Gaining Attention
The first step of getting your dog to walk nicely on lead is to gain your dogs attention. Simply put, if your dog is paying more attention to you than it is anything else then your dog will no longer pull on lead - instead it will orientate itself around you regardless of your movements, pace or changes of direction and distractions.
After much testing and countless hours of working with clients just like you we have found that the simplest way to gain the required level of attention is to pass the responsibility of paying attention to your dog. Gone are the days of trying to bribe your dog with food or a high pitched voice - as I’m sure you have already found, such methods are time consuming, impractical and only give a limited level of proficiency.
It is a fact that any living organism will do more to avoid something it dislikes more than gain something it likes. If for example your dog is distracted 4/10 by a scent on the ground or getting to the park as quickly as possible then trying to get the behaviour you are looking for using something nice which is only worth 3/10 will not create any change in your dogs behaviour. The only way to stop your dog pulling on lead is to find something that motivates it to do so at a level of 5/10.
If you have exhausted all positive incentives then we need to find something that will appropriately motivate your dog to pay attention to you at a level of 5/10 and the simplest and least intrusive way to achieve this result is to use an appropriate collar correction using the most suitable equipment for you and your dog.
In this video we explain how to gain your dogs attention through the use of proper lead control.
There are some key points that I want you to really pay attention to;
• The placement of you collar and ensuring you have the best fit.
• The type of correction that you will use.
• Ensuring that your corrections are effective and appropriate.
• The importance of a loose lead.
• Place your left hand face down and your right hand face up on the lead with no gap.
• Ensure you turn 180 degrees and take a little step beefier giving the correction.
• Be sure to tug and not pull your dog when doing a correction.
Once you have watched the video I want you to go outside and have a go at what we have explained. I want you to really focus on the different responses that you get from your dog depending on where the collar is fitted, how loose the lead is and at different levels of correction.
Once your dog consistently begins turning as you turn then you are ready to move on to the next lesson.
If you pay attention, your dog will show you what works best for him or her.