Hi All We’ve got a nearly 9 month old Lab called Wilson. He’s a charming fellow, full of energy with buckets of love to give but my god is he a hell-hound when trying to walk on lead! My husband and I are first time dog owners and had been longing for a pup for many years before our life finally had enough flexibility to allow us to get one. Like most puppy owners we’ve had our ups and downs already with plenty more to come. However, the thing which I’ve found most disheartening is Wilson’s endless lunging, pulling and dragging us around the roads when walking on lead. Twilight walks around the roads in our local area and lovely walks off lead somewhere green exploring this land (recall is a story for another day) are the primary reasons we were drawn to bring a dog into our world. This inability to walk on lead really has taken the shine off of dog ownership for us, but we adore him, and will, no matter what, teach this champ to walk on a lead by our side. I feel like I’ve read every method going, tried numerous techniques, listened to every podcast available and devoured every forum article on the topic. I’ve not found an answer on ‘how much longer will it take’ - so here is my version of the answer as I, with another new method and heel walking course under my belt, teach and proof loose lead walking for our rambunctious Lab, our gorgeous boy, the best pal I never knew I needed, Wilson. See you along the way, you’ll find me getting pulled from pillar to post along the south east coast of the UK Jess
I’ll post what methods we’ve tried another day and the journey before this because it has been months - here’s yesterday’s training: In the morning Wilson and I did a short lead training walk (10-15mins) in our close and progressing onto the road outside our close, all familiar territory but previously pulling and lunging territory. We’re now using clicker training and heel technique to keep a loose leash and at Stage 3 of the training course on this, I cannot believe what a significant difference this has made. This short morning training walk, with pork sausages (mega high value) was great with perhaps 6 occasions where he lunged/created a tight leash. Techniques to prevent/resolve this were used and on we went back and forth over the same 25 meters of tarmac. No jumping up from excitement, watched but didn’t lunge at people who walked past us. A marked improvement. I’m nearly enjoying walking with my dog again... I actually want to train him, there were days where I’d dread it. In the evening we drove the short distance to the beach for an off lead run around, after some great advice to never attempt lead training to a destination. We’d tried and failed on this very short walk to the beach on Sunday. Wilson came out of the car and onto the grass on lead and as you’d expect all training went out of the window. He lunged and pulled like a steam train. I decided that the few steps to the beach where I’d let him off (maybe 100 yards if that) would take all day if I needed it to, he was going to walk by my side. Persisted with techniques, took more steps backwards than we did forwards at first but he reluctantly walked a few steps at a time in heel position (in between lunging and pulling, them being repositioned) - Those on the promenade must’ve thought we were mad! It should’ve taken 30 seconds, it probably took 5 minutes. After a run around at low tide we approached the promenade again and back on lead he went. Again, he was pulling but already he was better with more focus on me than the walk to the beach we did 40 mins earlier. He’d pull, we’d use our technique, we’d get a few lovely steps at heel, rinse and repeat. Distractions galore, but we made it back to the car and I’m incredibly proud of him. This little walk was always going to be too hard for him at this stage, but it was unavoidable. I’ve read it’s important not to ingrain a behaviour such as ‘I pull when we get to this last bit before the beach’ so that was our lead training for the evening, short, not 100% successful, but with some glimmer of achievement. Three cheers for Wilson, a dog that proved today he will one day walk on a loose lead.
Another short lead training walk today, around 15 minutes. We did progress further down the road than ever before with less ‘turn around and go back the way we came’ when he pulls. Still not perfect but manageable and progress is being made, I can see him check out for a nanosecond to sniff, then remember my hand is what is valuable and back his focus comes to me. I’m certain he was still tired and over-stimulated from his beach run around last night as his focus was more skittish. We are in the unpopular camp of people who don’t give our puppy the maximum of the ‘recommended’ amount of exercise everyday, we do an off lead run around for at least half an hour every other day, and short on lead training walks on the days in between ideally twice a day. Anything more and Wilson’s behaviour is awful seemingly because he is over stimulated and over tired. We spend our time together playing, mentally exercising him and working on calming training games. This works for us, and keeps him at a manageable level of stimulation so we all stay friends. I do feel pangs of guilt that we don’t take him for long walks every day at the moment but every time I’ve pushed it, he gets overwhelmed so I regularly remind myself: Read the dog in front of you, not everyone else’s opinion on the internet.
(I realise this area of the forum is less used and that these posts are for me, hence the length, frequency and detail ) Two short training walks today, in the morning my husband took him alone and returned with the summary: ‘that was probably the best lead walk I’ve ever had with him’ - tada! In the evening we went together, taking turns to lead the training. Wilson was OK but a lot more distracted and walking at a less desirable heel position. It was good to have someone else there to give feedback on what you can’t see easily for yourself. It also reminded me that we both need to be watching the videos together. I’d described a technique for when Wilson starts to lose his loose leash to my husband as he didn’t have time to watch the videos, I described it without enough detail and I realised on our walk together that he was therefore using a different technique. Doh!
I thought I would reply to this thread in the hope that others pitch in and help.I can’t really help with the lead pulling as I did it with treats in my hand and asking him to heel. I’m sure there are videos on here about loose lead walking that may help. My comment is on the amount of exercise. I found it really difficult to stick to the 5 mins per month as whatever I gave him never seemed enough. Labradors are scent driven so to be off the lead moving from one good smell to another is what they want to do and burns up energy in the sniffing process. Keeping Wilson on a tight lead and only giving him that walk he craves every other day must be frustrating for him.Can you find a quiet off road route where he can be off the lead for the 45 mins max and use scent to burn off some energy.Then do the lead training on the way back when he is calmer. Just a suggestion and as you say all dogs are different.
