Welcome to Pawprint Academy, your blueprint to
raising better dogs. My name is Ryan, and I'll
be your host for this journey. I've got my trusty
co -host here, Brianna. Hello. And together,
we're bringing you real -world training insights
built on leadership, structure, and proven methods.
We record this podcast with live clients on the
line in one take with live, unscripted questions
and answers. At the end of the day, this podcast
is a lot more than just teaching your dog to
sit or stay. creating calmness, and becoming
the kind of leader your dog truly needs. We do
that with our three pillar method of trust, obey,
and perform. Together, we'll show you how these
three pillars shape every step of training. Thanks
for being here. Let's get started. Hey, good
evening. It's episode 13, Loose Leash Walking.
Stopping polling before it starts. Hey there.
Biggest one. Hi. Biggest one, right? So this
is exciting because if, well, before I go down
that road, this is exciting because we are into
our second major, I guess, series. So this series
is now on. basic obedience. So our first series
was on puppies and foundation, foundation of
leadership, foundation in how to raise a dog.
And now we're segueing into the concept of obedience.
And one of the biggest concepts and issues that
we get calls about is my dog pulls on a leash.
I can't stop my dog from just pulling everywhere
we go. So we're going to talk about that tonight.
And before we do, shameful plug, I am staring
at the beautiful crystal glass shaped little
award here that we recently got. We were recently
voted top sales number one top choice award for.
dog obedience program and we were super super
blown away by uh all the votes that we got and
uh somehow we were able to come out number one
um it's basically a popularity contest it's a
you log in and you vote and if you're listening
to this um in another state not north carolina
or you're listening to this across the across
the pond um in the uk because Apparently we have
a whole bunch of listeners in the UK now. So
the, the top sale, top choice award. It's a local,
it's a local award, but you know, humble brag.
We, we want it. So you got to start somewhere
and we're doing the best that we can. So yeah,
I just wanted to highlight that because it's
going on the little glass sculpture award got
here today and it's going on the shelf. Yeah.
But. Super excited about it. All right. Core
idea for tonight. Loose leash walking. Loose
leash walking is not just about controlling the
dog with strength, right? And I think that immediately
when we get into that concept, in the second
sentence after, my dog pulls so hard on a leash,
the next. sentence is i can barely control them
and immediately that tells me two things one
your dog doesn't know what leash pressure means
and number two you don't either yeah or the client
right the person yeah um because if you knew
what it was then you wouldn't be framing this
as i can't control the dog And the conversation
would shift to I'm really having trouble getting
my dog to engage with me or I'm getting my I'm
having trouble getting my dog's attention or
my dog is more interested in other things than
me. And all of those things stem off of this
concept of leadership. And that's where we want
to talk about it. So the rest of this point,
right, is that it's it's. It's not about controlling
the dog with strength, but it's about teaching
the dog how to follow calm, clear guidance and
rewarding the behavior that you want. But early
enough that before the bad habits take shape.
Right, because that's inevitably when we always
get the call, right? Because everybody's like,
well, my dog pulls on a leash and I can't control
them. But they've been dealing with that. for
years usually at that point right and a lot of
the times it comes down to the physical capabilities
of the owner it comes down to the dog got bigger
and stronger it comes down to a lot of factors
that lead somebody to initiate a call to us but
You can start these things really, really early
and kind of avoid some of those pitfalls that
you see a lot of the time. Right. Even when your
dog is super small, super tiny, and you can't
really go on long walks, it doesn't matter. You
can be doing this around the house without even
going on a walk. Right. And I think that's where
I really blow people's minds when, when you first
start getting into dog training, because our,
like one of our like go -tos is like, I'll, Quick
segue, a quick rabbit hole. So there are a lot
of celebrity trainers or influencers and things
on Facebook and whatever. That'll be like, I'll
stop your dog's leash pulling in 10 minutes,
right? And it's, okay, cool. It doesn't take
very long to reframe the dog's mindset, right?
Especially depending on the techniques and the
tools that you're using. I try to aim more for,
we do it in two sessions, right? And I do it
that way because I know that I can do it very
highly ethically. So number one, first session,
we're teaching engagement. First session, I got
to teach your dog that you are more interesting
than everything else. I got to teach your dog
and pattern with your dog that, hey, when they
feel leash pressure, what does that mean? Oh,
it means look back at you. Oh, it means look
to you. Oh, it means we're about to do something.
Oh, it means I'm doing the wrong thing and I
should do something else. All of those things
have to be learned first before I just go correcting
and moving and doing directional changes and
the dog is getting, you know, this leash pressure
turned on and off and it's just looking at you
like, what the heck? Yep. So I think. That we
can very, very fairly and highly ethically teach
the dog in two sessions. One, what they should
be doing. And then show them how fun and easy
and engaging a walk can actually be without all
that pulling. And that's where the change happens.
Yeah, because I think the first mistake people
make with puppies or when getting a dog in general,
you know, and bringing it home is you just start
walking outside. But I never recommend, excuse
me, I never recommend people do that, especially
with puppies. It's like take your dog for a walk
inside. Just walk up and down the hallway. Walk
around things in a circle. Have the dog close
to you with no distractions. Because if you throw
a puppy outside, of course they're going to pull
on a leash. They're going everywhere. Right.
When we bring a dog into our program for that
first three or four days, the only walks that
we're taking are adventure walks where the dog,
okay, sure, pull, pull all you want. Because
that's not, we're not even worried about that
right now. Instead, what I'm worried about is,
oh, you want to go over there? Hey, check me
out. Look at me over here. Oh, great job. Throw
a party. And then, hey, guess what? I want to
go over there. So we're reframing what the dog,
in order for the dog to get to where they want
to go, they have to go with me. But the actual
leash walking lessons, they're getting taught
in the living room. They're getting taught in
the backyard. They're getting taught in a very
small space, not on the road where the dog is
going to see other dogs and other people and
other kids running around and scootering around
and whatever. All of those things are only going
to work against you in that if you're really
trying to compress your timeline. Oh, yeah. And
when we're faced with... training a dog in two
to three weeks or or fixing this leash pulling
in just you know days instead of weeks well now
every session counts yeah right so um so we're
going to talk a little bit more about that um
all right so understanding the root cause is
going to one make your training a lot smoother
but also a lot more effective um so pulling becomes,
and the first thing here, right, to understand
is that pulling's fun for dogs, right? Pulling,
if your dog pulls and pulls and pulls and pulls
on a leash, it's not because they're so uncomfortable
that they can't stand it. Right. Otherwise they
wouldn't do it. Right. So it's fun. It's exciting.
It's something that the dog. enjoys doing yeah
because dogs really only do repetitively things
that they enjoy yep to one form or another you
don't go dogs don't get out of bed or their kennels
in the morning and and think like humans do where
they're like really don't want to do that do
this thing today but i'm gonna go ahead and jump
in and do it right like uh cold plunges right
humans will be hate cold plunges but i know it's
good for me or i know i'm doing this 30 -day
challenge or i'm doing something with whatever
right and so they're they're gonna think through
the discomfort and go this is good for me dogs
don't do that dogs do not do that they do not
think through something and go you know what
i'll really be a better person for doing this
nope they're impulsive nope they're just like
I want that. I want that. I'm going to do that.
I'm going to do that. Or I don't want that. Not
going to do it. Not going to do that. Not going
to do it. So when the dog is repetitively pulling
and pulling and pulling and pulling, there's
a reason. Yep. It's self -gratifying. It's self
-gratifying. Right. And so one of the ways that
it's self -gratifying is it's fun. Dogs naturally.
love to pull and tug and throw their weight through
an obstacle. Something that is holding them back
and they push through it. They love that. That's
really exciting for them. That's why tug toys
are one of the number one sellers nationally
every single year. You can go to the store and
find 5 ,000 types of tug toys. Right, because
dogs love to play tug. You can always find a
dog that doesn't know how to fetch, right? But
most dogs can figure out pretty quickly how to
tug. Yeah. Because it's such a close contact
game that you can teach it so easily for dogs.
Absolutely. And that will get into a whole other
thing about how I love tug. I love tug even more
than I love fetch because fetch. increases the
dog's drive away from you whereas tug increases
their drive engaging with you yep um all right
so most puppies and most dogs have never really
learned to pay attention to the leash pressure
instead it's just an obstacle that has to be
overcame right because typically puppies start
out on a flat collar right and most dogs do right
most dogs yeah any dogs most dogs go on a flat
collar And at the point where you hear your dog
struggling, right? Because it's pulling so hard.
Gasping, coughing, right? Yeah, exactly. Everyone
knows exactly what it sounds like. The point
where you hear your dog do that, I know nine
out of 10 of you are flipping to a harness. and
do i hold anybody hold that against anybody absolutely
not nobody wants to hurt their dog or see them
uncomfortable and that's their method of saving
them that's what the harness was made for to
to help dogs pull things and to increase their
comfortability in pulling right so that's a twofold
so one i want to draw attention to the first
thing you said which is um most owners resort
to the harness to protect their dog yep because
they They don't want them to choke. We want to
be the best to our dogs as possible. And so we
resort to the harness because we feel it's a
safer option for the dog, which it is. It absolutely
is. Over a flat collar, 100%. You are protecting
your dog. And so we love that. What we don't
love is that when you put a dog in a harness,
the harness was literally crafted. to help dogs
pull right i .e a sled dog team yep so you put
the dog in a harness and you tie them all together
and then they can pull lots of weight very comfortably
long distances yeah and inevitably when i say
that and i break it down that way you see the
light bulb go off in clients faces and they're
like oh i did not realize but that that is exactly
what I've done. Right. And it's like, cool. Now
your dog's a sled dog. And it's like, I love
bowling. There are some things with that though,
that I think people don't realize either is one,
like your dog can injure its neck or its shoulders
pulling on a harness. Yeah. If they're turning
and twisting their bodies in weird directions
to kind of get in certain ways, they can definitely
hurt something there. Right. So the pulling itself
is not something we really want to encourage.
Right. And then also the thing we always tell
clients and worry about and hear about with harnesses
is the fact that if that dog backpedals, nine
times out of ten, they're free. they have nothing
attached to them at that point. Right. Backpedaling
out of a harness. And there's like harnesses
have gotten more and more creative with the,
with the little safety mechanisms and things
that they have on it. Because one of the primary,
you know, downsides to a harness is that a dog
usually can backpedal out. Right. So as soon
as, as long as they're pulling forward, they're
well strapped in, but a lot of harnesses or basic
harnesses, as soon as they, dart backwards and
like duck their head right out yep and so when
you switch over to the harness you kind of lose
the ability to teach leash pressure at that point
right because at that point it's self -rewarding
because it feels good every time they pull Right.
So now when you put that leash pressure on, you
turn the pressure on. They're like, yeah. Right.
It's like giving them a hug. Right. It's like
pushing on their chest, giving them that like
deep pressure therapy. And like most dogs love
that. Right. You know who else loves it? Humans.
Yeah. Humans. Weighted blankets. Yeah. Huge seller
every Christmas that's coming up. They make dog
thunder shirts. All of those things are creating
the same effect in the dog's mind. Absolutely.
All right. So. The lack of the structure of,
I guess, what I want to say, the lack of structure
in the dog's mind of where this pressure is coming
from leads to confusion about what's expected
on the walk. And so to boil this down very, very
simply, In order to stop your dog from pawing
on a leash, you have to teach them what the pressure
that they feel on the leash means. And a dog
that doesn't know isn't going to stop pawing.
Yep. That's just how it is. They're not going
to stop because of all of these reasons we've
already mentioned. Yeah. What would your best
advice be? For leash pulling? Yeah. So what do
you tell owners if you are going to tell them
in 60 seconds or less how to stop their dog from
pulling? Like in practice. yeah i start inside
i don't start with walking i start with the dog
kind of going away from me holding steady pressure
and as soon as they come towards me marking and
rewarding yep so yeah it's not outside with five
million distractions because people think that
sometimes that's the way to do it and sometimes
that works for some dogs some dogs don't really
care and they adjust just fine but if we're starting
from the very beginning scratch free dog I'm
going to go with inside holding steady pressure
on a leash. And we typically go with slip leads.
You can also do that with a flat collar, right?
There's nothing that says you can't teach your
dog to walk on a loose leash in a flat collar.
Will I say that it's not the absolute safest
a lot of the times? Yes. But there's plenty of
other tools and you get to choose that. The number
one thing that you're going to see is if you
do it outside with a million distractions, your
dog's never going to really win. Right. Because
there's too much going on. Yeah. So if I explain
it, I go with delete all distractions. Yeah.
Make a perfectly sterile environment. Put your
dog on some sort of collar. Collars are going
to translate the pressure better to your dog's
brain. So they know exactly when it turns on
and when it turns off rather than a body harness.
Body harness is going to suck up a lot of that
pressure and disperse it throughout the body
in a way that is going to be less sensitive to
the dog. So if everybody who's listening, if
you guys could mute your mics for me, I turned
you down there. Next thing is now I'm going to
turn the pressure on from the dog or to the dog
with my leash. And at the moment that they turn
their attention away from whatever else is going
on and they look at me, I'm marking and I'm rewarding.
That then translates to eventually doing it a
little longer distance. Then it translates into
recall. Then it translates into walking. Then
it translates walking around the house. Then
it translates to walking around the driveway.
Then it translates to walking out on the street
and sidewalk. Yeah. That's the process. Yep.
All right. Can. Let's see. Questions I wrote
down. What's the number one reason dogs pull
on the leash? We kind of answered that one because
it's fun. It becomes self -gratifying. How do
we explain self -rewarding behaviors to new dog
owners? So we kind of talked about it, but a
self -rewarding or self -gratifying behavior
is a behavior that the dog no longer needs you
for. A behavior that the dog gets the gratification
from or gets the pleasure from on their own.
without you becomes self -gratifying and that's
usually when we get the call because that's when
owners get super frustrated they're like i have
stopped all of these things and i just cannot
seem to get through to my dog right because the
dog doesn't need you anymore yep because they
they reinforced this and they reinforced it and
eventually it became something that the dog could
just do for fun and they don't need you at all
Right, because if your dog's pulling on a leash,
tell me that that dog even acts like they know
that you're there. Right. You're right. They
are escorting you with anything. Usually when
a dog is pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, they don't
care that you're back there. Right. You're like
the carriage behind a horse. That horse does
not see you. Right. You're the anchor that they're
dragging. I'm just, yeah, dragging whatever this
is behind me. I don't know. Right. It's moving,
so it's fine. Yep. All right. Major point number
two. um teaching leash pressure and direction
so excuse me the leash should act as a communication
line not just a uh the you're you're not supposed
to just be the anchor that the dog drags around
right um it's supposed to be just a line of communication
it should i explain it in lessons how um it should
be The differences in collars make the leash
kind of the difference between dial up and broadband
and like the new fiber optic cable. Right. Right.
And the more sensitive a collar or more active
collar that we use as a tool makes that line
of communication between you significantly faster,
clearer, crisper, more precise. Yep. So puppies
and, you know, any dog. But especially puppies,
we frame a lot of these conversations around
puppies because by the time your dog is out of
that puppy stage, they really should know how
to walk with you on a leash. That being said,
I don't want to sound like an elitist here that's
like, well, if your dog's older and they don't
walk on a leash, then you're lost. No, no, no,
no. I got you. You can teach this at any age.
But I framed most of these concept around puppies
because that's usually where they need to learn
to walk on that loose leash. So dogs got to learn
to follow the direction of pressure rather than
fight it. Now, all dogs have this natural reflex
called the opposition reflex. And now all dogs
have it. Regardless of what age they are. But
puppies have it the strongest. Because eventually,
just like a reflex, you're born with a reflex.
You don't have a choice in like reacting to a
reflex. But as you get older, you can kind of
fight through the reflex and control it a little
better as you learn to control it. All right.
So the puppies are no different. They have an
opposition reflex. And that opposition reflex
drives the dog to resist against anything that
is pulling or pushing them in a different direction.
Yep. So right off the bat, we pull some pressure
and the dog's going to shut down. And they're
going to be like, oh, I'm going to pull against
this. That's normal. That's natural. But we've
got to work through that because that inevitably.
starts this whole self gratifying process. Yep.
And when we're talking about leash pressure,
right? It's like, I want like two fingers on
the handle of a leash. Usually I want steady
light pressure. We're not choking the dog. We're
not cutting off the air circulation, right? We
are simply holding a little bit of pressure to
where it's uncomfortable for the dog. And they're
like, uh, why are you pulling me that way? And
as soon as they take that one step, it's marking
and rewarding. Yep. It's as simple as that. and
it can it can sound confusing and it can sound
crazy but as soon as you put it into play and
you see the dog doing it you're like oh my goodness
because it's so it's such a an important tool
to teach your dog when you're inside is how to
engage with you before you take them out into
the crazy world yeah absolutely um so and and
like she was just saying right using that gentle
directional pressure it allows the dog to not
feel like they have to turn on that opposition
reflex even harder. So we don't want to just.
yoke up our dog we don't want to yank on our
dog right and especially on a collar now there
are some collar options we talked about um collar
options i think in like episode two or three
yeah we talked about some different tools that
we can use for accountability and there are collars
that um the star mark collar the harmspringer
prong collar both of those uh although they look
crazy and people will get a you know they get
a bad name for what they look like, they actually
protect the dog's airway significantly against
that pulling. And so when we take a really hard
puller, sometimes those are great collars to
incorporate right off the bat so that you can
start to break down that habit and also keep
your dog safe in the process. But that aside.
We're talking about gentle directional pressure.
So we turn that pressure on and we turn it on
in a specific direction, back towards us. When
that pressure turns on and the dog looks back
at us, we mark it, we reward, and we throw a
party. By continuing and being consistent with
that, we teach the dog what we want them to actually
do. when they feel that pressure the dogs do
not realize there is a difference between when
we turn the pressure on and when they turn the
pressure on to them the pressure is the same
yeah all right next we pair movement with our
marker words like our yes and free and we move
away from the dog which incites their prey drive
and brings them towards us to make it even more
clear to the dog yeah lastly We really want to
avoid this like steady tension. And so we want
to turn the pressure on, get the dog to realize
that it's on, have them do something and then
immediately turn it off. Yep. What we don't want
to do is just pull pressure and just pull them
or reel them back in towards us. Yeah. We don't
want to do that. All right. Questions for this
section. had how do we teach owners the time
to release the pressure correctly? I know you're
big on see one, do one, teach one. Yep. I also
am really big on, I've watched. That was the
answer? Well, no. Oh, sorry. I mean, that is
a great, that is a great way for them to see
you do it. And you're really dramatic with the
movements. And I think that's like really helpful
for most owners is just to be able to see the
leash movement. Even if it's like with a sit,
that's one of the like perfect ways because as
soon as the dog's butt hits the ground, you release
the pressure and just like kind of drop the leash.
other than that outside of that i've also seen
it by a lot of other trainers i don't think we've
done this one too terribly often for loose leash
walking or leash pressure but connecting it to
another person right so let the owner hold the
leash and you be the dog and then flip -flop
yes uh that is one of my that's one of my favorites
now yeah on the and the in the first lesson right
because you don't want to go ahead sorry i i
just don't like When owners are so worried about
how, about messing up with their dog. Right.
They don't want to, I don't want to mess up my
dog. I don't want to mess up my dog. And it's
like, your, your dog's already pulling, like
they've got a, you know, like they got to get
out of Dodge. So like, you're not going to mess
them up. Right. By just pulling a little pressure
here. However, cool. Let me be the dog then.
Right. And that seems to work really, really
well. Yeah. Um, but what that looks like because
we're talking about it, but like you can't see
anything cause it's a podcast. Um, so me being
the dog, I'll hold the end of the leash and then
I'll pull against it, pull against it, pull against
it, have the owner turn the pressure on, pull,
pull, pull, pull, pull. I turn, I look at the
owner. And then have them rep out what I want
them to do, which is immediately release that
pressure, mark it, and reward it. Yep. In whichever
way that you do, right? We recommend using free
because that's our release word. That's what
we teach our dogs with. And that releases them
to come towards me and get the treat. Mm -hmm.
All right, what's our next one? Early drills
that help puppies understand directional leash
pressure the fastest. So turn that pressure on,
releasing as they come towards me. The other
one that I like to do is get it free. So this,
I take a little piece of treat. I've got them
on a leash. I say. Get it. I toss the treat away
from me and I give them slack on the leash so
that they can go and they get it. As they're
grabbing that treat and as they're getting that
treat, I turn the leash pressure on just slightly
back towards me. They're already having a good
time. They're grabbing a treat. They're getting
something. They're excited about it. It's kind
of a game. And then I'm turning that leash pressure
on. And then as soon as they turn back towards
me, I'm saying free. Turning the pressure off
and then offering them another reward for them
to run and scamper back to me and get it. Super,
super fun game for little puppies because they
get a treat in both directions. That's my go
-to. Mistakes that we see owners commonly make
when introducing leaf pressure. My number one,
not turning it off. Yeah, not turning it off.
And so this happens when there's just too many
things going on. And this is why I like to be
the dog in the demo because inevitably owner
pulls pressure. And a lot of times we see the
hand just go up over the head. Yeah. And I don't,
right. They raise their arm because they're like
trying to take out the slack of the leash. And
that's just natural for them to like keep it
from dragging the ground. Right. And so they
just raise their arm instead of pulling their
arm back towards them. They're like raising their
arm. And so what happens is. They turn the pressure
on by raising their arm. And then it's just a
coordination issue. And it's funny to watch,
but it's totally natural and normal. But then
the arm just stays there. It just stays above
their head. And then they're like rewarding their
dog. They're like, yeah, good job. With their
other hand and their arm, their opposite hand
is still up above their head. And the dog is
like, I'm still like on the pressure. And what
that does is it just doesn't teach the dog how
to turn the pressure off. We've got to teach
the dog how to turn the pressure off because
that is the lesson that stops leash pulling.
Yep. We said this a different way, which was
here's how we stop it. We teach this, but the
actual true lesson that stops leash pulling.
is teaching the dog how to turn off the uncomfortable
pressure. No dog really wants that pressure of
the leash, but they will generally just either
deal with it because they want whatever else
it is that they're going after. Right? No dog
really wants to choke. When we're talking about
the dog that's like choking, yeah, there is a
self -gratifying behavior of like pulling against
something. But at the point where it becomes
choking, the dogs don't really want that. Yeah.
Right? No dog really wants to choke. But most
dogs are very willing to choke in order to get
what they truly want, which is maybe a dog, a
person, a treat, a squirrel. Yep. Whatever it
is. All right. So the way that we fix it is by
teaching the dog, this is how you turn pressure
off. And then all of those other things go away.
All right. So the last key to this loose leash
walking is really building engagement on the
walk. So this is why I say that we, this is why
that I really frame. Our lessons around stopping
leash pulling in two sessions instead of just
one. Because I want to use that first session
to build and bolster the dog's engagement with
you. Or you're the owner, the handler, the whatever.
A dog that pays attention is a dog that's going
to walk politely. A dog that pays attention is
one that's going to give engagement to you. And
engagement prevents pulling before it even starts.
A dog cannot physically be engaged to you and
also pulling away from you at the same time.
Yep. Got to be looking at you. Right. They're
inversely proportional. Yeah. So the more engaged
to you, the less they're going to pull. The more
engaged to you, the less they're going to react
to other dogs or other people. So how do you
get that engagement? Right. we we use turns yep
right so um at the point where your dog is going
to like forge ahead or stop engaging to you and
go where they want i'm just going to turn around
yeah i'm going to turn around i'm going to go
the other way and then what's going to inevitably
happen is that dog's going to end up at the end
of the leash and they're going to do one of two
things they're going to notice they're going
to turn around and they're going to join me on
their own or They're going to get a correction.
Right. That leash is going to get tight. Yep.
And they're going to feel that pressure. Yeah.
And when we see owners trying to teach their
dogs how to walk on the leash, it's inevitable
that they give them like 24 inches to walk on.
And they think that that's like helping kind
of the situation. Right. Because they want to
control more. So they shorten their leash. But
when we teach loose leash walking, we teach it
on like a 10 foot leash. 15 foot leash sometimes.
Yeah. Mostly 10. But you want to be holding and
it feels weird and it feels like you're doing
it wrong. But you want to just hold the handle
loop of that leash. Yep. And that sounds crazy.
You want to give them as much leash as you have.
And then because when you turn and go, that gives
them more time to pay attention to where you
are and realize that you turned. It makes it
more clear to the dog. Yep. that if you were
on 12 inches of leash and you were the dog, if
you go left, you're going to get tightness. If
you go right, you're going to get tightness.
If you go forward, you're going to get tightness.
If you go back, you're going to get tightness.
There's not enough leash for you to even make
decisions. And so if you don't speak English
at all or you don't speak the same language and
everything that you try ends up with a correction,
you're going to get frustrated. Right. I just
said that to an owner yesterday. I was like,
you have to give your dog the opportunity to
fail or they're not going to learn. If you keep
them in a bubble and don't let them make the
wrong choice, they're never going to know the
difference between the right choice and the wrong
choice. And I'm going to add to that and raise
you. You also have to let your dog succeed. Oh,
yeah. Right. And a long line allows you to do
that because either they're going to succeed
or fail. Yep. But you've now stacked the cards
in the favor of learning. Right. You've given
them ample opportunity. Correct. Fair opportunity
to pay attention. Whereas if you're on a short
leash. Yeah. It's like I've stacked the cards
in the favor of you failing. You're going to
get a correction for sure. Yeah. Correction.
Left. Right. Forward, backward, doesn't matter.
Yep. So we just, yeah, we turn and go. If the
dog is like super far forging ahead or like really
just not paying attention, we just turn around.
Use your turns. Use pace changes. Yep. And then
use your verbal markers. Use a verbal marker
rather than a treat marker. Yeah. On the walk.
Because treats and food are stimulants. Yep.
And usually when we're dealing with leash pulling,
we're already dealing with an excited dog. We're
not dealing with a scared dog. And we could.
We could. But most of the time. It's not a scared
dog. It's not an anxious dog. It's a dog that's
like, I love it. I'm so excited to be outside.
And so they're just pulling where they want to
go. Yep. All right. Reward the dog for staying
in position. Here's the next thing that I see
people mess up all the time. Is that, cool, they're
doing the right thing and you're not doing anything
about it. Yeah. But they do the wrong thing and
you're correcting them. Or they do the wrong
thing and they're getting pressure. But what
about when they're doing the right thing? Tell
them. Tell them that they're doing the right
thing and that's why you need to have a marker
that doesn't necessarily have a treat connected
to it and doesn't mean you're done. I watched
a guy earlier on a video teach his, he had a...
Great Pyrenees and he would walk around the fields
and he said the dog would follow him by his side
and he would just like reach down and like scratch
his chin and then he realized that it was like
a perfect heel position and so he just built
the chin scratches in to make like the perfect
heel. I've never even seen a Great Pyrenees heel
like a professional like engaged heel and that
dog was healing so crazy just for some chin scratches.
I love the chin scratches. And I was amazed.
It was so cool but he was like The dog is what
the dog is. The dog likes what the dog likes.
If the dog wants chin scratches to stay in a
heel, cool. We've reshaped that. Like, awesome.
Love it. Yeah. Give him what he wants. Yeah.
Yeah. I love that. So we want, so we were talking
about rewarding the dog for staying in position.
Yeah. Reward what the dog wants. Yep. What is
important to the dog. Yeah. And then last, just
use these short structured sessions because they're
going to build better habits than these like
long drawn out chaotic walks. So when I take
a dog out and it goes poorly, we don't get to
the end of the street before I'm coming back.
Oh, yeah. Right. Because it doesn't do me any
good to draw out these long walks for like more
practice. at doing the wrong thing oh yeah sometimes
i'll try to go to the mailbox and if i can't
make it there without like six turns i'm like
well i'm gonna just take the dog we're gonna
we're gonna go back now i guess i'm not gonna
make it to the mailbox i'll go by myself and
that's okay yeah because you you don't um another
concept here you do not have to walk your dog
only for exercise um larry crone says this in
all of his videos but he says this uh and and
he he sticks by it here right the um why are
you walking your dog right and people are like
well my dog pulls and my dog does this my dog
does that but i i walk him every day how often
do you walk him every day why well because something
right and inevitably it's well because they need
exercise or because it lowers their stress level
or because i saw it on a youtube video and it's
good for my dog i like walking or right because
i like it uh the inevitable answer that he gives
is but can you accomplish those things in another
way because when you're when you're taking your
dog out and they're not walking well you're reinforcing
that behavior yep so shorten your walks shorten
your sessions or walk them in other less distracting
environments until they're showing you that they're
ready to then graduate and go to the next challenge
yeah but we see it all the time people will take
their brand new puppy or whatever it is and it's
like walking on the side of uh you know the the
boardwalk in the surf city with all the cars
going by and bikes and dogs and everything else
skirting by and they're going over the bridge
and there's like a hundred people walking past
them and everything yeah it's like that if if
your dog is doing great then they're then great
they're doing great no problem But that's not
usually the ones that even call us. So we're
not really talking about them. Right. When you
when your dog is doing great, then cool. You
you nailed it. You hit the genetic right. You
turn this off. Don't even listen to us because
you hit the genetic lottery. Right. Like or you're
super astute and you are nailing down all of
the basics and you're leading your dog. Great
job. No change necessary. But most of the people
who do listen to this and most of the people
that do call us don't have that situation. And
then they're like, well, I take my dog to the
park. And you're, okay, cool. Does your dog listen
to you? Does your dog engage to you? Well, no,
they're really interested in the squirrels and
the birds and the whatever. Okay, cool. We found
the problem. So let's minimize that. Take them
somewhere quieter. Take them somewhere with less
volume. Take them somewhere with less distraction.
Start there. Right. I think a lot of people build
on it. Expect the dog to step up to their standard
before they're willing to go down to where the
dog is at. And not like on a hierarchy. Right.
It's on a learning curve. Right. The dog needs
to learn how to do it. The dog just doesn't know.
I think some people think that the dog just wants
to get away from them and just doesn't care.
And this and the other. But the dog just doesn't
know. And so you need to drop yourself down to
their level and be like, how do I teach them
what that means? Instead of just expecting my
dog to be a rock star in the craziest environment.
Yeah. Right. Initially. Initially. Right. You
can build that rock star status. We want to see
that. Everybody should be encouraged to do that.
I want to see those dogs walking in all those
environments. That's great. But you can't start
there. And we understand that as humans. We're
like, oh, well, my little baby has to crawl before
they walk. And they have to walk before they
run. And they have to run before they can join
the track team. But with puppies, they seem so
much more capable. And it's like, I want my dog
to sit and then stay. For 10 minutes. Right.
Like, hold on a minute. Right. Have they done
that for two? Have they done that for 30 seconds?
Yeah. Then 45 seconds? Then a minute? Yeah. Exactly.
All right. What do you recommend to keep a young
puppy engaged in those distracting environments?
Food and movement. Okay. But how do you characterize
food, right? Earlier I had said, well, I don't
recommend food as a stimulant. So where do you
draw the line? I usually draw the line. I give
it a little bit of practice first, right? I will
rep out some things with food before I kind of
fade the food out. And that's where we kind of
start with everything, right? We always start
with food lore, leash pressure, verbal. Those
are our languages. I think especially when we're
talking about puppies, like you should be using
food for most things, right? And you're not going
on long walks here. You're going on little training
walks. And that's the difference I think and
the boundary for me is whether I'm just on a
walk because I need to go get the mail and I
just want the dog to walk with me and I'm like,
hey, this is our expectation. Or whether I'm
like, hey. We're going to do some training and
I'm going to work with you and make sure you're
super motivated and I want you to have a great
time with it and I'm ready to like do a session
with you. I have time. I have the motivation.
I have the capacity. I'm going to take some food
with me and we're going to have like a really
amped up session. Because that's what makes the
dog want to do it over and over and over again.
It's not you making them do it every time with
no food and no reward and nothing to be given.
If they're a food motivated dog, especially if
they're a puppy, they should be working for that
food, building that engagement with you and having
a good time so that when you do go to the mailbox
and you're just like, hey, let's go for a walk.
I don't have any food. It's okay. Because your
dog still understands that you're valuable and
give them something when they get back. Yeah.
Um, one last question. What role does handler
body language play in all of this? So, right.
And, and I don't want to, uh, close out the podcast
without talking about body language because this
is on one more like really big final defining
detail in this whole process. Dogs don't speak
English. We all laugh at this and know this and
roll our eyes because everybody likes to say
this. Oh, dogs don't speak English. Right? They
really don't. So if you know that, what do you
think your dog pays attention to the most? Your
body language. Dogs are experts at reading body
language. And you can find all sorts of funny
videos on this on Facebook and YouTube and stuff
like that where people will just be very quiet,
not say a word, and not even talk to the dog
or engage the dog, but just display these different
major changes in emotion and watch the dog's
body language. Yeah. And they change with you
because they pick up on the body language. They
are experts at that because they don't know what
the words mean. So they pick up on that way better.
And that's how they communicate from dog to dog
as well. So that's their language. So when you
are walking and you're looking around and you're
looking to the sky and you're, you know, just
waddling through this walk, the dog is going
to be like, all right, this guy doesn't know
where he's going. I need to lead. And then they're
going to. Yeah. So instead you need to walk confidently
and you need to walk with purpose. You need to
walk like you've got somewhere to be and you're
going there. Yep. And then go. So we teach owners
to walk with intention. Use your body language.
Show where you're going and that you're going
there now. Yep. That will help your dog so much.
And it's completely nonverbal. All right. So
at this point, I am going to. We've got our listener
projects here at the very end. I'm going to open
this up here to. uh questions so if you are listening
to this live now is the time to unmute your mics
ask your questions um we'll handle anything that
comes up here and then we'll go into our listener
projects so at this point let me turn this guy
up does anybody have a question i don't have
a question i just have a comment for you um She
always still likes to pull unless she has her
prong collar on. Okay. Um, but I did order another
collar that has like, it is a harness collar,
but it has the, the, the, um, hook at the front
of it. Okay. So it says when they, when they
go forward, since at that point they're going
to be pulling on that and it, it's supposed,
it's supposed to mimic what you've taught, how
they to turn around and come back. So I'll let
you know how it works. I gotcha. I gotcha. So
yeah, a, Oh, here. I don't know why I've still
got this thing going here. My bad. Missed the
mute button there on the music. So with Chinoa,
the harness that has the little loop in the front,
right? When a dog. pulls the concept is that
the leash kind of naturally redirects them uh
back left or right and and kind of turns them
around in order for them to pull against it it
automatically redirects their body weight and
so that is that is the concept there um with
chinoa uh being the little bulldog that she is
uh we're always going to deal with that like
headstrong desire to lead um the interaction
and so what i will recommend is um especially
as you're waiting for that harness to get here
because i am uh you know every dog is different
so you're going to have to experiment and see
If that works, then by all means, go for it.
But right now, while you're waiting for that,
I would love for you to try to work through not
moving forward if she is in front of you. So
at the point where she tries to, and also we
can do a refresher lesson on this, right? All
of our clients that have been through any of
our programs, we do free refresher lessons for
life for their dogs because we really want to
commit to the success of their dogs. So for Chenoa,
if she forges ahead, at the point where her tail
or the base of her tail goes ahead of your leg,
that's usually for pet dogs our threshold, that
moment, No more forward progress is made because
at that point she is now leading that interaction.
So you turn the pressure on, you give her no,
give her heel, move her back into position. And
at that point, once she is in position, you allow
the walk to continue. That is going to be the.
Best way to eliminate that pulling. Because the
tricky thing with pulling is that even if it's
eliminated initially, it's kind of a gradual,
it's like reshaping a beach, right? Every wave
that comes in is going to take a little bit of
sand out. So every time she's allowed to get
in front of you and continue moving forward,
she's going to find a little more confidence
in that position. And as that grows and grows
and grows, she feels better and better and better
about it and will continue to do it because it
was. allowed initially but it might not have
been something you were really against right
because cool she's not really pulling but she's
just walking a little in front of me ah that's
okay i'm fine with that well it just slowly kind
of unravels the thread and then eventually she's
pulling again and now we're like oops well the
best way to stop that is to change your direction
change your direction quickly change it very
confidently, and then also not allow forward
progress or not allow her to go in the direction
she wants when she's ahead of you. Does that
help a little bit? Yes, it does. I've been sick,
so she hasn't been out a walk for a couple months.
Oh, I gotcha, I gotcha. There's no judgment whatsoever.
I just want to, I really want to make sure that
I am bringing you guys as much value as possible.
And we love Chenoa. There is no part that if
you're feeling well enough and you would like
to get a refresher lesson, I would love to come
out and do that for you guys. I love that. But
part of the thing is that that's why I love listening
to these because you're bringing up these topics
that I've forgotten my training. So it's not
necessarily that she's forgotten her training.
I forgot my training, so I need to... Well, we're
here for you, too. Right, the refreshers are
for you, technically. Right, right. So we took
her to the chiropractor today, and there was
a lot of pulling, and I was trying to get her
to go back, but then I'm listening to you guys,
and I'm realizing, well, I didn't do that. I
didn't do that. I didn't do that. So no wonder
she just kept pulling. And then, um, cause I,
I'm, I'm struggling with her too. I was trying
to get her to be in a place in the chiropractor
office. Why? Why he worked on my back and she
kept wanting to get up and move around his office.
I gotcha. It's a very dog friendly office. Thank
goodness. But still she was, I want her to be
in that one spot and she was not wanting to cooperate.
So yeah, probably refresh will be great. Yeah,
absolutely. So we'll do that after the holidays.
chaotic with right yeah the holidays always are
for for everybody it's uh it's hard to to find
that like level normalcy uh in the in the holidays
with family coming in and out and traveling and
all of that he's got a couple things that we've
actually been meaning to reach out to you guys
about but it's just like say with illnesses Just
busy, but I will get with you. That's the exciting
thing about puppies though, right? And one of
the reasons why I think it's so important to
offer those refresher sessions is because puppies
are going to act a little bit different than
they are when they get full grown as adults because
they're going to think about the world different.
And so it doesn't mean that she's forgotten,
but she will. always be just like every dog they
will be opportunistic and when they're allowed
to do something they're gonna they're gonna do
it because they're like oh yeah hey i'm i want
this so yeah and the the interesting thing the
dynamics between her and steve has changed a
bit over the last several months right and you
have yeah yeah it's been uh there's there's he's
more tolerant But then she tries to get into
his space more. We're trying to get her into
the place where she'd like leave him. But then
she'll get over there by him. But he's he's like,
I'll allow you to be by me. Yeah. But but then
when he's done, he's done. Right. Well, that's
an interesting change in the dynamic from when
we first started, where Steve was, you know,
very. But as she grows, right, she's gaining
confidence. And that's also what you're going
to see is that she will create a situation where
you have to show additional leadership than you
had to initially because now you have a more
confident dog. Right. Thank you guys for all
you do. I really appreciate it. Yeah, no problem.
Awesome. All right. Does anybody else have any
questions or shall we wrap it up tonight? All
right. We will get to wrapping it up here. All
right. Our listener projects for tonight. Project
number one. Five minutes of backyard leash pressure.
So spend five minutes walking small loops in
the backyard or in the living room. Somewhere
where the dog is very comfortable, very few distractions.
Apply gentle pressure when the dog moves off
course, left, right, forward, backward. And release,
release the pressure the moment that they yield.
Mark with yes or mark with free or whatever your
marker word is when they return to your side
and then reward them. All right, project number
two, turn and follow game. So walk in one direction,
then turn 180 degrees and when, turn 180 degrees
if your dog forges ahead. So at the point where
they forge ahead and they get ahead of you, I
want you to turn 180 degrees, And if the dog
ends up at the end of the leash, they're going
to correct themselves. So I don't want you to
say anything. Say nothing during the turn. Just
let the leash communication do the work. Mark
with yes or free or whatever your marker word
is when the puppy catches up and then follows,
right? And follows you calmly. Reward the dog
with a positive marker word when they're right
there next to you. And if they forge ahead of
you, do the same thing. Turn 180 degrees silently.
Just turn around quietly. Walk the other way.
They're going to correct themselves or they're
going to see you turn and they're going to follow
you. And when that happens, mark it, reward it.
All right. That is all I've got. You got anything
to add? No, that was a great one. All right,
guys. So we're going to end it here. This was
episode 13, all about loose leash walking. So
ideally next week, we're going to have another
local trainer with a whole nother dog training
company on the podcast. And super excited to
get them on here. It should be Sierra from Summit
Kennels. Yeah. So. Hopefully you guys can tune
in for that. It should be a little different
dynamic with a couple of an extra trainer. Thank
you for tuning in tonight and thanks for listening.
I appreciate y 'all being here. Leave us a like,
leave us a comment, leave us a review. Have a
great night, everybody. Good night. Good night.