How to stop your dog's leash pulling - common myths & misconceptions
A dog who pulls on the leash can change the course of your entire dog walk. It can turn an outing from relaxing to frustrating in a flash, not to mention, the constant pulling can be uncomfortable to those holding the other end of the leash, and even dangerous (hello icy winter sidewalks).
A dog who pulls on the leash can only be described as disobedient, an alpha, challenging you, normal. A dog pulling on the leash doesn’t have a hidden agenda; they’re not trying to challenge your leadership, nor are they “bad dogs.”
Leash pulling is a common complaint received by dog trainers, such as myself, and as a result, there are heaps of tips and tricks being shared amongst dog guardians and accessible online.
The problem is, not all advice is good, and some suggestions to address leash pulling can be downright dangerous and even abusive.
Today, I want to go over some of the common myths and misconceptions surrounding leash pulling and hopefully clear the air, leaving you with a fresh perspective and a better understanding of what these dogs are out to accomplish, and how we can find harmony on our walks with them.
Why dogs pull
Before we can effectively analyze the training tips below, we need to first understand things from our dog’s perspective. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, behavior happens for a reason, including pulling on the leash.
Dogs naturally walk faster than humans - of course, smaller dogs, older dogs, or dogs with mobility issues may be exempt from this, but in general, dogs naturally move at a faster pace than humans do. Dogs are built to move, and to do so efficiently; completely necessary when hunting or avoiding predators back in their very distant wolf days. As a result, your dog is going to get from A to B faster, simply because of the way their body moves.
Dogs learn about the world through their nose - a dog’s sense of smell is far more acute than a humans, which allows them to gain more insight from scent than we could ever hope to. Dogs learn a lot about the world around them, including the living beings in it, by sniffing things - yup, that includes dog pee, animal feces, and other disgusting things that might make you gag. It makes sense that our dog is going to move from scent to scent (and sometimes quickly) during a walk as they process the world around them - they’ve been designed to do just this! Not only is scent providing them with information, their brain is engaging and working while they are scenting, making the walk far more fulfilling for the dog (read: your dog is going to be more satiated when their sniffing is all said and done.)
The dog has places to go - our dogs pull to get where they are going. It doesn’t take much for a dog to learn that putting pressure on their leash/collar results in movement forward, which is often rewarded by access to a new smell, sight, person, or dog friend. Our dogs tend to engage much more with the world around them than we might, and are therefore moving forward to gain access to this. Their desire to explore coupled with their faster pace - it’s not wonder leash pulling is so common.
Commonly shared tips to reduce leash pulling:
Before we dive into these tips & tricks, let me preface that I do not recommend any of the techniques listed below (and I’ll tell you why.) I will share with you my approach when it comes to leash pulling - no this is not a step-by-step guide, because it’s not always that simple - and encourage you to look into other humane and cooperative training methods when tackling your dogs leash pulling tendencies.
Let’s dig in:
Walk your dog on a short leash.
I think the idea is that if your dog doesn’t have any length of leash to pull against, they will be unable to pull at all. Keeping your dog firmly in check and at your side eliminates any leash pulling possibilities, eliminating the problem.Pros: I have never tried this, but I suppose it could work.
Cons: Think of how much micromanaging you will have to employ to maintain your dog firmly at your side for your entire walk! This technique interferes with the dog’s ability to move freely and naturally, which can be very frustrating for them, and also denies your dog any opportunity to be a dog - sniff, explore, urinate on random things, etc. This approach might prevent the leash walking issue, but it’s not teaching our dog anything, and it’s really sucking all the life and fun out of the walk for your dog.
Don’t let them sniff/engage in the world during walks.
I think the idea here is that, if you let a dog sniff or explore during a walk, you’re going to loss their engagement, and they’re going to “take over” the walk and do whatever they want, however they want to do it. I suppose, this could be true in theory.
Pros: I suppose not stopping for your dog to sniff things keeps your walk moving along at a more consistent pace.
Cons: How. Dull. Not many dogs are going to come home after a leash walk feeling completely satisfied, unless they’re given an opportunity to engage their brains and tap into their natural dog desires and instincts. When we suck all the fun out of the walk, the dog is simply - walking. Again, by denying our dog access to the world around them, we’re just micromanaging, we’re not teaching them any skills (and we’re missing out on opportunities to meet their needs at the same time.)Don’t let the dog walk in front of you.
This one is usually delivered with a healthy dose of “alpha” or “dominance” theory on the side. The idea that, if the dog is walking in front of you, they’re “in charge” or “alpha of your dog pack,” or something along those lines. The alpha theory has been disproven by scientists (the same scientist who initially introduced the theory to us, ironically), and we now know that dogs and wolves utilize a “family” structure for their groupings.
Pros: A feeling of control for the human?
Cons: See #1 and 2 above.Give leash corrections to stop them from pulling.
A leash correction can be described as quickly, and often sharply, jerking the leash to apply sudden pressure to the dog’s collar (or whatever the leash is connected to) as a way to interrupt their behavior. The recommendation being, whenever your dog pulls against the leash, you deliver a leash correction, which teaches them not to pull forward on the leash in order to avoid experiencing another correction.
Pros: a well-timed punisher can be very effective at ‘stopping’ behavior from occurring. The dog learns to avoid the correction by stopping whatever behavior it has been associated with - in this case pulling/tension on the leash.
Cons: Too many to make this something I’d ever consider using. Not only are risking trauma to the dog’s neck and the sensitive anatomy in it (jugular vein, trachea, esophagus, etc.), science has shown us time and time again that punishment is not without risks (please check out the AVSAB position statement on humane training for more on this). Additionally, we have only shown the dog one half of the equation, what not to do. We have failed to teach the dog what they should do instead.Stop walking every time your dog pulls on the leash.
This is another example of applying an unwanted consequence to the our dog’s behavior in hopes of reducing that behavior in the future. You pull on the leash, party time (the walk) stops. The idea being that your dog will dislike these interruptions enough that they will cease pulling on the leash in order to continue the walk.
Pros: Standing still to wait for our dog to re-group is certainly less harmful than a leash correction, and if the dog finds the consequence potent enough, it can work to discourage pulling.
Cons: if your dog does not find this consequence motivating, it’s likely not going to work very well. This approach is often tedious and can be frustrating for both the teacher and the learner, and one you may find hard to be compliant with for very long.Use a prong/pinch/choke/slip collar that applies pressure whenever they pull (often coupled with the recommendation of leash corrections.)
These collars are designed to tighten around the dog’s neck when pressure is applied to them (either by the person or the dog). The idea being that, the dog will want to avoid this tightening sensation and will adjust their pace to do so.
Pros: Punishers, when used properly, do work to stop behavior, but at a cost.
Cons: Remember our concern about trauma to the dog’s neck before? Amplify that by 100x. It’s no secret that I am not supportive of punitive collars such as this, as the risk of emotional and physical damage to the dog far outweigh the gains we can receive from using these. It’s a hard no for me, folks.Wrap a leash around their torso/abdomen.
This advice has you taking the leash (attached to your dog’s collar) and wrapping it around their waist once before holding onto the handle. The idea is that, when your dog pulls, the leash will tighten around their waist and discourage the pulling. Another example of utilizing a punisher to encourage the dog to walk slower.
Pros: I guess the fact that we’re not cinching the dog’s neck anymore is a good thing, but it doesn’t make me like this set-up anymore.
Cons: The obvious discomfort to the dog’s waist when the pressure is applied, and the fact that we’re simply “stopping” unwanted behavior instead of teaching alternatives. I suspect this would also be a weird set-up to get in place before you start walking.Have them sit whenever they pull.
Similar to #5, we’re going to interrupt the dog’s walk whenever they apply pressure to the leash, but this time we’re asking them to do something different by cueing a sit. The idea is that, if the dog finds stopping and sitting cumbersome enough, they’ll slow their pace to avoid having to go through this dry routine every 10 seconds.
Pros: It’s not a horrible consequence, and isn’t one that is utilizing pain to punish the pulling behavior (unless, of course, you’re hauling on the dog’s neck or pushing on their butt to get them into the sit position.)
Cons: This would be a time-consuming consequence to deliver, and things could get murky with timing and ensuring the dog is pairing this consequence with pulling on the leash. We could also run into trouble if the dog doesn’t find this consequence to be one of value, and therefore isn’t motivated to work to avoid it. Your dog might also decide to ignore their “sit” cue altogether after the 10th time you’ve repeated this exercise.
How TO address leash Pulling:
Before anything else, it’s important to understand that a dog who pulls on the leash is normal. As mentioned above, our dog’s move faster than we do, and learn about the world by exploring it through scent and visualization. A dog who pulls on the leash is not malicious, or plotting world domination; they’re just a normal dog.
With any behavior, I first ask, WTF? Or, what is the function (of this behavior)? What is my dog trying to accomplish by pulling on the leash? If my dog is pulling forward because they just want to GO, I want to find a safe off-leash space to give my dog room to run instead of a conventional leash walk. Or, if my dog is pulling towards the next post to check out the pee mail there, I might want to figure out how I can incorporate more sniffing opportunities into my dog’s day.
When we better understand what is driving our dog’s behavior (the motivating force behind it), we can then use that to reward them for polite walking, or walking with slack in the leash. When we use environmental rewards, such as forward movement, or access to smells, to reward wanted behavior (slack in the leash), both parties are getting what they want.
The main thing I want you to take home from this is, if you don’t like your dog’s current behavior, you need to teach them what to do instead.
If you don’t want your dog pulling on the leash, what do you want them to do instead? What does that look like (let’s get specific here.)
Once you have defined what polite walking looks like to you, then you need to teach your dog how to do that.
I would encourage you to start your polite walking training in a low distracting environment first - ideally inside of your home - where you’re not battling with competing motivators around you. With any training exercise, we want to set our dog up to be successful, or to “win” at the training game, as much as we can. One of the easiest ways to do that is to adjust the environment around you.
When your dog is rocking their walking inside of the house, you can start to gradually weave distractions back into your training. I like to transition from inside of the house to the backyard (if you have one), before moving to the front yard, and eventually, taking this dog and pony show on the road and implementing your training out on a walk.
Don’t forget about your friend, management.
No training plan would be complete without a little management on the side. Management is how we prevent our dog from rehearsing unwanted behavior (leash pulling), while in the process of teaching them new, preferred behaviors (walking with slack in the leash).
Management is going to help us ensure our dog is successful during training, and will be particularly important when you move your polite walking training outside of the house and into the big, distracting world.
Some basic management suggestions:
Choose where you’re walking to best set your dog up for success - if your dog is constantly pulling towards people to say hello, walk somewhere that is less crowded to reduce the number of times this behavior occurs. You can also walk at a different time of day, when there is less foot traffic to distract your dog.
Utilizing a longer leash can grant your dog the room to explore without having to dislocate your shoulder in order to do so. This suggestion probably goes against everything you’ve ever known, but it makes sense. If your dog can easily access the shoulder of the path on a 10-foot lead, they won’t have to apply tension to your 4-foot leash in order to smell that blade of grass. You could take this one step further and walk your dog on a long-line (20-50 foot leash) during training to give them even more freedom and reduce their need to pull substantially.
Meet their needs before the walk - if your dog is runner, provide them with running opportunities before you clip on the leash and head out for a leisurely stroll. Refusing to acknowledge our dog’s needs/desires won’t make those things go away, so we might as well lean into them and find ways to fill those outlets that don’t drive us crazy in the process.
Rather than focusing on trying to control your dog on a walk, I encourage you to find a balance where your dog is getting what they need out of their walk (enrichment, exercise, exploration, etc.) without compromising your enjoyment and comfort while walking them.
This might look different for each person, and that’s OK (so long as you are not compromising your dog’s welfare in the process).
Don’t forget - dogs who pull are not bad dogs. They’re just dogs.
Happy New Year, and stay awesome!
Vanessa
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Vanessa Charbonneau, is the author of Dog Care for Puppies: A guide to Feeding, Playing, Grooming and Behavior. She owns Sit Pretty Behavior & Training, employing force-free training techniques, and specializing in working with fearful, aggressive, and reactive dogs. Charbonneau lives in Prince George, BC with her husband, two daughters, and one dog.