Leash training

My dogs don't know what "heel" means. That's fine with me. I have no need for them to heel.

When I walk my dogs it's as much for their pleasure as for mine. They can't have much fun if they have to stick close to my side instead of roaming around and exploring.

My dogs understand they can roam as far as the leash will allow, without pulling. If we're in an area that allows safe roaming I use a very long leash, usually a retracting kind. When we come to an area where the dog needs to be closer to me I just pull in the leash and the dog understands its range is smaller. On heavily travelled sidewalks I keep the leash very short, just a few inches, and by keeping it slack the dog automatically goes into the "heel" position.

My dogs also understand that they shouldn't step off a curb without permission. When they are walking ahead of me on a long leash they always stop and wait for me when they come to a street crossing. I usually stop and wait for traffic, then say OK when I step off the curb. The dog steps off with me. If I forget to say OK they usually step off with me too.

Training a puppy to walk on a leash is fairly simple. Start by letting him walk you, then gradually stop going the way he wants and start going the way you want. When he figures out you're stronger than he is and he has to go where you go, you can begin teaching leash manners as you would with an adult dog.

As long as he pays attention to where you're going and goes with you, great. When he begins pulling you should never pull back. You need to jerk hard enough to make it uncomfortable for him. If he notices it's uncomfortable to pull he won't do it anymore. Different dogs require different amounts of pull. Some are very sensitive and a fairly gentle tug is all it takes. Others are so tough they nearly need to be pulled off their feet. The trick is to yank enough but not too much. You'll have to figure out where that level is. If he says "Yike!" you've yanked too hard. If he doesn't stop pulling you haven't yanked hard enough.

If he's big and strong you may not be able to jerk hard enough to make him uncomfortable. In that case you need a training collar -- also called a pinch collar. No, I don't mean a choke collar. There's a big difference. These collars look very mean but if you test them on your own arm or leg you'll see they really aren't that bad. They are severe enough to allow a normal person to control a big strong dog, but not so severe that they will injure the dog or even cause it undue discomfort.

A much lighter jerk on a pinch collar will get the dog's attention and it will learn easily not to repeat the pulling that caused you to jerk on him.

Once I have a dog understanding that he shouldn't pull on a pinch collar I start using a regular flat collar. I leave the pinch collar on him in case I need to remind him, which I probably will have to do at least a few times. I use an extra long leash with a snap at each end. I have one snap on the flat collar and the other on the pinch collar. I keep the leash on the flat collar shorter than the other. If a tug on the flat collar doesn't get his attention I can easily tug on the pinch collar.

With some big strong active dogs I always use a pinch collar, just in case. There's always the possibility of a gang of cats or kids, or squirrels getting into his face, and if he's much stronger than I am there's not much I can to to control him with just a flat collar. This doesn't apply to a little dog, of course.

A dog will easily learn just how hard he can pull before you jerk on his leash. My method is usually to let my hand holding the leash hang down loosely, and when the dog pulls it up to a certain angle that's the signal to give a big yank. If I always yank at the same amount of pull from the dog, he'll soon start pulling just less than that.

When we get to the corner and there's a curb to step off, I always stop behind the dog where he's unlikely to notice me stopping. When he steps off the curb he comes to the end of the leash and gets himself a hard jerk. After a couple of those he'll stop when he comes to the curb.