Question: My dog knows how to walk on leash but when he sees a cat that he wants to chase or a dog he doesn’t like, he goes bonkers, lunging and barking, and I can barely control him. I try to use treats to get his attention but it doesn’t work. Is there anything else I should do? Answer: You might think the answer is that if you try treats and they don’t work you should move to a method that’s more severe, such as yanking with a choke chain or pinch collar or something so aversive that it makes

You’ve already learned a number of exercises that are important for taking your dog on a walk. You’ve learned the following foundation exercises: Repeat sits backwards which you can use to first get your dog focused on you and also when there are big distractions such as people your dog wants to leap towards and jump on. (Watch Say Please By Sitting)      Repeat sits on the left side (heel side) to turn running and suddenly stopping and sitting into a game.    Proper speed to walk to help your dog understand where you want him to go as well as

One of the major issues with teaching dogs to walk well on lead is that they want to rush ahead to see the sights. Walking next to you, and especially stopping to wait, is boring to them compared to exploring. How do we remedy the situation? We make sticking next to you and stopping a fun game—one that’s as exciting as the people, sounds and smells on a walk. In this blog, we’ll do this by working on an exercise I call “Repeat Sits on the Left Side.” I’ll show two variations—one with a lure and one with what I

Frequently, when you want to start your walk, or at other times, you need to get your dog back to your side. Here is quick and simple way to teach it. In this exercise, ultimately you will be able to just say “heel” or position your shoulders the correct way and your dog will go back to your left side (or right side if she heels on the right side). For instance, Lucy, the dog pictured below, knows that if I step back with my left leg and turn my left shoulder away from her she should go back to

From the last 2 blogs on loose leash walking, you’ll recall that teaching dogs to walk on loose leash is all about: Rewarding Fido with treats at first (bits of Fido’s meal) for heeling next to you and also rewarding Fido by walking quickly enough (at least 120 bpm using a metronome or 2 steps a second) to make the walk engaging.   Stopping as soon as Fido’s front paws get ahead of your feet so that you’re stationary by the time he gets to the end of the leash.    Then increasing the length of time your dog must heel

Teaching dogs to walk on loose leash is all about: Rewarding with treats (bits of Fido’s meal) for heeling next to you and also rewarding Fido by walking quickly enough (at least 120 beats per minute [bpm] using a metronome or 2 steps a second) to make the walk engaging.      Stopping as soon as Fido’s front paws get ahead of your feet so that you’re stationary by the time he gets to the end of the leash.    Then increasing the length of time your dog must heel at attention in order to earn rewards until walking nicely