I’ve wanted to have a dog that walks nicely on a leash without a pinch collar or Gentle Leader for a long time. So this month I am really going to crack down and spend more time working with my mutt on proper heeling.
Eighty percent of the time Ace does well on a flat collar, especially when it’s just the two of us in our own neighborhood. He’s even OK with no leash at all, because it forces me to be more in tune with him. What I’d like to work on is the other 20 percent, when the mutt is either strangling himself or continuously sneaking ahead.
His worst leash behavior is when someone other than me tries to walk him, especially an inexperienced person. He can also be pretty bad if another person or dog is walking with us. That’s when Ace decides everything is a race. I took him on a five-mile race last fall, and he made it his goal to pass every person in front of us that we possibly could. Let’s just say I ran faster than I would have without him.
New and interesting places are another challenge, like a park where he wants to run and sniff. I often take my mutt out in the country where he can safely be off leash. But I’ve made the mistake of letting him run ahead because he always comes back when I call him. Since I’ve given him too much freedom, now he wants to run ahead all the time. He’s heeling pretty well off leash in the photo above in western North Dakota, but that’s because we’d been walking all day and making the mutt carry his own food and water.
The main reason why I want my dog to heel in all situations is so I can bring him to more places and have him under control without depending on a certain collar. This challenge will force me to be consistent with Ace and to get out and walk him in new areas so he learns to heel reliably no matter where we are. We just moved across town, so already Ace will be walking in a new neighborhood. I plan on walking him with both his flat collar and choke collar on this week so I can switch his leash from one to the other as needed. I’m hoping I won’t have to use the pinch collar or Gentle Leader at all.
I use the words loose-leash walking and heeling interchangeably. Loose-leash walking can mean walking without pulling, but to me it means the dog should walk without pulling and remain at my left side, not in front.
In what situations does your dog need work on loose-leash walking?
This is day one of my 30-day challenge to work with my dog on loose-leash walking. Click here to see my other 30-day challenge posts.
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My Gus does really well on his leash and never pulls. His unruliness comes from stopping to smell things. However, this is normal for his breed so he’s not a dog for a runner but can walk briskly and un-distracted for long periods of time.
Gus sounds like such a sweet boy.
I love Ace. He reminds me of a child as much as he does of a dog.
Let’s see – Biggie needs work on his loose-leash walking any time anything gets his prey drive up (lots of pigeons and sparrows in the city) or we see another dog on lead, especially if the other one is dragging its owner toward us.
Good luck, we’ll be following this 30-day challenge with extra interest!
Biggie
Oh yeah, he’s not very good with anyone else walking him. With P-Daddy he forges 1-2 feet ahead (some would call that “loose-lead;” I don’t), and with other people, he walks on a loose lead when he wants to, and not so much the rest of the time.
Go girl, I’ll be watching this one with interest. The only time Chels walks nicely beside me is when Ive exhausted her.lol and no lead No way! I wouldnt see her for a week
THat’s a lovely picture. I’ve never seen a dog carrying his food and water before… good for him! My dog Amigo is doing pretty well on the gentle leader, but I’m still struggling to have him by my side. He loves to be ahead of me and sniff at everything.
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Ug…Timber is horrible on a leash without the gentle leader. Even the Halti digs into his eyes because he pulls so hard. If a dog is near – walks by or in a yard – he goes nuts. Barking and pulling and just insane.
I really want to be able to take him places but right now he’s not ready and neither am I.
Trooper is a lot better than he used to be. I credit agility and time.
But he still pulls pretty hard and I’ve had to wrestle him to the ground when another dog was aggressive towards us on a walk.
Rufus is VERY distracted by little dogs and will pull and jump around and bark trying to get to them. I am not sure what I can do to fix this situation but it has gotten worse over the last 6 months. It has become a struggle to manage him at times.