Quick Fixes for a Dog Pulling on the Leash

I know that it can be incredibly frustrating when your dog has no “leash discipline” — when he prefers to pay attention to every distraction the comes by on your walks, rather than walking calmly by your side.

A dog pulling on leash is a sign that they believe they are in control and that you’re just there to follow their lead. As a result, they’ll often pay attention to squirrels, other dogs, new smells, bicycles, kids on skateboards…basically everything else that’s going on around him instead of you.

It’s a very common problem but one that is easily solved.

What’s incredibly helpful is to watch videos of handlers who know how to control their dogs so that you can learn the exact methods they use.

But more on this later.

First, let’s cover three very easy fixes for your dog pulling on leash issue.

1. The Pack Leader Harness. It’s unfortunate, but pretty much all of the collars that are available today make this problem worse, because they basically encourage your dog to want to pull even harder.

Instead of a typical collar, a choke chain, or a prong collar, try a different method such as a Pack Leader Harness. This type of harness fits in exactly the right way around your dog’s body and applies pressure where you need it in order to focus the dog’s attention back on the handler.

You can find this type of harness on the Internet without any problem. Just do a quick search on Google and you’ll find places where you can order it.

2. Learn how to use a clicker. A clicker, which in my opinion is like the cure-all of dog training aids. It can be very helpful in eliminating a wide range of problem behaviors, so I highly suggest you at least look into this method of training.

In a nutshell, the way it works is that you train your dog to expect a reward whenever he hears the sound of a click. The great thing about this is that you can train your dog to instantly focus on you whenever he hears that clicker sound.

We can;t cover everything there is to know about using a clicker for training here, but there are plenty of resources and even entire books written on the subject that are easy to find.

When correcting leash pulling, a clicker is useful because you can use it to stop a dog who is focusing on something other than you, and redirect that energy back to you, his handler.

3. Food rewards. Dog owners know that behavior can be influenced with the use of food treats. When using treats to stop a dog’s leash pulling problem, what you basically want to do is introduce the food to your dog, and then let the dog use his naturally powerful sense of smell to direct his attention and his movements in the direction you want.

This is a little bit difficult to demonstrate without actually seeing it done, so let’s cover that right now.

It’s a fairly easy process to stop your dog from pulling on his leash. I’ve been on a lot of TV programs where I’ve shown dog owners these very same techiques, so I’d like to show you a complete video that reveals exactly how to do this in less than half an hour.

Right now, check out this dog pulling on leash post on my website, where you’ll find a full video that teaches you how to use a pack leader harness, a clicker, or food rewards (or all three) to train your dog to walk calmly by your side and always pay attention to what you want him to do.