How to Stop Pulling: Don’t Fall for the Leash Training Lie

I'm just going to say it we have been looking at leash pulling all wrong but today I'm going to give you one of my Biggest Secrets when it comes to teaching dogs not to pull while on leash now say you're trying to teach a six-year-old how to read but you start with a book that's designed for a 15 year old reading level or you're trying to build a house before you how do you build a house this is a six foot leash and it's what most people use when they're trying to teach their dog how to walk on leash makes sense but this might be actually what is standing in the way between you and a dog who walks without pulling and making strides to better leash behavior isn't just about the leash itself it's about understanding your dog's needs how they explore and what keeps them motivated in the first place every month BarkBox has a different theme it's a corn dog and the attention to detail even having this gripper on the end I love how tough the material is their toys are very multi-dimensional some squeak some crinkle others bounce differently or maybe they roll in some crazy way you can see how the ball is really hard to get out so your dog has to work at it Bart toys are amazingly unpredictable in the best way possible it helps dogs get exposure to different textures shapes and scents BarkBox is a great box for dogs who love toys and treats and to have fun super chewers for those dogs who need these crazy tough durable toys this is the best offer ever you can get a free memory foam dog bed beds like this are so expensive of usually all you have to do is sign up for a subscription this is such a good bed and that is such a good deal and only people watching this video are going to know about this special link barkbox.com Zach George bed and supertuber.com Zach George bed I will have the links below over the years I've tried so many methods when it comes to getting dogs to walk politely unleash and I've really changed the way that I approach leash pulling over that time why do dogs pull in the first place we've got to understand this before we can hope to address it dogs walk faster than we do they're very curious and they have such a strong seeking system which is a fundamental Primal set of neural circuits that use dopamine to actually drive dogs to be curious about their environment dogs are genetically wired to explore plus the whole Act of pulling on leash can be self-reinforcing to your dog the dog pulls on a leash the person follows then the dog learns hey pulling actually works for me and knowing this might tempt you to think well I guess I should just never let my dog pull on leash at all it'll never be reinforced problem solved and anyone who's attempted to make that their approach has definitely run into issues but you know what it turns out that that's just not realistic for a dog or a person especially one who is new to this whole concept so it appears that we are at a dilemma so I'm going to go over how I address this very delicate yet very common situation look I am not anti-short leash I use a six foot leash all the time here's the problem with short leashes while they can definitely be a great way to keep your dog safe and secure especially in more dense environments they actually cause dogs to have to walk at an unnaturally slow pace next to us which is actually a really hard thing for most dogs to learn you've probably experienced this which is why you're probably watching this video when we rely on short leashes too much especially when we are teaching dogs not to pull this can unintentionally and unnecessarily exacerbate frustration in our dogs and you can probably guess that all of that frustration will lead to increased pulling and probably make you much more frustrated in the process and that is normal and it is okay we're going to get through this together now it is going to take a little bit of effort on your part but I think you're okay with that this is the answer you've been looking for this handy 30-foot lead goes so much deeper than you realize now I'm not suggesting that this should replace your shorter lead in every instance of course but particularly during the first year of training I think you should have a disproportionate emphasis on using a 30-foot lead for various types of training which we're going to cover because as you're going to see in a minute the key to real leash training has very little to do with the leash at all I'm in Alaska this is bear spray by training an inappropriate setting with a much longer lead you'll allow your dog to engage with the world in a way that's more natural for them walking ahead and behind and Meandering on either side at will not in a straight line because that's how dogs more naturally engage the Earth and don't worry for those of you that live in more crowded City situations I have solutions for you too we'll get to that in a minute what we're covering in this lesson is what you can do in addition to the other leash training that we frequently cover here I mean many people equate teaching a dog how to walk calmly by your side with something as easy as sit or lay down or stay but for most dogs acquiring these polite leash manners is a much more complex task there are some prerequisites to this after all this is a pretty intricate skill before you even get serious about your lease training obviously your dog should be at least in the process of learning to come when called and they should know how to give you their attention when you ask and you should probably be working on at least some basic things like sit and stay and come and I've got videos on all that that you can watch later you might be wondering why these are prerequisites and it's because it's proof of some existing communication and you're going to draw on aspects of all of those behaviors throughout your lease training for the first several days to weeks when you're introducing a long lead to your dog don't have too much of an emphasis on requiring them to do too much the emphasis here is just getting them used to the lead letting them explore this is not a small thing understand that exploring the environment shouldn't be viewed as just a perk for your dog it's essential for their mental well-being and their cognitive function which is directly related to walking nicely on leash dogs with their extreme amazing sense of smell gain a lot of sensory benefits from this in Alaska there's so much Wildlife you've got moose and bears other small animal that are very interesting to her as well and you can imagine all the wildlife she's smelling behaviorists call this sensory enrichment it's a requirement that if a dog is to be content that they have ample opportunities to feel the world with their natural senses which are different than ours a long lead gives dogs more freedom to interact with their surroundings allowing them to dictate when and what they explore these are more than just sniff breaks it's a great way for dogs to learn about their environment and engage in natural behaviors leading to a calmer more content dog and thus improved leash manners this approach highlights the significance of incorporating a dog's natural needs and behaviors into training instead of just trying to suppress them a long lead does something that shorter leashes can't do it allows for autonomous exploration and self-directed learning and this is how dogs naturally understand and navigate their world curiosity about their surroundings is a core cause of leash pulling as we established our dogs have to have an outlet in which to be curious so we really must address the underlying cause if we are concerned with authentic long-term results let me show you some exercises that I do with my personal dogs once they're used to the long lead now at this point in the nurses training even though the lead's only on for demonstration purposes she's going to check in with me pretty frequently I like that there's another one for me personally a long lead is required when I train a dog how to do a reliable game of Fetch and one of the best ways to either teach refine or practice come when called is during a game of fetch why when we mutually play with our dogs and they're having a good time it's amazing for training one of the other things that's amazing about training fetch is that it's an incredible time to reinforce that recall so she wants another toss to that frisbee right what is she doing come she's coming to me the reason I'm emphasizing come when called in a leash training video is because someone called is a version of really paying attention to you when they might be distracted by something else that's a big league catch right there I could easily take off that lead she would be just fine I got there by using a long lead so that I could really keep her on point he started to back away I'm just going straight for the lead you can see that when an energetic dog like inertia has the ability to get that energy out it's going to make leash training a lot easier let's throw a curveball this time because really least training like all dog training is about communication so I want to throw a surprise at or I'm going to tell her to s-t-a-y stay okay fetch training and Lease training actually go hand in hand for me because fetch addresses a dog's desire to run Chase jump and bite in an appropriate healthy way and this really gives the dog a natural fluid way to expend that energy which makes them way easier to communicate with and obviously the long lead is there to prevents our dogs from running away or getting sidetracked too easily this is what I look for in early success when I'm using a long lead to teach a dog how to walk nicely next to me you can see right now she's checking in with me yes I'm gonna mark it with a yes to let her know I like it and every time we say yes we're gonna give her something she likes no in this case I'll give her a small treat and I will point out to you there's always people who are concerned level I'm just gonna have to give my dog treats all the time later in this training session I'll let her go on and explore the environment I'll also consider giving her a toss of a frisbee or something too well done okay no treats she came to me it is possible I promise you well it's about when your dog is coming to you plus those first few steps they're taking with you that resemble something like a leash walk there's one two three four five six seven eight nine yes see that attention that's what we look for just little glimmers of that see if you do this you're going to LeapFrog those more basic approaches that teach leash walking as this isolated issue to be dealt with in a very specific way and what's so great here is you're actually getting a massive jump on off leash training if you choose to pursue that later okay come yeah look at that you thought it was over but I wanted you to come back by considering our dog's overall life experience rather than viewing each issue as a separate problem to be addressed with different strategies we create a happy relationship with our dog these methods help our dog want to be by our side rather than being artificially made to do so I don't know if you're ready for this but the secret to teaching real loose leash walking is teaching it without relying on a leash what we have to make sure that our dogs are on a leash so that they can stay safe but we're not using it as a communication device these are the reasons you are subscribed to my channel and if you're not click subscribe thumbs up now doing free walks with long leads are a staple for us free walks are where we give our dogs a good 30 feet to explore on a lead so that they can walk in that natural way we talked about before when you're using a long lead one of the most important things you can do is make sure to notice every instance of good walking from your dog even when you're not asking for it so every time you're hanging out with your dog on a lead like this when they check in with you when they glance at you when they make the choice to take their attention off of a tempting distraction and yes when they walk calmly next to you and start walking with you without any prompting at all those are the magical moments that we're looking for now how do we communicate to them that we like something we make sure that we follow it by something that your dog values in that moment that's key because sometimes dogs aren't interested in treats at a particular moment or the they're not interested in playing so you have to be really good about reading your dog for me personally I like to rotate between three major rewards whether that's food maybe my dog's more into food at a moment than another toys or continued sniffing and interacting with their environment as my third and of course over time the more that you get that desired Behavior the more you reinforce it the more likely it is that your dog is going to continue to repeat that behavior in the future and that's what we're looking for these are manageable chunks for you and your dog that are super achievable now in addition to communicating to your dog hey I like that let's continue that using a long lead can help your dog get in the habit of walking on a shorter leash when we use a long lead it actually gives our dog a reasonable chance of experiencing what it's like to walk without tension on a leash it should be obvious right the lead is longer therefore they're less likely to experience tension on the leash you can see there's a lot less opportunity for there to be tension on a leash right now so a much higher percentage of your training is going to occur on a loose leash think about the act of driving or typing and how that becomes just second nature to us the idea that this polite walking is also going to become second nature to your dog and there's another secret ingredient here at play called habituation this just means repeated exposure to the same things will cause dogs to eventually just treat it as part of their normal environment so assuming you are selecting the proper environments that are comparable to where you expect them to listen to you then these environments become much more normal and acceptable to your dog you think about small birds when you're on a walk and you have a younger dog who hasn't seen them before or novel plants for example initially your dog might react with intense curiosity or even alarm with time and repeated exposure these things eventually just blend in into the background habituation reduces the intensity of your dog's reactions over time but it's not exactly about teaching your dog to actively ignore these things instead they just naturally become less interesting a long lead really promotes this habituation process because it gives your dog the freedom to explore to sniff around and familiarize themselves with the environment at their own pace I prefer biothane long leads over nylon because it stays really clean there's a lower risk of leash Burns things like that these are pretty easy to find online always use a harness when you're using a long lead now there's a huge myth going around that if you use a harness your dog is going to start pulling more it's not the harness that causes pulling it's a dog's energy and curiosity that causes pulling particularly with these longer leads we don't want to put unnecessary pressure around our dog's neck when we're teaching them remember we don't communicate with our dogs by jerking them around by their neck that's old school outdated stuff and there are welfare concerns along with side effects that are correlated with this type of trading we can do better than this if you're worried about your dog hitting the end of the lead too abruptly there's shock absorbing devices like this that you can buy which are quite handy now if you're struggling to get access to training locations or financial or any other reason you can likely come up with some great ideas but you might need to think outside the box a little bit ideal locations for this type of training are going to have enough space for your dog to explore but not be so crowded or distracting that it's overwhelming for you and your dog goal is to find locations that align with their current skill level and confidence consider training in public during off-peak hours when things are more quiet the extra effort of training extra early or training a little bit later or maybe when the weather's not perfect that's a good idea this can make a really big difference in the amount of distractions that you encounter during this more fragile process of training community centers religious buildings schools often have lots of unused open space certain times of the day even large building complexes like office Parks or apartments sometimes have Open Spaces that aren't that busy while it might seem a little bit unusual many cemeteries allow dogs and they can be very peaceful places for training now let's say you're having a hard time with this and look I'll be the first to tell you some dogs are definitely harder than others I mean let's say you're doing this for a few weeks and you're just not seeing the results that you'd like we've got a lot of work to do here if you have a really high drive very energetic dog are you giving them sufficient exercise just before these leash training sessions and remember the reason we do that is that it's much easier for a dog to absorb tough concepts for them in this case like staying close to you in public once you've gotten their energy out are you actively working on those prerequisites we talked about Sit Stay come when called for example leave it look at me check out the various playlists on my Channel with different dogs to find the dog that's most like yours are you expecting too much too early are you having unrealistic expectations consider this actually measure your progress It's possible you may not be giving yourself enough credit you might be getting some progress even though it's not where you want it to be but this is called dog training so you got to keep digging for the gold because the data would suggest success is Within Reach now if your dog is reactive in many of the situations we talked about this can make things much more challenging I understand I'm gonna have a link to a video on how to deal with dog reactivity in more detail in the description of this video now also the environment you've chosen might be a little too challenging for your individual dog at first so maybe find something a little less intense if you follow this advice this is going to improve communication between you and your dog after all this training your dog is going to need the most amazing nap I can tell you that and you know what you get for watching this video a completely free bed all you need to do is sign up for a BarkBox or a super tour box you can go to my special link barkbox.com Zach George bed or superchewer.com Zach George bed links below click thumbs up subscribe follow us on Instagram Facebook and Tick Tock too train your dog and we'll see you next time

Channel: Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution

Views: 583,117

Keywords: Dog training, Leash training, Leash pulling, Stop leash pulling, Dog leash training, Walking dog without pulling, Train your dog, Dog walking tips, Dog training tips, Dog behavior, Stop dog pulling, Loose leash walking, Training a dog to walk on a leash, Dog leash pulling, Dog leash walking, Dog leash behavior, Dog walking behavior, Teach dog not to pull, Obedience training, Dog training tutorial, Dog leash training tips, How to stop leash pulling, Puppy leash training

Id: tB4ocofBZc8

Length: 16min 23sec (983 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 28 2023