Teaching Your Dog Leash Manners

 Texas Ruff House dog walking, pet sitting, and pet care in Pflugerville, Texas


Tips and Tricks for Walking Your Dog, by Texas Ruff House

When you take your dog out for a walk, does your dog drag you down the street, making you ask, “who’s walking who?” Perhaps you’ve wondered how to get your dog or puppy to stop pulling you on walks. Well, you’re in luck! We are sharing tips and tricks from our professional dog walkers at Texas Ruff House in Pflugerville, TX!


It’s important to start by setting expectations for your dog and practicing consistently. If you let your dog get away with pulling you during your walks, then they will keep doing it. But if you show them that it doesn’t work, they will learn what does work over time. This is easier said than done, and it is on you, the dog owner, to be consistent. It’s also helpful for you to focus on getting your dog loose-leash walking, rather than getting your dog to stop pulling.


Recommended Tools for Walking Your Dog

Here are our dog walkers’ favorite tools at Texas Ruff House to walk your dog: 

- 4-6 foot leash

- Collar or harness

- Your dog’s favorite treats

- Patience and a positive attitude


We recommend starting with short training sessions in a low-distraction environment that enables your dog to focus on you. Where could this be? In your own home! It might seem awkward at first, but practicing walking with your dog on-leash at home or even in your yard will set your dog or puppy up for success.


Reinforce Your Dog’s Good Behavior

Would you work without a paycheck? Our dog walkers wouldn’t, and your dog agrees. As you walk with your dog, capture and reinforce desired behavior – which in this case is loose-leash walking – by marking it with a word like “yes” or “OK” and rewarding your dog with a treat immediately. As your dog learns that they get a treat for staying nearby and letting the leash have slack, you may notice your dog starting to check-in with you during your walks – reward this too every so often.


Once your dog or puppy has a solid understanding of the loose-leash walking skills you’re teaching, you can start to add in distractions slowly, but keep the reinforcement level high. Practice in an empty parking lot or a dead-end street, for example, and as your dog progresses, increase the level of difficulty by choosing more challenging environments, such as residential streets, before moving onto busier walking areas. Doing this builds your dog’s confidence and leash manners!


Challenges Walking Your Dog

Texas Ruff House dog walking, pet sitting, and pet care in Pflugerville, Texas
Our dog walkers at Texas Ruff House have a few tricks up their sleeves you can use to make yourself more interesting than your dog’s surroundings, whether it’s with treats, a toy, or play. Focus games are a useful tool to teach dogs to pay attention to you in distracting environments, like “find it”, “touch”, or “watch”. Engage with your dog during your walk by throwing treats on the ground for them to find, cueing them to touch their nose to your hand, and asking for eye contact. If you have fun, your dog or puppy will have fun too and will be more willing and interested in following your lead and walk loose-leash!


Your dog will likely not always walk on a leash without pulling, it’s a big busy world out there full of interesting things on the ground and animals around. A lot of the time, dogs pull because they want to investigate new areas, smells, people, or dogs. In their minds, the more they pull, the faster they get to where they are going, and you allowing that to happen reinforces this undesired behavior. 


So, what can you do? We suggest keeping in mind that the walk itself is the ultimate reward for your dog, so don’t let the walk continue as long as your dog is pulling. Instead, what our dog walkers at Texas Ruff House recommend is that you try turning around and walking in the opposite direction – and reward your dog or puppy when they catch up to you. If they speed forward again, keep making U-turns until your dog starts paying attention to you and loose-leash walking.


Consistency is Key in Dog Walking

You can use these tips and tricks to teach both puppies and adult dogs leash manners. Be consistent, always reinforce with treats, and be patient! Sometimes, we get frustrated as dog owners and need to take a breath while we’re walking our dogs, and that’s OK! Have your dog stand or sit near you while you do so and reward them for that moment of calm. 

If you are ready to take your dog’s leash manners to the next level, we invite you to ask your dog walker at Texas Ruff House in Pflugerville, TX for more leash training tips!


Location: Pflugerville, TX, USA

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