet away. All I care about is that the leash has some slack and I am not being pulled. 

.The way to teach loose-leash walking is simple. Start out by having some wonderful treats, and begin in a relatively boring area. The backyard, driveway, or even inside the house is a good place to start. Start walking around with the dog on leash (or off-leash if you are in a safe area), and each time the dog comes within a couple feet of you, mark and reward. I like using a clicker because oftentimes you may only get half a second to a second to mark the behavior before the dog either pulls on the leash or does another behavior, however a verbal marker will work as well.

If your dog is to busy pulling at the end of the leash to ever come close enough for a reward, then stand still and wait. The dog will get bored and turn to see what you are doing. Once the dog comes into your space, mark and reward, and take a step. Repeat this until your dog is deliberately coming back into your space for rewards!

Remember that we have to teach our dogs that we are more interesting than their environment. So if your dog is too excited outside and you aren't able to reward him, then you need to reduce the environmental stimulus. Don't be afraid to start inside your residence!

Once your dog has the idea that being close to you means rewards, then you can start moving around with him. Be careful to keep up your rate of reinforcement at first - treating every step or two is not too much to begin with! You are competing with your enviroment, so while you may not need to reward every couple steps around the quiet neighborhood at 5 AM, you may need to reward every step walking around the park at 5 PM.

Great slack in the leash.

Here is a video of Owen and I working on his loose-leash walking. I am walking around downtown Bellevue, and there are lot of cars, people, and occasionally other dogs around. I want Owen to stick with me so I am rewarding him every couple steps. Over time I will increase the length of time between rewards. If Owen pulls on the leash then I will stand still and wait for him to come back, and then we start again.

I am using "yes" as his marker. Normally I use the clicker, but I had a camera in my hands instead. I toss the treats a little ahead of him so that by the time he grabs the treat he is already back in the correct position instead of being behind me, so I can keep up a high rate of reinforcement.