Leash Pressure/Loose Leash Walking
Having a dog that pulls and yanks on a leash is no fun. Teaching them what leash pressure means and how to turn it off becomes very valuable in training and on walks.
Overview
We teach this to spare your arms and your dog’s neck and throat. It is not fun or safe for you to have a dog take you for a walk, and pulling while wearing a collar can damage your dog’s throat. Since our dogs spend most of their time when outside on a leash, training them to walk without pulling is better for everyone.
It also teaches your dog to always be aware of their location in relation to you and the end of the leash. Creating a dog that is thinking and engaging with you.
Leash pressure uses Negative Reinforcement, the reinforcing part is the cessation of the pressure/discomfort. The dog is pulling and they resist, resist, resist until they move in the direction of the leash and then the pressure stops. The last thing they did before the pressure stopped was move. They recognize that moving makes it stop and they become more likely to move in the future.
Prerequisites
Habituation to Equipment
If your dog is new to any of the pieces you have to spend a little time habituating your dog to it. It is ill-advised to simply put it on them and hope for the best. Just like anything new, “you gotta get used to it.”
Fit your equipment to your dog in a session all by itself. We don’t recommend doing it right before your first walking session; a couple of consecutive days beforehand is recommended. The best way to acclimate your dog to their hardware is to use Classical Conditioning.
Show each piece to your dog, treat.
Put it on, treat-treat.
Make adjustments, treat-treat-treat.
Leave it on for a half-hour. Treat them intermittently for just wearing it. Play with them.
Take it off, no treats (having it on should be better than taking it off).
Some pieces that weird your dog out may need more steps in between to help them habituate.
Leashes are weird, so for some dogs you may want to even clip a leash on and let them drag it around the house or yard for a while.
Martingale Collars
Slip Leads
Prong Collars
Training Space
One of the biggest mistakes owners make is doing too much too fast. They skip rehearsals and go straight for the big performance. In this instance, most owners attempt to teach a dog how to walk on leash in an ultra-stimulating environment. That is to say, they take the dog on a walk around the neighborhood and then try to force the training during all the excitement.
This is totally backwards! It’s like teaching someone how to play basketball at the playoffs! Or how to do basic math while doing your taxes! It’s like with a child you first teach shapes and colors. Moving straight to outside is more akin to teaching a toddler advanced calculous while at Disney World, good luck!
This work needs to be done first in a neutral, distraction-free area. You need to focus on building muscle memory and motor imagery for your dog. These mechanical skills need to be learned away from squirrels, skateboards, and delivery men.
Work inside your home, in a garage, or any reasonably secluded area. You’ll get to your walk around the neighborhood at some point, but be patient and build skills first.
This is why you’ll use BOTH a collar and harness. We work the collar while we’re practicing and learning. In the meantime, you’ll need to be able to move your dog around the world—to vet appointments, the groomer’s, etc—and you’ll use the harness for this. It’s ok if your dog pulls into the harness because it won’t interfere with the walking practice on the collar. Eventually your rehearsals will transition to the outside world and you’ll walk around on the collar with no problems.
Pick a Side
Choose a side for your dog to walk on. Some things to consider:
If you’re ever going to compete with your dog, it’s pretty universal to be on the left.
For pet dogs it doesn’t really matter what side. Your dog doesn’t care; just pick one.
Pick a side to train on, and be consistent with it. As you practice, it will start becoming habitual and your dog will naturally gravitate to that side, like going into formation. This is especially useful if you have more than one dog (although you should train multiple dogs individually first).
How to Hold the Leash
There are a few ways to hold a leash depending on the situation. As you get more comfortable and confident with your leash skills you can experiment. For this training though you should stick to the two handed approach.
Professional Anchor
Start holding the leash somewhat normally in front of your body. The hand farthest from your dog will be your anchor hand. The hand closest to your dog will still be for targeting + luring + rewarding.
The leash should always exit the palm on the pinky side, not the thumb side.
Hook the leash on your thumb; loop the leash strap around your thumb on top of that, and make a fist around it (see diagrams below)
This is secure and tight, and very strong because it works with your body! This retains sensitive control
You can change the leash length very quickly and easily.
This is called a “thumblock” and it works with any leash.
Don’t Wrap!
Wrapping the leash around your hand is a common strategy, but it’s fraught with problems. For one, it’s cumbersome; you have to unwrap it to use your hand or to change the leash length. Two, it’s bulky; you lose a lot of dexterity and sensitive control. Also, on a large dog, it has a tendency to crush or even cause “leash burn.” The anchor shown above is super flexible for all sorts of leashes, dogs, and situations. Once you get used to doing it you’ll never go back!
Pinky Side! Pinky Side!
Always have the leash exit the pinky side. If your leash exits the thumb side, you’re going to have a harder time. This is actually working against your body’s design. It’s weaker, allows your dog to forge ahead, and makes other moves harder.
Small Hands? Try this Alternate Anchor
Hook the leash on your wrist; loop the leash strap around your index finger, and make a fist around it
This is also very secure and tight.
You can still change the leash length very quickly and easily.
This is called a “fingerlock” and it also works with any leash.
Conditioning the Leash Pressure
(START HERE)
You will first need to spend a few sessions conditioning your dog to understand how to turn off the pressure from the leash. This may take a couple training sessions or more before you are getting conditioned, automatic responses.
This is about teaching your dog to reliably give into leash pressure or actively avoid creating it. It’s not about walking quite yet!
Leash Pressure Session One
Leash Pressure Session Two
Steps to Teach Leash Pressure
Start by standing in front of them facing each other. Slowly add pressure (towards you) to the leash with the leash parallel to the ground. You are simply turning on a little pressure. You can slowly increase the pressure but not so much that you end up pulling or moving the dog. Ideally you’d prefer to not need to increase the pressure and help them by luring.
With a treat in hand lure them in the direction you are applying pressure. As soon as they move forward just a tiny bit remove any extra pressure you have on the leash. Mark and reward.
Do this from behind as well as in front. Repeating the pattern: Pressure, lure, mark (when they turn off the pressure), reward. When pulling from behind try to angle the leash to the left or right of them to help them know to turn rather than go straight back.
You can apply this pressure now to teach dogs to sit and down (might vary depending on the collar/harness). Always moving slowly, apply a small amount of pressure upward. Lure them into a sit position. As soon as the butt hits the ground remove leash pressure and mark and reward.
For down it helps if you get on their level and apply slight downward pressure. Then lure them into a down. Only releasing the pressure when the elbows touch the ground. Mark and reward.
*By luring AFTER we apply pressure, we are teaching the dog that leash pressure is going to predict something they like and to get that something they need to move in the direction of the pressure and turn it off. It’s important that they turn it off by giving the desired behavior. Once you apply pressure you must not turn it off until they complete the desired behavior.
Notes
Once you put pressure on the leash, that's essentially telling the dog "I need you to do something differently from what you're currently doing" and the release of that pressure is saying "Good job! Keep doing it." Because of this, the release of pressure is where we should focus our attention the most and make sure our timing is accurate.
As you practice this you’ll start to notice the dog turning around on their own when they reach the end of the leash without needing any prompts or help. You’ll also see them going into a sit before you can even get the leash halfway up.
It helps to start moving in the direction you were applying the pressure so they start to catch on that to turn off and keep off the pressure they should head in the direction they feel the pressure pulling them and come closer to you as you walk away.
Teaching a dog to respond to leash pressure shouldn’t take more then 2-3 training sessions in a calm environment (outside on a walk may take longer, especially if they’ve been allowed to pull).
Loose Leash Walking Exercises
Below are exercises to continue to help your dog learn to avoid the end of the leash (impulse control), check in with you more often (engagement), and walk nicely on a loose leash.
Turn Around (Active Release)
Up Down Pattern Game
Leash Pressure/Loose Leash Lesson
Lazy Loose Leash Walk
These exercises are methods to help them learn not to hit the end of the leash and to respond to the pressure to get what they want. These methods will also help them not boomerang to the end of the leash, come back to you, and bolt off again.
You are going to work on really showing the dog that the leash is a communication tool and it’s a two way conversation.
Once you put pressure on the leash, that's essentially telling the dog "I need you to do something differently from what you're currently doing" and the release of that pressure is saying "Good job! Keep doing it." Because of this, the release of pressure is where we should focus our attention the most and make sure our timing is accurate.
U-Turn/Turn Around Method (Active Release)
Practice these inside first. Start walking with the dog on leash. Whatever direction your dog is going, turn the opposite way.
Apply pressure. The angle at which we apply pressure matters. The leash should be more horizontal or parallel with the ground. At the dog's level.
Actively release pressure when the dog stops resisting and then start moving again in the new direction that you were pulling. You can mark “Free” at the same time and reward them in the heel position.
Tight Leash? Stop Walking (Stop & Go)
Put something of interest on the floor away from your dog. (You can also just do this without adding something interesting if they pull naturally)
Move toward object only if leash is not tight. If leash is tight stop moving and wait.
Don’t give any cues. Just stop and go depending on the leash’s tightness.
This isn’t focused on the heel position but rather teaching them a tight leash means everything stops.
Bring Back to Heel and Pause
When they hit the end of the leash come to a stop, maintaining leash pressure. You’ll remain facing the same direction.
Once they comply turn off the pressure and help lure them back into your heel position. Use “Free” to help them want to come all the way back as soon as they give into the pressure. There may be a lot of little on-off pressure here to keep them on track.
Once they are in the heel position, keep them there for a couple beats, you’ll most likely need to reward frequently. Then you will start walking again and continue to feed them for staying next to you.
Homework
Remember the two rules of leash pressure:
If pressure is turned on, it must stay on until the dog complies (stops resisting).
Once the dog complies the pressure must be turned off immediately (active release).
Practice moving slowly. We want to be able to give the dog time to see what’s happening and anticipate. It should only take 1-2 days training this 1-3x a day before they seem to get it and are ready to move onto other rooms/outside. But it may take longer. Training takes as long as it takes.
Once they are anticipating every move before you can apply much pressure and don’t need the lures then start moving to other rooms/Outside. Always going back in steps (adding the lure back) if needed to help them remember and generalize the behavior.
EVERY TIME the dog goes to the end of the leash you must not let them be able to pull forward. Stop. Keep even pressure on the leash. Present the lure. Mark and release pressure when they move into the pressure turning it off themselves. Reward.