WHO’S PULLING WHO ANYWAY?

Elizabeth Alderton, Pro-Active Paws Dog Boots, Ireland

Many people bring their dogs to training classes because the dog pulls on the lead.

First of all, all puppies should be taken to a good training class as soon as possible. However, for most owners the puppy can’t start until it has finished its injection course and a lot of damage is done already.

A puppy of 8 - 12 weeks is not old enough to learn to walk on the lead, but the majority of new dog owners will put a puppy on the lead and walk it anyway. If the puppy tries to go in a direction that does not suit the owner, they pull the lead to bring the puppy where they want. Sometimes children are left unsupervised with a puppy and they pull the puppy on the lead and the puppy is dragged from one place to another.

Not a good idea! The puppy soon learns that the most comfortable solution is to pull itself. It thus gets the lead round its shoulders, and like a little horse in harness, away it goes.

Do not use a lead on a young puppy. You do this in your house, small garden or yard with the puppy completely loose, no lead. Get a treat for the puppy and place it in your left hand. Get the puppy’s attention and then with your hand in front of the puppy’s nose gently walk forward, giving a clear encouraging commang ‘Heel, heel, heel’ constantly. Make sure the puppy walks next to your leg and be encouraging. Don’t touch the puppy, just encourage it with the treat. If the puppy veers away, stop giving the heel command, get its attention with the treat and start again. Be satisfied with a couple of good steps at first and give the puppy the treat when it is doing the correct thing. The time to give the treat is when it is going right, not just after it’s gone wrong! Then, gradually extend the number steps.

Go where the puppy goes and keep the lead slack. If this is entirely inappropriate, don’t pull the puppy with the lead. Instead put your hand round the puppy and turn it to the appropriate direction, or carry it.

Don’t start the pulling habit by pulling your puppy.

Really, basically, it is still the owner pulling the dog. It’s just that the situation is now out of control - the dog has learnt to pull like a horse in harness and the owner doesn’t know how to stop this.

An experienced trainer will solve this problem quickly for you, so take your dog to a training class. If the trainer can, and if you are patient, they will retrain your dog using the treat method. However, lets be honest, this doesn’t always work. Sometimes the dog is treat-disinterested, or an older dog that is canny enough to ‘only do it for the treat’.

First of all I always put the lead on the owners own arm and demonstrate the technique. Then the owner begins to understand what the dog feels and how it works. It’s worth asking your trainer to do this so that you master the technique a little earlier.

It isn’t magic - basically, the trainer stops pulling themselves. When the dog is pulling the trainer will take a quick step forward and get a piece of slack lead, then quickly they will snap the lead sharply and give the dog a command such as ‘heel’ when the dog is in the correct position. They will carefully work with the dog, only giving the command whent he dog is in the right place. They will move off with the dog and correct it with a quick sharp tug whenever it goes wrong. They will repeat the heel command encouragingly when the dog is doing it right. They will not allow the dog to get into the ‘horse-in-harness’ position. The trainer will assume that the dog is going to behave correctly, so they will have the lead loose all the time unless it is needed for a swift correction.

The owner must avoid: holding the dog in position with a tight lead. The owner is still pulling the dog, so the dog will pull the owner. Have the lead slack, it’s only for correction

The owner must pay attention. Anticipate your dog’s behaviour and repeat the command heel when you think he might go wrong. Don’t correct him with the lead unless he does go wrong!