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

Have you heard this statement from so many people that it seems like it’s an epidemic? “We had a Labrador mix when I was a kid and he was perfect. How come our new dog is so much harder? Is it the inbreeding?” Or does the statement go more like this, “We got Lucky from the shelter and she’s so calm. Then we adopted Nero 2 years later as a playmate for her. He’s the same breed and age that she is, but he’s just hyper and crazy! We don’t know what to do with him! The problem here is

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

This site has many free downloadable resources available to anyone.  However, they are all in English and we often get requests for downloads in other languages or offers to translate the downloads for us.  Here are some posters that have been translated. Simply click on the image to download the PDF of the translated poster.  You can also make these available on your own website as long as you link back to this page.  If you would like to translate one of our downloads, please visit our Poster/Handout Translation page for more information.  We will update this blog post with more translations as

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