Whos Pulling The Leash, You Or Your Dog?

... no one is pulling the ... ideal ... is that you and yourdog are equally enjoying the walk ... is pulling and tugging the otherin any certain ... your dog tends to

Hopefully no one is pulling the leash.The ideal situation is that you and yourdog are equally enjoying the walk andneither is pulling and tugging the otherin any certain direction.

If your dog tends to be pulling you offinto its own direction a large amountof the time you are walking, you cantrain the dog to stop doing this. What'sinteresting is that you have actuallybeen training the dog to do this behaviornot only by allowing it but by supportingit without realizing it.

There are various reasons that cause adog to automatically pull on the leash.For example, when a beagle sees a squirrelor other animal scurry quickly acrossin front of him, he is going to go berzerk.You can count on that. So be ready to holdon strongly if you plan to keep the beaglein tow in a situation like this.

Just holding the dog in tow is not enough,though, since this will reinforce the dog'sdesire to pull. Think of it as a trainingopportunity! To use it as a trainingopportunity, you will need to know exactlyhow you are going to train.

Another example of the dog pulling on theleash is when a dog wants to sniff out anarea, he will automatically go to the areawith no thought of you who are on the otherend of his leash.

Expert trainers have techniques to keepa dog focused in the direction of yourchoice. You want to take care not toreward the dog when he goes off yourchosen path and expects you to go withhim. Since it takes you by surprise,you may inadvertently reward him byfollowing him, impulsively reacting tohis sudden behavior.

Now you may take a look at what you aredoing that is rewarding this behavior.You say, "I'm not rewarding him! I don'tgive him a treat for doing this." Thisis the time to consider what a dogconsiders a reward, then.

To a dog a reward is when you give himsomething which brings him happinesswhether you meant it as a reward or not.As you know, treats are not the onlything that brings happiness in a dog'slife. Consider that you are rewardingthe dog when he is allowed to pull youoff course at his whim.

Any dog can be trained to stop pullingon the leash. There are no limits as toage or how long the dog has been allowedto pull on the leash. From what youhave read here and with some patience,focus and repetition you can train yourdog to stop pulling on the leash.

The bad news is that this training takessome education. The good news is thatthis education is available and thetraining is possible for anyone whocan physically hold the dog on a leash.

And more good news: there is no painor punishment involved at all, neitherfor you nor for your dog! An experttrainer can give you some basic stepsto getting the results you want byfollowing a specified formula.