Dogs naturally walk at a pace faster than people can and don’t come with “people-pace” pre-installed. Additionally, anything a dog finds valuable in the environment can positively reinforce a behavior. The opportunity to sniff something may reinforce the behavior of traveling faster to that sniff spot than you can keep up with. This means that if the dog gets to sniff something, and that happened immediately after walking too fast or pulling, those are the behaviors that will be repeated. Forward movement in itself can also be highly valuable for some dogs, and if your dog is anticipating the route you will take, moving forward on that route may be another reinforcer for walking too fast or pulling. Greeting other dogs, or people, for dogs that find those experiences valuable, is another potential environmental reinforcer.
Essentially, if a dog has on a number of occasions pulled just before accessing something they value, they have been trained through environmental positive reinforcement that pulling is how to earn access to things they like while out on a walk. If this happens intermittently, the dog learns to gamble on which time they’ll be able to access whatever it is they want, and the behavior grows stronger, harder to replace, and happens more frequently. If it’s forward movement they’re after, the dog learns to pull all the time.
Because it is impossible to train the absence of behavior (dogs are always behaving, unless they are behaviorally “shut down” as a fear-related response), we want to identify what behaviors your dog can learn that are incompatible with pulling, which are set up to ultimately be positively reinforced by managed access to the environment.
- The dog can be sensitization trained to understand that very light pressure on the leash is a cue to move towards you in order to create slack in the leash. This training takes place out of context of the walk first, and then under gradually increasing distraction. This is a very useful skill that prevents you from having to pull hard on the leash.
- The dog can learn that it’s their person’s job to decide the route. Unpredictability in directionality helps dogs learn to pay attention to a handler’s intentions for the route. Making direction changes a positive experience in advance and under varying conditions of distraction will help set your dog up for success out on a walk if you need to go a different way, especially when your dog highly values forward progress.
- The dog can learn that forward progress happens only at a pace the handler can keep up with. If your dog starts to move faster than you can keep up with, forward movement stops. Direction changes like walking backward or doing a series of turns can help refocus the dog on your own pace. Forward movement happens again as long as the leash is loose and the pace is matchable.
- Teaching an informal heeling position outside of the context of the walk itself, training that position as an implied stay in position until released, and making that position a valuable place for your dog to be during walks will help your dog learn to vary their pace along with you and help keep your dog from darting off to sniff or greet others at inopportune moments.
- The dog can learn that access to what it values (spots for sniffing, greeting other dogs, etc.) depend on approaching those things with a loose leash and at a pace the handler can keep up with. Adding cues like “go sniff” and “back here” can help your dog differentiate between times you need them in a closer heel position versus times they can leave that position to sniff around (as long as the leash is still loose).
- Socialization is key for dogs who find other things in the environment extra exciting, or perhaps a bit scary. Teaching the dog how to observe things in the environment at a distance, while standing still or walking with you can help achieve a more neutral response to other dogs, young kids, people on bikes or skateboards, etc. Gradually, you can decrease the distance at which your dog is able to calmly observe those things, and increase your dog’s ability to quickly refocus on you.
The ultimate goal for teaching leash skills is to use the same environmental reinforcers that could reinforce pulling to instead reinforce and maintain loose leash behaviors. In the meantime, the easiest positive reinforcement we can employ while teaching most dogs new leash skills is food rewards. A treat pouch at your hip filled with small(!!!) morsels of treats that are valuable enough to compete with environmental reinforcers, along with good timing and training mechanics on the part of the handler, can become an essential part of your walking kit. (Coming soon, a post on the difference between food as bribery and food as reinforcement)
Keep an eye out for upcoming posts in this series:
– Identifying your own personal criteria for behaviors on a walk
– Handler training mechanics and leash skills
– Leash skills trained out of context
– How to identify and work within your dog’s learning and arousal thresholds
– Teaching heeling and release cues
Relevant upcoming series/posts:
Dog Body Language: Stress and Calming Signals
Socialization
– What is Socialization?
– Socializing for and Conditioning “Calm, Neutral” Behaviors
Leash Reactivity
– What is Leash Reactivity?
– Prevention and management of over-excitement and reactivity
– Reducing over-excitement and reactivity