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If you dog is a puller you probably don’t enjoy walks with him as much as you would like to.  No one likes to be dragged around, it is a stressful and frustrating experience that might have had you losing your patience more than one time.

You probably have been told that some breeds are natural pullers such as sled dogs (e.g. Siberian Husky) and hunting dogs ( e.g. Beagle). You have probably been told that sled dogs breeds enjoy pulling and that the hunting dogs breeds , while following a scent, are just not able to pay attention to their surroundings or their human.

While this is generally true for these breeds, there are other reasons for a dog to become a puller that are common to all the other breeds.

These reasons are often the unfortunate consequences of some of our behaviour towards our dog.

Some dogs in fact pull because they want to get away from us. This happens especially with dogs that are kept on a very short leash, in the attempt of keeping them where we want them to walk, and dogs that receive a quick jerk if the leash tightens. Dogs don’t understand that they can get pulled if the human pulls the other end of the leash so they just associate that confusing experience of being pulled with their human proximity. Their response is then trying to get away.

Some other dogs instead pull because they want to get to a place of interest (e.g. an interesting smell on a pole) as quick as possible because they fear they might get pulled from it before they can get a real chance to inspection it. This often happens when the dog’s walks are squeezed in our tight schedule. In fact, if we fear we might be late for work or that we won’t be able to take the kids to school on time because we had to walk our dog, we tend to be impatient and we will pull him if he stops too long to inspect a smell. At this point the walk becomes a sort of race between the dog and his human.

Whatever the reason for pulling, dogs keep using this strategy because it works: they pull, they get where they want. It doesn’t have to always be a successful strategy; sometimes is enough to make them try to pull every time.

But fear not! There is one simple solution for this and every breed can learn it.

Before I get into details here are some advices:

• This is going to take time so be patient and never fall into the old habits.
• Give the exercise the right space in your schedule. If you can’t, you might want to tailor your route during your walks because you will proceed extremely slowly at first.
• Practise this exercise in a quieter place (you can even start at home) before moving into a place with more distractions such as a park.
• Use a long leash or a flexi with the brake always locked (maintain at least 130 cm of leash) so that your dog can have more space to sniff around. After all, the walk is his time and always walking beside you it’s definitely no fun.
• Bring plenty of treats! ( Try to avoid using a toy because your dog might get too excited when we actually want him to be calmer).

Now it’s time for the big revelation!

This exercise has two goals. the first goal is to make sure that your dog doesn’t find pulling a successful strategy anymore. To do so it’s crucial that you stop every time your dog starts pulling and as soon as the leash tightens. You need to be consistent in your training otherwise the strategy will still be successful enough times to encourage your dog into using it. The second goal is to redirect your dog’s attention towards you and to create a positive association with your proximity. To do so you will need to reward every attention your dog gives you and every time he walks beside you at your same pace.

At first your dog will probably pull as soon as you walk out of the door and the first time you stop he will probably try to drag you a few times. Stand your ground and don’t call him. Wait for him to think how to get forward. After a while he will realise that pulling, crying, barking, walking up and down or whatever solution he might try doesn’t work and he will look at you for help. At that point reward him and go forward. Repeat every time he pulls, even if it takes you an hour to walk just around the block. The more you repeat, the quicker you dog will direct his attention towards you.

At this point you dog probably behaves like a spring, pulling and coming back to you as soon as the leash tightens, to get a treat. It’s time to make a small change to this exercise.  Repeat as usual but this time, when you are about to give him his reward, lower your hand withholding the treat and take one or two steps forward before releasing the treat. Before the change to this exercise you were just stopping the pulling but you weren’t encouraging your dog to walk beside you. In fact your dog was probably just approaching you from the front. Now you are, instead, rewarding not just for coming back when the leash tightens but also for walking beside you. Over time increase the steps that you take before releasing the treat. Also lower your hand less until your dog can’t stick his nose in your hand anymore.

After you’ll be able to make a good number of steps, your dog concentration will give way and he will look away. Before he starts to walk faster towards some smell, place a treat in front of his nose. Repeat as much as you can and over time your dog will look away more often, even sniffing around before looking back at you. This change to the exercise will give your dog the chance to explore around but  he will stick closer to you because he still expects a treat now and then.

There are obviously some distractions that will encourage your dog to pull such as seeing other dogs walking the streets. When that happens hold a treat in your hand and let your dog smell it. Once he seems interested in the treat, your dog away from the distraction and, possibly facing you, ask him to do something (like sitting) and reward. The closer to the object of interest you are, the more difficult it will be to get his attention. So start standing far away and practice until you are able to get close.

Once you’ve gotten this far with the exercises you probably will have a well behaved dog. Enjoy your walks and let the dragging just be a fading memory…

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or if you need help with one of our services don’t hesitate to contact us in the following ways. We are available for all Chelmsford (UK) area.

• Phone: 07754621725
• Email: coppolecchiag@gmail.com
• Facebook: Cinofilo
• Contact us page

As always I apologise if my english is not perfect. Still work in progress!