Leash Pulling

Why Is My Dog Pulling?

Most dogs pull for a very simple reason: at some point — more likely, on many occasions — pulling on the leash got them what they wanted.

It worked.

And when something works for a dog, it reinforces the behavior, making them very likely to repeat it.

At some point, pulling may have gotten your dog to a smell they wanted to investigate, another dog they wanted to meet, or a person they wanted to say hello to. Maybe they pulled toward a tree you were trying to keep them away from, and eventually you decided it wasn’t a big deal and let them get there. Or maybe they simply wanted to walk faster than you.

Whatever it was, pulling worked.

And to your dog, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Dogs naturally tend to walk faster than we do. If they’re never taught otherwise, they have no reason to understand that when a leash is attached, they’re expected to adjust their pace to ours. Similarly, we don’t spend our walks moving at their natural pace.

Very often, this behavior simply needs to be taught.

As things may stand right now:

Your dog pulls → you follow → your dog gets what they wanted → rinse and repeat.

In many cases, without ever meaning to, we’ve taught the dog that tension on the leash is simply part of going for a walk.

Excitement, lack of impulse control, distractions, frustration, and sometimes nervousness or anxiety can make pulling considerably worse. But regardless of why your dog starts pulling, what happens after they pull helps determine whether that behavior continues.

How Do We Address It?

At BFF Dog Training, we want your dog to understand one very simple concept:

A loose leash allows you to move forward. A tight leash does not.

Leash pressure is the foundation of loose-leash walking.

Some dogs naturally respond to leash pressure better than others, but every dog needs the opportunity to learn what that pressure means and, just as importantly, how to turn it off.

There are other things we work on as part of our loose-leash walking protocol, and exactly what we focus on may vary from dog to dog.

Those things can include engagement, impulse control, changes of direction, pace, position, and rewarding your dog for making good choices around distractions.

The goal isn’t necessarily to make your dog stare at you or remain beside your leg in a perfect heel for the entire walk.

We actually encourage dogs to be dogs — just not pull.

There’s a time and place for a dog to heel, but that doesn’t mean they should have to heel throughout every walk.

We want your dog to understand how to walk with you, rather than either one of you having to drag the other around.

One Important Thing to Understand

Stopping leash pulling isn’t really about making your dog walk slower.

It’s about changing their understanding of the leash and leash pressure.

If pulling sometimes gets your dog where they want to go and sometimes doesn’t, the rules aren’t very clear.

And when the rules aren’t clear, we’re setting the dog — and ourselves — up for failure instead of success.

That’s why consistency is a key part of our loose-leash walking protocol.

Every walk is teaching your dog something, whether you intended for it to be a training session or not.

Once you or we help your dog understand that a loose leash is how they gain access to the world, both ends of the leash are finally playing by the same rules.

That’s when a walk can stop feeling like a battle and start becoming something you actually look forward to doing together.

Your Dog Isn’t Trying to Ruin Your Walk

There is almost never a situation where your dog is pulling because they want you angry, upset, frustrated, or disappointed.

They’re doing something that has worked for them, something they don’t fully understand, or something they were simply never taught to do differently.

A huge percentage of leash pulling could have been prevented if, when dogs were puppies, they had simply been taught how to appropriately respond to leash pressure from the beginning.

But that doesn’t mean it’s too late.

The Good News

Leash pulling is often one of the behaviors where we can make a massive transformation relatively quickly.

Depending on the severity of the pulling, the individual dog, and — very importantly — how consistent you are on every walk, significant improvement can often happen within a couple to a handful of sessions.

The goal isn’t just to stop your dog from pulling.

It’s to teach your dog what the leash means, give both of you clear and consistent rules, and create a walk where there’s finally harmony on both ends of the leash.