leash pulling on walk

Hi Everyone,
When I take my 9 month old pugs own out on walks, they pull me down the street. I got rid of their retractable leashes, so now they practically choke themselves, while pulling. I would love to get them to walk next to me...Is this possible?

Method 1 - Be a tree. Every time they pull stop dead. Stay completely still. Eventually they will start returning to you at which time you can start walking again. Stop dead the minute they pull. This is not easy if you are on a busy sidewalk rather than in a park as people keep walking into the back of you. It also means that you cover very little ground so if your time is limited you should bear in mind they won't be getting much exercise this way. But it does work.

Method 2 - Loose leash walking. Find a big open area and start walking. Change direction very suddenly either turning left or right or turning to go back the way you came. Give no warning and just keep going. Be particular to turn if the dog starts rushing off in front which may lead to a pull. There will be a tug as the dog is brought up short and turns to follow you. This type of thing is not much fun for the dog and is designed to teach them that whilst they have the freedom of whatever length of leash you have they must keep an eye on you and not get to the end of the leash or they are liable to find you have gone off in another direction. Don't do this if they wear collars as opposed to harnesses.

You will need to do this with them separately at least at the beginning; it will not work if you walk them together.

When the dog is trotting along beside you or in an acceptable manner I find it good to talk to them, tell them how good they are and give an occasional treat. The talking to them does keep them focused on you much more, which is good.

If you want a formal walk at heel then training them to a hand target or target stick is good.

Great tips by Bella. I would also say to use a harness vs a collar. In my house, we use collars for fashion accessories, but never as a way to control them.

I use harnesses as well. People say that a harness encourages pulling--I don't think it does, but might only because it doesn't choke a dog like a collar does.

To me, pulling is a training question and I'd rather train with a harness so no one gets their throat harmed while we do the no pulling training.

And if they are litter mates and/or the same age, you might have to take them out separately to do the training as they feed off each other.

Bella has good suggestions....

Thank you for all the great suggestions!

Snifter&Toddy wrote:Method 1 - Be a tree. Every time they pull stop dead. Stay completely still. Eventually they will start returning to you at which time you can start walking again. Stop dead the minute they pull. This is not easy if you are on a busy sidewalk rather than in a park as people keep walking into the back of you. It also means that you cover very little ground so if your time is limited you should bear in mind they won't be getting much exercise this way. But it does work.

This is the method our trainer suggested for Chester, who has always been a leash aggressive puller on walks. use the "WAIT" command and stand absolutely still until they stop pulling. Repeat every time they start pulling. Don't be surprised that it takes you 20 minutes to make it to the end of the block. In our old apartment, it took us 20 minutes to make it to the end of the hall.

p.s. Good move getting rid of the retractable leashes. That was the first thing our trainer told us to do.

Penny was quite the little leash puller. Her former owner had her in a collar and on a retractable. Getting her into a harness (I used a Puppia at first) and on a regular leash, and then using the tree method finally worked. She still has her pulling moments (especially if something that looks very smelly or interesting is in the other direction), and I just turn into a tree.

papaspugs wrote:Great tips by Bella. I would also say to use a harness vs a collar. In my house, we use collars for fashion accessories, but never as a way to control them.

I agree... I won't put a collar on any of my pugs. Their little tracheas just can't handle that for any length of time.

I'm a self-declared dog walking Nazi. I won't walk any brachy breeds (nor poodles, Yorkies or Maltese) in anything other than a harness because of the trachea damage that can take place. I also will NEVER use a retractable leash. My reasons for my "leash law" come from experience - bad experience. I won't use a leash that you cannot wrap around your wrist. It is too easy to lose control of the leash when you don't have it secured around your wrist. I've had 2 occasions of the dog pulling the retractable out of my hand then running away as the haard plastic handle chases them down the street. I've also had a near miss with a retractable, an elevator, a closing door, and an outside distraction which resulted in me being INSIDE the elevator and the dog being OUTSIDE.

Not Afraid wrote:I've also had a near miss with a retractable, an elevator, a closing door, and an outside distraction which resulted in me being INSIDE the elevator and the dog being OUTSIDE.

Yikes! That must have added a couple of gray hairs!

All very good suggestions, I use "be a tree" for the most part.

One thing I've found that helps things along, is if you take the time to always give treats at your side. It really encourages them to stay to your sides, rather than getting out in front of you.

Also play around inside the house (one pug at a time) teaching them to really heel at your side, Reward for staying at your side as you take one step forward, then a few steps, you can get fancy and take a step or two to the side and backwards all while they stick to your leg. Even if you don't care about "perfect" heeling(I know I don't), it really teaches them that being at your side is a great place to be.

Juneau does the same thing and he just completed his first round of obedience classes. One of the things that we were taught is the "poor man's leash" - you take the lead and thread it under the belly so that it is placed near the back legs (making sure that the doggy jewels are not bing rubbed by the lead) and walk them like this. It works. Juneau can walk without the poor man's leash now.

oh wow..super great tips!
I am still having some trouble quite often with this. I will have to start doing these things today next time i take him out! thanks!