Springtime! Let the Leash Pulling Begin!

I stood on the corner of Central Park West and 85th street this morning taking in the incredible springtime air. Blossoms on the trees! Birds all around! My gaze came to rest on a poor soul struggling with her dog on leash. I watched casually as her medium-sized doodley dog first pulled her hard toward the park, then darted off to the left to chase a passing squirrel. He hit the end of leash hard and fell onto his back. He flipped over with ease, turned toward his person and licked her pants, then somehow ended up doing a full backflip during which he became tangled in the leash. Undeterred he grabbed the leash wrapped around him and proceeded to play tug-of-war with it. The human, for her part, first staggered, then tried to maintain her grip on the leash whilst her shoulder was jerked nearly out of socket, then almost laughed, then shouted, then at the commencement of the game of tug seemed to be jerked to and fro like a rag doll.

wow.

What should a dog trainer, such as myself, do? Approach and give advice? Three quick tips could change her day, but unsolicited advice is a decidedly bad idea. Instead, I giggled at the wonder of such a motivated dog, and I moved along sending her good vibes and a smile.

Such scenes are hardly rare this time of year, and they warm my heart. You might think, because of my job, that I frown upon dogs who are giving their humans a hard time. On the contrary, I smile when I see loving people with enthusiastic dogs who aren’t quite understanding each other. Enthusiastic dogs are my very favorite kinds of dogs, and I have dedicated my life to them. How could I frown at a dog who is doing everything he can think of to go sniff that tree over there. What a joy he will be to that human once she understands how to help him get there without knocking her over!

The problem, in the meantime, is that he is doing damage to his human. If her arm and shoulder survive this moment intact, her emotions and pride will certainly suffer an injury. More importantly, their relationship is being worn down by this behavior, because it goes against our fantasy of life with our dog. When we adopt them, we dream of long side-by-side ambles through the paths of Central Park, green grasses swaying in the breeze, our devoted companions trotting along with glistening coats and adoration in their upward-focused gaze. That gaze (at us of course) remains consistent whilst squirrels scurry across our paths, dogs wrestle on a nearby hill, and even a horse (what the —?) and carriage ambles by.

Honestly, we can come pretty close to achieving that side-by-side bliss with a little bit of training. There are some basic principles that every dog human needs to know in order to help their dog get there.

Reward your dog for walking next to you. Not just with food, but with real life rewards! Avoid rewarding your dog for pulling. Most people do this inadvertently, by moving toward cool things when their dog pulls. Harness up if your dog has a major pulling inclination. Front (chest)-clipping harnesses such as Freedom No Pull help a LOT. We have some at the store, if you’re nearby. Back-clipping harnesses, on the other hand, will usually make your problem worse. You can phase out the harness once your training is underway, if you like.

Walking on leash is like holding hands. If I am holding your hand, I have to walk at an appropriate distance and apply a small amount of pressure. I also have to pay attention to you so that I don’t yank your shoulder out of socket when I see a sale on fanny packs at Lulu Lemon (I know. I know. It’s called a belt bag now)! It is the same with walking a dog on leash. Focus on your dog. Talk to them when they are close to you. Slow down or stop and be calm when they pull so they can start to understand that it doesn’t work for you or for them.

Need a little help? Leash training is easy to describe, but sometimes harder to execute around heavy distractions. Join us for our Adolescent Manners or Leash Workshops so that you can get loads of practice with an expert trainer at your elbow. We looooooove enthusiastic dogs and people and we are so eager to help you that we would do a backflip and lick your pants when you arrive.

No. No, we won’t lick your pants.

Get out there and enjoy the glorious weather with your dog! Happy Spring!