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Loose Leash WalkingDid you know that leash walking is not a natural behavior for dogs? It may be why your dog is inclined to rip your arm off during your walks! In this training basics episode, Libby and Emily talk about:
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Episode Transcript
Emily 0:09
Welcome to pod to the rescue.
Libby 0:11
Rescuing the dog is just the first step. We're here to help with everything that comes next. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to pod to the rescue. I'm Libby.
Emily 0:22
And I'm Emily.
Libby 0:23
It's been a while since it's been just the two of us, hasn't it?
Emily 0:27
I feel like it's been months. Yeah, it's kinda nice.
Libby 0:30
Yeah, so we're just gonna do a little training Basics episode today. And we want to talk about leash walking, and how to walk on a loose leash with your dog how to teach your dog to walk on a loose leash, because, as we will discuss, it's not an easy or natural behavior for them. We decided to do this episode, because our amazing podcast editor Alex, recently adopted a dog from summit dog rescue. And she brought it up to us that, hey, this dog doesn't know how to walk on a leash. And you guys haven't talked about that yet. So help me out and help your listeners. So thank you, Alex, for giving us the idea for the episode.
Emily 1:15
Well, let's jump right in as to why leash walking, even though it's something in our mind is like just every dog should know how to do it and do it really well. And you see those unicorn dogs out there walking perfectly with their humans. But it's actually not a natural behavior. For dogs. It's like nowhere in natural dog behavior to walk on a tight, connected thing to another species, and walk slowly and then the straight line. So that's kind of what we're here today is like, explain why it's difficult for dogs and then how some techniques on how to get get them to learn how to do it in our human world.
Libby 1:58
Totally. So let's start with why do dogs pull in the first place? Well, first off, the world is really reinforcing for dogs. Olfactory is their primary sense. And they walk out of the house. And it's just like, I mean, we can't As humans, we can't even imagine what it's like for them.
Emily 2:18
I tell people it's like a smell. gasm is is how I that's how I imagined it for dogs. I wrote down a few little specifics about the fact that dogs see the world through their nose, that's their primary way of interacting with the world. So for humans, we have 6 million nasal or olfactory receptors in our nose, they have 300 million all factory receptors. So 6 million and humans, they have like, on average, 300 million, like it varies a little bit from breed to breed, like, you know, a bloodhound is going to have more than probably like a border collie. But generally, that's one of the big differentials between us were more visual, I think we're visual and very vocal in our communication styles, obviously. And the part of the brain devoted to analyzing smells is 40 times greater than ours. So wow, a big factor 40 times greater. And they can detect one part per trillion of a smell. And if you wanted to wrap your head around what that actually means, if you took one drop of liquid and dropped it into 20 Olympic sized swimming pools, they could detect what it was. That's an incredible it's incredible. It's mind blowing. Really. Yeah, I mean, it is kind of amazing. smell gas was right. I mean, they're basically noses with four legs. And so we walk out of the house and there it's like a kid in Disneyland. And they're like, oh my god, there was a beaver over here. There was an old sandwich over there. Oh my god, do you know that something peed there three days ago and it had cancer like they know all those things. And we're like, we got to get in our mileage. I've got my Fitbit on and I got steps to do.
Libby 4:19
So there's a little bit of differing priorities for humans and dogs when we step out the door isn't there.
Emily 4:27
I think that is one of the major problems and I always tell clients when you if you ever been to like a beat and seen free roaming dogs, they also don't walk in a straight line. And they don't walk as slow as us they kind of trot trot trot trot tracks now track track track tracks now. And we're like walk get our steps in straight line,
Libby 4:49
a steady pace. We don't like randomly stop every 10 feet and smell things. Another point is that oftentimes dogs are in To house for 23 hours a day. And they walk out the door and it's so exciting. And they just want to smell all of the things and move their bodies. So some other reasons that dogs might be pulling on leash include fear, anxiety, stress, reactivity, or arousal. And definitely keep these in mind as a reason for why your dog might be pulling and consult with a qualified trainer for help. We're not exactly going to talk about those types of issues during this episode. But our episodes on arousal and body language are probably going to be really helpful to you to figure out exactly what is going on with your dog.
Emily 5:44
It's also important to understand that so many of these rescue dogs that we bring in may have never walked on a leash before. Especially if you're like the first stop like a foster home, or you just brought your new dog in. They have zero understanding of this behavior. If they've come up from a rural area like Alabama, you know, and they've just been roaming out on farmland, then we bring them into our cities or suburban homes, we want them to walk on a leash.
Libby 6:11
Yeah, and even for an adult dog who's newly rescued, they still might have zero understanding of what a leash walk is. Definitely listen to our two part episode with Meredith Perry of the Corinth Alcor an animal shelter to understand a little bit more about this background. All that said, what is reasonable to expect of our dogs during walks once we've taught them,
Emily 6:37
right. So knowing why dogs pull is important, but it's also reasonable to not want to take a walk and have, you know, back problems or your arm ripped off. So there's kind of this balance of like, just like a child doesn't come out knowing how to speak or read or poop in a toilet, we have to teach them how this is going to work.
Libby 7:01
I think it's reasonable to teach our dogs how to pay attention to us. I think it's reasonable to teach them how not to try to chase every bunny or squirrel that crossed their crosses their path.
Emily 7:15
And I think a lot of that, like you just kind of point hit on was having them connect back in with us. And I think this training actually does usually start in the house. And if you have a yard of like I always say that a walk should be like a conversation, a two way communication. You see these people who are walking their dog and the dog is like the leashes just straight like an arrow and the dog is like focused on every single thing. And the person just like along for the ride. In my goal in a walk is that the dog is like checking back in with me. And we're in a conversation about our walk together. And a lot of how I get there is using food.
Libby 7:59
Yeah, because if you remember from our episode about why we use food in training, we have to make it worth our dogs while to do something that's an unnatural behavior for them.
Emily 8:10
Yeah, we have to compete basically with the environment. When we when we step outside our door.
Libby 8:15
Yeah, if we're going to ask them to learn something else. We have to pay them.
Emily 8:21
Yeah, in in dog training vernacular, it's a replacement behavior. You know, so if you don't like being dragged down the street, let's teach them something. You know, and I think check ins and just even rewarding like a lot of times when I'm out walking, I will reward just for not pulling, you know, they don't actually have to fully look back at me. I will be a market with like a click or a yes, the fact that that leashes loose and then throw some food or, you know, give them food as long as they're taking food.
Libby 8:55
So before we get into the nitty gritty and some techniques on how to teach your dog the behavior of politely walking on leash, we just can't emphasize enough how important it is to let your dog sniff above all, let them sniff.
Emily 9:13
I couldn't agree more. I mean, who's the walk for I think is what Marc Bekoff says and if you want to get some miles and get on your elliptical when you get home, you know, or just have a compromise on the walk. I've been doing that with Piper recently, like, I let her sniff but at certain point, I'm like, Come on, let's go. And then I feed her for moving on.
Libby 9:35
Emily, you have a great example that you use a lot that sniffing for dogs is kind of like reading the newspaper. If we are continually interrupting them, it would be like somebody walking up to you while you're really engrossed in a really great story and continually interrupting you. So we need to make sure we give our dogs this opportunity as well. Often as soon as we possibly can, for as long as we can,
Emily 10:03
it is it's true because it's a species specific need to smell. And so, you know, we just have to really be like, I got a dog and my dog is an olfactory being.
Libby 10:16
Yeah. And I, you know, I like to almost make it into an opportunity for myself, when a dog is sniffing something, I have a little mindfulness moment, you know, take a couple deep breaths, or play the five senses exercise. So that's something I can see something, I can hear something, I can feel something I can smell, you can also make that a moment that brings something to your life to You know, you don't have to just sit there at the end of the leash impatiently, wishing your dog would stop sniffing.
Emily 10:56
And I find that if I concentrate on watching her sniff, now I actually find joy and communion with her with puppies, when she's sniffing because I feel good about it. It's like, you know, like, I'm, I'm doing this for my dog. She's having a good moment right now.
Libby 11:18
I don't know, just get a little curious and try to, you know, experience the world through your dog's point of view.
Emily 11:27
You know, we have that saying, everybody says, like, I see you. And I feel like when type E's or bene is my foster when, when they're like, deep in a smell, I feel like not to get too hokey. But I'm like, I see you, I see that you're a dog, you're not a stuffed animal, you're, I have an animal in my house. And it's a canine. It's not the same species as me. And it's not even in the ape family. And I see you when you're using your big nose to smell.
Libby 12:00
And, you know, I, I started playing this game recently, when we were discussing this episode, and kind of outlining it. On my walks with Daisy, I have been counting how long she's NES one 1002 1003 1004 1000. And for the most part, it's like less than 10 seconds. That's it? And it seems, had I not been counting, it would have seemed like a just like, Oh, my God, come on, come on. I gotta go, I got places to be. But ultimately, it's not really that long in the grand scheme of things. Okay, let's talk about some techniques we use to teach our dogs how to walk politely on a leash,
Emily 12:50
just full disclosure. Eight years ago, I was one of those people who was like, I'm never going to carry a treat pouch. I just, just don't believe in it. And then I learned about science. And so I spend probably five minutes prepping for every walk. And I leave with a huge treat pouch full of like a complete buffet of snacks and treats for whoever I'm walking, if it's Piper or Benny. Because I have to feed my dog anyway. And I have to compete with all these smells to get that check in. And also to reward them for not just dragging me.
Libby 13:34
Yeah, I agree I always carry a treat pouch as well. And we've probably mentioned this in previous episodes. But for me, it's just part of my routine, I put on my shoes, I put on my jacket, I put on my sunglasses, and I clip on my treat pouch, you know, I'm gonna have to carry poop bags, for as long as I walk a dog, you know, so I might as well carry traits as well. So the way that we kind of start this process is by rewarding check ins. So that's reinforcing your dog for checking in with you. And you know, again, this might be behavior that you have to teach them. So you can start in your living room. You can start in your backyard. If you have one, you can start on your front porch. You can try it in different rooms of the house before you walk out the door. Yeah, and definitely listen to our episode about using food and training for more details on what how, why we use food on walks. So here's my technique for super strong pillars or dogs who just really have no concept of what it means to walk on a leash. I start inside the house, reinforce for attention. And then I start reinforcing on my left side only for attention and I might like take a step reinforce for attention on the same side and eventually they understand And that reinforcement comes to them when they're at my site. And when they move with me, and when they're focused on me. And you can slowly build this, you can take one step, Mark, treat, two steps, Mark, treat, three steps, Mark treat, and then over time, they figure out that moving with you. And staying close to you, is where the reinforcement happens. And then you can try it in progressively more distracting environments, of course, varying your food awards, and then build the duration. But this is a really powerful exercise for dogs who just really, really struggle with leash pulling,
Emily 15:56
right. So starting in a low distraction environment, because that's kind of part of the problem with going on walks is that there's just so many distractions for them, even if it's not just the olfactory smells, it's people in scooters, it's fire engines, it's, you know, crows up in the up in the trees, it's, there's so much going on for them. And so we, we definitely want to, you know, reward the lowest bar that you would actually imagine, I always tell people lower the bar, you know, we tend to want this like beautiful behavior of dog walking right next to you checking in, and then you reward that but it's like really want is that leash has a smile in it. There's that smiling leash project where like, if that leash isn't like, taut, like an arrow, I would be like, yes. And toss foods. Jason Garrett calls it the reinforcement zone. So you, you're like, reinforcing, you know, if you're on a six foot leash, you know, reinforcing them walking within five feet, four feet, like, you know, you don't have to have it be like they're right next to you. It's just don't drag me down the street plays. And then one Biggie, which we really, really worked hard with Benjamin on, was, don't let them pull you because pulling is reinforcing or rewarding. Like, if pipey or Benny smells, you know, squirrels poop, and they dragged me to it. And they feel like they got that reward of the squirrel poop. So you might as well just feed the mistake if you let them pull you to like a dead bunny, or, yeah, so that there is those competing reinforcers in the environments? And you want to be careful about that.
Libby 17:44
Yeah, so and what do you do in that moment when they're pulling towards the dead squirrel?
Emily 17:50
See, that is tough. And we had we had a hard time training Benny, like, we were like, This dog is like, we actually were looking, we were like, should we actually do a face collar because he was so strong. And so like, he actually put me like, in the chiropractor's office, because he was fearful. He wouldn't take food. And he walked outside, like, you know, it was like walking a baboon or something. Like he had no idea. And I live in a busy neighborhood. And he was just dragging us and pulling and then like lunging. So it took very slow little sips of success, and planting your feet. And like, just really like engaging your core and stopping. It's like that be a trade, you know, like, do not if you feel that leash go tight, stop. And that's actually like the consequence. Like if that leash is tight, this walk is not moving forward.
Libby 18:49
So yeah, I think that's a really great point that that once they tighten that leash out, like, it's important not to allow them to access whatever competing reinforcer because that's just going to teach them like, yes, pooling is awesome. It gets me what I want.
Emily 19:08
And, you know, with Benny, Alyssa is a runner. So, you know, sometimes she would just take him and like, try, you know, and like kind of be like, let's move faster, because we realized that like, a slow walk was not really what this ginormous, young dog needed right then and then long lines are helpful to
Libby 19:31
Okay, so to start getting the loose leash behavior, we're going to teach our dogs to check in with us. We're going to reinforce that with a food reward. And then we're going to make sure that the essentially the tight leash pulling behavior doesn't work. And then something else that I find is a really common mistake people make when they're trying to teach loose leash walking it is not reinforcing enough. You know, if you have a dog who tends to pull a lot when they're giving you any approximation of the behavior that you want, reinforce the heck out of it and reinforce it often, you know, you have probably a dozen opportunities to reinforce your dog for behavior that you do want that so many people miss
Emily 20:29
100%. So yeah, when I did, when I did Karen Pryor, we learned that your rate of reinforcement which is like how many times you mark and feed per minute should be about 15 times per minute,
Libby 20:45
our dogs offer us so much good desirable behavior. And we tend to get really focused on what we don't want, and we miss all this great stuff. So just make sure that you're really paying attention to your dog and reinforcing when they are doing what you want.
Emily 21:01
So we talked about leashes too. We did have an episode on harnesses and why we use harnesses for leashes, I always like either a six foot leash with a handle that goes around my wrist, and then I hold it in my hand with my fingers, so that I have like double grip on it. Or use a long line, which is just, you know, anywhere from like a 10 to 15 or 20 foot line, depending on where I'm walking. Now the one thing that we don't recommend would be a retractable leash.
Libby 21:35
And why is that, Em,
Emily 21:36
okay, there's a couple of reasons one is always tense. In order for the retractable leash to work, there's always tension on the leash, so you never have a smiling leash. It also is like, hard to hold on to. We've had so many dogs throughout the years, like in different rescues that we've seen. And even in our rescue, where someone was walking with a retractable and the dog lunged and you're holding like this weird little plastic thing, and it pulls out of their hands, you can't have that extra safety on it.
Libby 22:11
I agree I most of Daisy's walks are on a 15 foot line. And for the most part, giving our dogs a little more freedom to move is better for their leash skills.
Emily 22:24
I think so too. Gigi moss is like a famous trainer in Boulder taught me like the shorter the leash, the greater the pulling, which actually is like counterintuitive. I used to think if a dog pulled a lot, get a short leash, but you actually want to teach them that we're moving forward, when there's no pressure on your harness.
Libby 22:44
Yeah, I find that using a longer leash is universally more pleasant for me. And I walk some really strong dogs, like really strong colors.
Emily 22:56
Yeah. I always tell people it's like, catch and release. Like I don't just walk with it at 15 or 20 feet, you know, so I'm kind of pulling it in like, not like dragging, you know, but like reeling slowly walking up towards the dog if I see you know, a biker coming or something like that.
Libby 23:17
So those are our tips for teaching your dog to walk on a leash. hope they're helpful. We'll put some links in the show notes to some if you're a visual learner. Sarah Walsh has a really good video on YouTube about loose leash walking. And there are some really great Instagram trainers or trainers who have great Instagram accounts. So we'll put links to those in the show notes. If you're a visual learner, and yeah, if you have any other questions, let us know on social We're thinking of doing a listener question episode for our last episode of the year. And yeah, definitely get in touch on social connect with us and share and help us reach more people.
Thanks for tuning in. If you liked this episode, don't forget to rate and review. It helps other folks like you find the show. To find out more about our programming and adoptable rescue dogs. You can visit summit dog rescue.org thanks to Mike pesci for the original music and to Alex Lee Ammons and for the love media for graphics production and editing. See you soon on pod to the rescue.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to pod to the rescue.
Libby 0:11
Rescuing the dog is just the first step. We're here to help with everything that comes next. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to pod to the rescue. I'm Libby.
Emily 0:22
And I'm Emily.
Libby 0:23
It's been a while since it's been just the two of us, hasn't it?
Emily 0:27
I feel like it's been months. Yeah, it's kinda nice.
Libby 0:30
Yeah, so we're just gonna do a little training Basics episode today. And we want to talk about leash walking, and how to walk on a loose leash with your dog how to teach your dog to walk on a loose leash, because, as we will discuss, it's not an easy or natural behavior for them. We decided to do this episode, because our amazing podcast editor Alex, recently adopted a dog from summit dog rescue. And she brought it up to us that, hey, this dog doesn't know how to walk on a leash. And you guys haven't talked about that yet. So help me out and help your listeners. So thank you, Alex, for giving us the idea for the episode.
Emily 1:15
Well, let's jump right in as to why leash walking, even though it's something in our mind is like just every dog should know how to do it and do it really well. And you see those unicorn dogs out there walking perfectly with their humans. But it's actually not a natural behavior. For dogs. It's like nowhere in natural dog behavior to walk on a tight, connected thing to another species, and walk slowly and then the straight line. So that's kind of what we're here today is like, explain why it's difficult for dogs and then how some techniques on how to get get them to learn how to do it in our human world.
Libby 1:58
Totally. So let's start with why do dogs pull in the first place? Well, first off, the world is really reinforcing for dogs. Olfactory is their primary sense. And they walk out of the house. And it's just like, I mean, we can't As humans, we can't even imagine what it's like for them.
Emily 2:18
I tell people it's like a smell. gasm is is how I that's how I imagined it for dogs. I wrote down a few little specifics about the fact that dogs see the world through their nose, that's their primary way of interacting with the world. So for humans, we have 6 million nasal or olfactory receptors in our nose, they have 300 million all factory receptors. So 6 million and humans, they have like, on average, 300 million, like it varies a little bit from breed to breed, like, you know, a bloodhound is going to have more than probably like a border collie. But generally, that's one of the big differentials between us were more visual, I think we're visual and very vocal in our communication styles, obviously. And the part of the brain devoted to analyzing smells is 40 times greater than ours. So wow, a big factor 40 times greater. And they can detect one part per trillion of a smell. And if you wanted to wrap your head around what that actually means, if you took one drop of liquid and dropped it into 20 Olympic sized swimming pools, they could detect what it was. That's an incredible it's incredible. It's mind blowing. Really. Yeah, I mean, it is kind of amazing. smell gas was right. I mean, they're basically noses with four legs. And so we walk out of the house and there it's like a kid in Disneyland. And they're like, oh my god, there was a beaver over here. There was an old sandwich over there. Oh my god, do you know that something peed there three days ago and it had cancer like they know all those things. And we're like, we got to get in our mileage. I've got my Fitbit on and I got steps to do.
Libby 4:19
So there's a little bit of differing priorities for humans and dogs when we step out the door isn't there.
Emily 4:27
I think that is one of the major problems and I always tell clients when you if you ever been to like a beat and seen free roaming dogs, they also don't walk in a straight line. And they don't walk as slow as us they kind of trot trot trot trot tracks now track track track tracks now. And we're like walk get our steps in straight line,
Libby 4:49
a steady pace. We don't like randomly stop every 10 feet and smell things. Another point is that oftentimes dogs are in To house for 23 hours a day. And they walk out the door and it's so exciting. And they just want to smell all of the things and move their bodies. So some other reasons that dogs might be pulling on leash include fear, anxiety, stress, reactivity, or arousal. And definitely keep these in mind as a reason for why your dog might be pulling and consult with a qualified trainer for help. We're not exactly going to talk about those types of issues during this episode. But our episodes on arousal and body language are probably going to be really helpful to you to figure out exactly what is going on with your dog.
Emily 5:44
It's also important to understand that so many of these rescue dogs that we bring in may have never walked on a leash before. Especially if you're like the first stop like a foster home, or you just brought your new dog in. They have zero understanding of this behavior. If they've come up from a rural area like Alabama, you know, and they've just been roaming out on farmland, then we bring them into our cities or suburban homes, we want them to walk on a leash.
Libby 6:11
Yeah, and even for an adult dog who's newly rescued, they still might have zero understanding of what a leash walk is. Definitely listen to our two part episode with Meredith Perry of the Corinth Alcor an animal shelter to understand a little bit more about this background. All that said, what is reasonable to expect of our dogs during walks once we've taught them,
Emily 6:37
right. So knowing why dogs pull is important, but it's also reasonable to not want to take a walk and have, you know, back problems or your arm ripped off. So there's kind of this balance of like, just like a child doesn't come out knowing how to speak or read or poop in a toilet, we have to teach them how this is going to work.
Libby 7:01
I think it's reasonable to teach our dogs how to pay attention to us. I think it's reasonable to teach them how not to try to chase every bunny or squirrel that crossed their crosses their path.
Emily 7:15
And I think a lot of that, like you just kind of point hit on was having them connect back in with us. And I think this training actually does usually start in the house. And if you have a yard of like I always say that a walk should be like a conversation, a two way communication. You see these people who are walking their dog and the dog is like the leashes just straight like an arrow and the dog is like focused on every single thing. And the person just like along for the ride. In my goal in a walk is that the dog is like checking back in with me. And we're in a conversation about our walk together. And a lot of how I get there is using food.
Libby 7:59
Yeah, because if you remember from our episode about why we use food in training, we have to make it worth our dogs while to do something that's an unnatural behavior for them.
Emily 8:10
Yeah, we have to compete basically with the environment. When we when we step outside our door.
Libby 8:15
Yeah, if we're going to ask them to learn something else. We have to pay them.
Emily 8:21
Yeah, in in dog training vernacular, it's a replacement behavior. You know, so if you don't like being dragged down the street, let's teach them something. You know, and I think check ins and just even rewarding like a lot of times when I'm out walking, I will reward just for not pulling, you know, they don't actually have to fully look back at me. I will be a market with like a click or a yes, the fact that that leashes loose and then throw some food or, you know, give them food as long as they're taking food.
Libby 8:55
So before we get into the nitty gritty and some techniques on how to teach your dog the behavior of politely walking on leash, we just can't emphasize enough how important it is to let your dog sniff above all, let them sniff.
Emily 9:13
I couldn't agree more. I mean, who's the walk for I think is what Marc Bekoff says and if you want to get some miles and get on your elliptical when you get home, you know, or just have a compromise on the walk. I've been doing that with Piper recently, like, I let her sniff but at certain point, I'm like, Come on, let's go. And then I feed her for moving on.
Libby 9:35
Emily, you have a great example that you use a lot that sniffing for dogs is kind of like reading the newspaper. If we are continually interrupting them, it would be like somebody walking up to you while you're really engrossed in a really great story and continually interrupting you. So we need to make sure we give our dogs this opportunity as well. Often as soon as we possibly can, for as long as we can,
Emily 10:03
it is it's true because it's a species specific need to smell. And so, you know, we just have to really be like, I got a dog and my dog is an olfactory being.
Libby 10:16
Yeah. And I, you know, I like to almost make it into an opportunity for myself, when a dog is sniffing something, I have a little mindfulness moment, you know, take a couple deep breaths, or play the five senses exercise. So that's something I can see something, I can hear something, I can feel something I can smell, you can also make that a moment that brings something to your life to You know, you don't have to just sit there at the end of the leash impatiently, wishing your dog would stop sniffing.
Emily 10:56
And I find that if I concentrate on watching her sniff, now I actually find joy and communion with her with puppies, when she's sniffing because I feel good about it. It's like, you know, like, I'm, I'm doing this for my dog. She's having a good moment right now.
Libby 11:18
I don't know, just get a little curious and try to, you know, experience the world through your dog's point of view.
Emily 11:27
You know, we have that saying, everybody says, like, I see you. And I feel like when type E's or bene is my foster when, when they're like, deep in a smell, I feel like not to get too hokey. But I'm like, I see you, I see that you're a dog, you're not a stuffed animal, you're, I have an animal in my house. And it's a canine. It's not the same species as me. And it's not even in the ape family. And I see you when you're using your big nose to smell.
Libby 12:00
And, you know, I, I started playing this game recently, when we were discussing this episode, and kind of outlining it. On my walks with Daisy, I have been counting how long she's NES one 1002 1003 1004 1000. And for the most part, it's like less than 10 seconds. That's it? And it seems, had I not been counting, it would have seemed like a just like, Oh, my God, come on, come on. I gotta go, I got places to be. But ultimately, it's not really that long in the grand scheme of things. Okay, let's talk about some techniques we use to teach our dogs how to walk politely on a leash,
Emily 12:50
just full disclosure. Eight years ago, I was one of those people who was like, I'm never going to carry a treat pouch. I just, just don't believe in it. And then I learned about science. And so I spend probably five minutes prepping for every walk. And I leave with a huge treat pouch full of like a complete buffet of snacks and treats for whoever I'm walking, if it's Piper or Benny. Because I have to feed my dog anyway. And I have to compete with all these smells to get that check in. And also to reward them for not just dragging me.
Libby 13:34
Yeah, I agree I always carry a treat pouch as well. And we've probably mentioned this in previous episodes. But for me, it's just part of my routine, I put on my shoes, I put on my jacket, I put on my sunglasses, and I clip on my treat pouch, you know, I'm gonna have to carry poop bags, for as long as I walk a dog, you know, so I might as well carry traits as well. So the way that we kind of start this process is by rewarding check ins. So that's reinforcing your dog for checking in with you. And you know, again, this might be behavior that you have to teach them. So you can start in your living room. You can start in your backyard. If you have one, you can start on your front porch. You can try it in different rooms of the house before you walk out the door. Yeah, and definitely listen to our episode about using food and training for more details on what how, why we use food on walks. So here's my technique for super strong pillars or dogs who just really have no concept of what it means to walk on a leash. I start inside the house, reinforce for attention. And then I start reinforcing on my left side only for attention and I might like take a step reinforce for attention on the same side and eventually they understand And that reinforcement comes to them when they're at my site. And when they move with me, and when they're focused on me. And you can slowly build this, you can take one step, Mark, treat, two steps, Mark, treat, three steps, Mark treat, and then over time, they figure out that moving with you. And staying close to you, is where the reinforcement happens. And then you can try it in progressively more distracting environments, of course, varying your food awards, and then build the duration. But this is a really powerful exercise for dogs who just really, really struggle with leash pulling,
Emily 15:56
right. So starting in a low distraction environment, because that's kind of part of the problem with going on walks is that there's just so many distractions for them, even if it's not just the olfactory smells, it's people in scooters, it's fire engines, it's, you know, crows up in the up in the trees, it's, there's so much going on for them. And so we, we definitely want to, you know, reward the lowest bar that you would actually imagine, I always tell people lower the bar, you know, we tend to want this like beautiful behavior of dog walking right next to you checking in, and then you reward that but it's like really want is that leash has a smile in it. There's that smiling leash project where like, if that leash isn't like, taut, like an arrow, I would be like, yes. And toss foods. Jason Garrett calls it the reinforcement zone. So you, you're like, reinforcing, you know, if you're on a six foot leash, you know, reinforcing them walking within five feet, four feet, like, you know, you don't have to have it be like they're right next to you. It's just don't drag me down the street plays. And then one Biggie, which we really, really worked hard with Benjamin on, was, don't let them pull you because pulling is reinforcing or rewarding. Like, if pipey or Benny smells, you know, squirrels poop, and they dragged me to it. And they feel like they got that reward of the squirrel poop. So you might as well just feed the mistake if you let them pull you to like a dead bunny, or, yeah, so that there is those competing reinforcers in the environments? And you want to be careful about that.
Libby 17:44
Yeah, so and what do you do in that moment when they're pulling towards the dead squirrel?
Emily 17:50
See, that is tough. And we had we had a hard time training Benny, like, we were like, This dog is like, we actually were looking, we were like, should we actually do a face collar because he was so strong. And so like, he actually put me like, in the chiropractor's office, because he was fearful. He wouldn't take food. And he walked outside, like, you know, it was like walking a baboon or something. Like he had no idea. And I live in a busy neighborhood. And he was just dragging us and pulling and then like lunging. So it took very slow little sips of success, and planting your feet. And like, just really like engaging your core and stopping. It's like that be a trade, you know, like, do not if you feel that leash go tight, stop. And that's actually like the consequence. Like if that leash is tight, this walk is not moving forward.
Libby 18:49
So yeah, I think that's a really great point that that once they tighten that leash out, like, it's important not to allow them to access whatever competing reinforcer because that's just going to teach them like, yes, pooling is awesome. It gets me what I want.
Emily 19:08
And, you know, with Benny, Alyssa is a runner. So, you know, sometimes she would just take him and like, try, you know, and like kind of be like, let's move faster, because we realized that like, a slow walk was not really what this ginormous, young dog needed right then and then long lines are helpful to
Libby 19:31
Okay, so to start getting the loose leash behavior, we're going to teach our dogs to check in with us. We're going to reinforce that with a food reward. And then we're going to make sure that the essentially the tight leash pulling behavior doesn't work. And then something else that I find is a really common mistake people make when they're trying to teach loose leash walking it is not reinforcing enough. You know, if you have a dog who tends to pull a lot when they're giving you any approximation of the behavior that you want, reinforce the heck out of it and reinforce it often, you know, you have probably a dozen opportunities to reinforce your dog for behavior that you do want that so many people miss
Emily 20:29
100%. So yeah, when I did, when I did Karen Pryor, we learned that your rate of reinforcement which is like how many times you mark and feed per minute should be about 15 times per minute,
Libby 20:45
our dogs offer us so much good desirable behavior. And we tend to get really focused on what we don't want, and we miss all this great stuff. So just make sure that you're really paying attention to your dog and reinforcing when they are doing what you want.
Emily 21:01
So we talked about leashes too. We did have an episode on harnesses and why we use harnesses for leashes, I always like either a six foot leash with a handle that goes around my wrist, and then I hold it in my hand with my fingers, so that I have like double grip on it. Or use a long line, which is just, you know, anywhere from like a 10 to 15 or 20 foot line, depending on where I'm walking. Now the one thing that we don't recommend would be a retractable leash.
Libby 21:35
And why is that, Em,
Emily 21:36
okay, there's a couple of reasons one is always tense. In order for the retractable leash to work, there's always tension on the leash, so you never have a smiling leash. It also is like, hard to hold on to. We've had so many dogs throughout the years, like in different rescues that we've seen. And even in our rescue, where someone was walking with a retractable and the dog lunged and you're holding like this weird little plastic thing, and it pulls out of their hands, you can't have that extra safety on it.
Libby 22:11
I agree I most of Daisy's walks are on a 15 foot line. And for the most part, giving our dogs a little more freedom to move is better for their leash skills.
Emily 22:24
I think so too. Gigi moss is like a famous trainer in Boulder taught me like the shorter the leash, the greater the pulling, which actually is like counterintuitive. I used to think if a dog pulled a lot, get a short leash, but you actually want to teach them that we're moving forward, when there's no pressure on your harness.
Libby 22:44
Yeah, I find that using a longer leash is universally more pleasant for me. And I walk some really strong dogs, like really strong colors.
Emily 22:56
Yeah. I always tell people it's like, catch and release. Like I don't just walk with it at 15 or 20 feet, you know, so I'm kind of pulling it in like, not like dragging, you know, but like reeling slowly walking up towards the dog if I see you know, a biker coming or something like that.
Libby 23:17
So those are our tips for teaching your dog to walk on a leash. hope they're helpful. We'll put some links in the show notes to some if you're a visual learner. Sarah Walsh has a really good video on YouTube about loose leash walking. And there are some really great Instagram trainers or trainers who have great Instagram accounts. So we'll put links to those in the show notes. If you're a visual learner, and yeah, if you have any other questions, let us know on social We're thinking of doing a listener question episode for our last episode of the year. And yeah, definitely get in touch on social connect with us and share and help us reach more people.
Thanks for tuning in. If you liked this episode, don't forget to rate and review. It helps other folks like you find the show. To find out more about our programming and adoptable rescue dogs. You can visit summit dog rescue.org thanks to Mike pesci for the original music and to Alex Lee Ammons and for the love media for graphics production and editing. See you soon on pod to the rescue.
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