Teaching your dog not to pull on the leash can be a difficult task especially if you have a particularly stubborn dog. It takes patience and time to work with your dog in order to break its bad habits. But the effort will be worth it when you see the amazing progress your dog makes with its obedience training. There are many dog training tips that are available but here are some that may help you. Most dog training tips revolve around rewarding your dog with treats and positive reinforcement after successfully performing a command properly.
If you want to know some useful dog training tips, one of them is how to teach your dog not to pull on the leash. One way of accomplishing this is by attaching a dog collar that has a short leash attached to it. However, before you do this, make sure that your dog is trained and disciplined enough to follow simple commands such as, “Sit”, “Stay”, “Fetch”, and “Down”. Remember, if you force your dog to obey your commands and you use excessive force, you will only be motivating him to pull even harder since he feels as if he is being ordered.
Another tip on how to teach your dog not to pull on the leash is to have him on leash trained first. In other words, you need to establish how strong your dog’s leash is before you allow him to walk with you without his collar on. To establish this, attach a dog collar to his collar and slowly attach the leash to his collar with tension. When he pulls forward, give him a quick correction with a verbal or physical sound or a click on your clicker. Repeat this several times and then you can remove the dog’s collar to see if he is indeed still learning and practicing good walking habits.
Another useful tip on how to teach your dog not to pull on the leash is to train your dog to walk next to you and not to pull ahead. By having him walk beside you, he will learn to anticipate your movement and not pull. After all, you are the one receiving the dog’s attention and pulling wouldn’t be a good idea since he wouldn’t get the attention that he craves and would probably run off.
On the flip side, if you are walking by yourself and your dog pulls ahead, you should immediately bring your dog back to you and/or stop and redirect your dog’s path. It’s important that you keep in mind that the dog’s primary goal is to find you and get closer to you. He doesn’t want to fall behind you. If you let him pull ahead, he might end up running into a busy street and would potentially get hit by a car or a delivery truck.
Learning how to teach your dog not to pull on the leash can be made easier if you practice walking with your dog. Walk with your dog for just a couple of miles at first until he gets used to the leash. Make sure that you always walk with him in front of you and not to his left or to the right. Keep in mind that your dog must see you, so make eye contact with him at all times. Also, walk slowly but confidently as soon as you begin your walk. This would help you develop a relationship between you and your dog that are very important.
It is also important that you never pull your dog by the leash when walking your dog. This may only cause your dog to become agitated and may even push you into a potential dangerous situation. If you need to pull on the leash to walk, do it very slowly and deliberately. Your dog will soon realize that pulling on the leash does not make you want to lose the walk and will simply give up.
If your dog has a lot of energy, it would be best to leave him at home during the day. When you let your dog roam around, you increase his chances of encountering other dogs and other things that can distract him from learning how to leash walk properly. Also, you should only teach your dog how to walk on a leash when he is very young because older dogs are too much of a risk. If you have a male dog, you should not let him wander around while you are training him as this can lead to aggressive behavior toward you and other people. As soon as you have learned how to teach your dog not to pull on the leash, you should start to take him out more often. This will allow him to get used to the idea that you are in charge and not him, which can create a better relationship between you both.