Loose Leash Walking, Part 2

First Things First
If your puppy doesn't know about leashes yet, start slowly. Skip to step 3 with a more experienced dog.

Step 1:
Put the collar on, and let her get used to it. You can give her treats or play with her to take her mind off the collar. Once she gets used to the collar its time to move to the next step.

Step 2:
Attach a short lightweight leash to her collar and let her drag it around. Watch that the leash doesn't get caught on anything. Do what you did before, giving her treats or playing with her to take her mind off the leash.

Step 3:
Once she no longer paying attention to the leash, put a very light pressure on the leash. You don't want to scare her, so the pressure must be truly light. Then call her to you, using a toy or treats or smoochy noises, so that she chooses to come to you. Her natural response is to pull, so you are teaching her that she can remove collar pressure by moving toward you. Repeat this until you are sure she understands to move toward you when she feels collar pressure.

Walking With A Goal game
The purpose of Walking With A Goal is to teach your dog how to keep the leash loose, in the context of a fun game. You begin teaching this game in a familiar low distraction place, like your living room. There you can control all the variables, so your dog learns how easy it is to win, keeping it fun for her. When your dog is winning consistently, then you gradually increase the difficulty, in preparation for getting ready to train LLW in the "real world".

You want your dog to understand that pulling on the leash never works. If pulling on the leash is never rewarded AND keeping the leash loose is rewarded by letting the dog go forward... no sane dog would keep pulling. Dogs DO what WORKS for dogs. If it doesn't work, they won't keep doing it. Look at this as the first day of the rest of your dog's life. From this moment on a tight leash will never be rewarded. And remember, use management when you need to.

To begin the game you will need space enough to move about 25 feet in a straight line. At one end of that line will be something your dog wants to get to. The idea is to train in a place that is both familiar and not distracting, so your dog can focus on the goodies at the finish line. I usually use a dish with yummy and smelly treats. The starting place for the game is the other end of the line.

Prepare Your Leash
You'll decide for yourself where you want your dog to walk and you should have a picture in your mind of what loose leash walking looks and feels like. Most medium to large dogs do best walking beside and just a little in front of their owner - with the dog's side or hips even with the owner's hips, making it easy to see the dog with your peripheral vision. For smaller dogs, you may want them farther ahead of you, so they are easier to see and less likely to get stepped on if you misstep.

If you want your dog to clearly understand what a loose leash is, then it has to be distinctly different from "not loose". Some people aren't bothered by a little tension in the leash, but a distinction between a "little tension" and "too much tension" is harder to understand for the dog and an unclear criteria for the owner to train. To make training smoother and easier to understand, the distinction between loose and not loose needs to be clear. Therefore I recommend your loose leash definition include a snap that hangs down and a leash with a gentle curve to it.

Step 1:
Prepare your leash by tying a knot in the right place. Usually a six foot leash is the right size, but if you are very tall and your dog is very small, you could need a longer leash. With the dog standing where you want him to walk, attach the leash to his collar. Hold the handle of the leash with your right hand. With your left arm hanging comfortably at your side and the leash snap hanging down from the dog's collar and then curving up toward you, slip the leash between your middle and ring fingers and grasp it. That is where you want to tie the knot.

Step 2:
You will hold the loop of the leash in your right hand and the knot will be in your left hand, with the leash going between your middle and ring fingers. Your left hand should be gently curled around the knot. If the leash is loose, your left arm hangs comfortably at your side. If the leash is tight, your left arm/hand will be pulled away from your body. Depending on the length of your leash, the size of your dog, and where you want your dog to walk, you may have to take up a loop of extra leash in your right hand.

Step 3:
Place your hand in your dog's collar and walk toward the dish. When you get there, while holding the dog back with one hand, put yummy and smelly treats in the dish with the other hand. You want your dog to be able to a-l-m-o-s-t reach the treats and certainly able to smell them. The idea is for your dog to have a strong desire to get to those treats. Now, with your hand still in your dog's collar, walk to the other end of the line where the start is.

Step 4:
Get your hands situated on the leash and when you are ready walk slowly toward the dish. If/when your dog gets all the way to the dish with a loose leash, she can have all the goodies there - that's the goal - get to and gobble up all the goodies. That's how the dog wins.
If the leash is tight at any time, i.e. the leash is straight or your hand is pulled away from your body, you will back up all the way to the beginning. Yes, you must back up and all the way to the starting point. Then start again. Any time the leash is tightened - it should be like a switch turning on your back-up motor. Keep in mind the idea is not to give the dog a leash correction, you don't want to jerk on his neck. In the beginning of this training, you can let go of the knot and say your dog's name as you stop before starting to move backward, to keep from jerking on his neck and to help him understand you are changing direction. After a short while your dog will be paying close attention to you and won't need that extra help.

Step 5:
Repeat Steps 3 and 4 over and over again. When your dog is very good at getting all way to the treats, five times in a row, without any tight leash on the way, its time to up the ante.

Step 6:
Upping the ante is all about making the task harder in small increments, so your dog has a chance to win and yet is still learning. There are many ways to up the ante and the more of them you work through, the more solid your dog's understanding of the rules will be. Pick one and play Walking With a Goal until your dog is very good at getting all way to the treats, five times in a row, without any tight leash on the way. Some ways to increase the difficulty include:

• increasing the distance between the start and the treat dish
• use even more wonderful treats in the dish
• practice this game when your dog hasn't had a meal yet and is hungrier than usual
• use your dog's meal at the end of the line
• if your dog is toy motivated, place his ball or toy in the dish and when he wins by getting there on a loose leash, play with him before starting over
• walk normal speed
• walk at a faster speed
• rev your dog up at the start line so he's really jazzed to go
• practice this game when your dog is well rested and ready to go
• even use a person your dog loves as the goal
• get creative and have something special as the goal

Gimme here: My person takes me to a great place where I get to run and play off leash. There are many special smells because wild animals live in the woods. Since I know to always come when called, its completely safe for me there. I have always been let out of the car to start running and playing right away. Then one day my person put the leash on me before I got out of the car. I was used to playing and running free, so I pulled a lot when we started walking. Every time I pulled, my person backed all the way to the car. I thought she was broken! That day I learned I must Walking With a loose leash before I can run free. It took me awhile to figure out this new rule and it was HARD. Of course, I did figure it out and then I got what I wanted - the leash came off and I had a really great play fest. I'm glad I'm so smart. I'm just saying...

Targeting - Details to Teach Basics

It's a good idea to teach a full set of basic targeting behaviors. I explain in detail here how to teach hand target (touch), foot target (target), and race to target (go). Not all of these steps will be necessary for every dog. Likewise, you may not need to train to the full level of detail I have described, based on your needs and goals.

Remember, you can also teach your dog to nose target and follow a target stick, anti-target, and to target other body parts, such as her paw on your foot. Foot targeting is the beginning of teaching your dog how to play flyball. It can also be a great way to exercise your dog.

Teaching target to your hand – touch
Extend your hand in front of your dog's face a couple of inches away and click/treat for any interest. Most dogs will start with a full touch to investigate what you may have in that hand, if not click/treat for any interest from a glance to a head turn. Click whatever you get and continue from there until you are getting full repeated touches with your hand directly in front of your dog.

If your dog shows no interest then you can squeeze a small bit of food between your fingers to stimulate interest; this is not preferred, as you will then have to fade the food.

When your dog is repeatedly touching your hand held right in front of her nose, work through the following:

• move hand farther away in small increments until your dog has to stretch to touch it. click/treat for any effort to stretch out and touch the hand and gradually shape for more.
• other positions, such as to either side or up and down from your dog's head, requiring greater head movement to touch your hand.
• different positions of your hand (be sure to use either and/or both hands) and the dog relative to your body, i.e. not always with the dog in front of you or an outstretched hand in front of you or on one side.
• work for multiple touches before click/treat (don't always make this harder and harder, rather vary randomly)

Now gradually encourage your dog to follow your hand, first one step, then more steps.

• in the hand following phase your dog need not actually touch your hand, but rather actively follow/chase your hand, but not jumping to touch it.
• gradually move your hand up from in front of the dog to a position comfortable for you to maintain while moving normally
• gradually extend the distance the dog must move before the click/treat
• either leaving your dog on a sit/wait or having someone restrain your dog, move away then call your dog and extend just one hand and click/treat for the dog orienting to and following the extended hand.
• work toward having the dog looking for, finding/orienting on and following whichever hand is extended regardless of where you are, how far, or your relative position to the dog

Teach your dog to follow one hand and then switch to another smoothly

• with your dog coming in to one hand held at the front of the body, slide the other hand in to join it, then move the second hand out away from you while smoothly fading the first hand up the front of your body. your dog must follow the second hand - do this repeatedly switching from either hand to the other and back again
• practice this same maneuver with your dog coming from either side and from behind - this will require you to rotate your body so that the dog ends up on the other side of you

Teaching send to plastic target - "target"
Use a plastic margarine lid as your target. Hold it in front of your dog's face a couple of inches away and click/treat for any interest. Depending on your dog "any interest" may be anything from a glance toward the target through a full touch. Click whatever you get and continue from there until you are getting full repeated touches.

When your dog is repeatedly touching the target held directly in front, move it slightly further until he has to stretch to touch it, work through the following:

• move target father away in small increments until your dog has to stretch to touch it. click/treat for any effort to stretch out and touch the target and gradually shape for more.
• other positions, such as to either side or up and down from your dog's head, requiring greater degrees of head turn to touch target.
• focus on holding the target below your dog's head moving closer to the ground. as you move the target to the ground, the dog may switch to paw touches, this is perfectly acceptable
• different positions of target and the dog relative to your body, i.e. not always with the dog and target hand in front of you, on one side or with the dog facing toward you as it touches

Now move target to the ground and encourage your dog to turn away from you and touch the target, first one step, then more steps.

• the best way to increase distance is to gradually take small steps back and away while your dog is turned away from you and going toward the target.
• don't let your dog fake you out and start abbreviating the send to the target
• if your dog starts running around the target to face back to you before touching, reduce the distance and/or use barriers to prevent a turn before touching.

Then teach your dog to go over or through an obstacle to get to the target

• start by sending your dog between two jump standards to get to the target, then place a bar on the ground between the jump standards, gradually step up to a low jump, "go"
• send to the target through short tunnels, "go tunnel"
• place the target on a pause table, "go table"

With your dog at your side, place a piece of food on the target, making sure he knows it is there, then walk away. get ready with more treats in your outside hand, encourage your dog with "are you ready?" and send him to the target, racing him and then while telling him what a good dog he is, continue by placing the extra treats on the target one by one (never be a "one cookie wonder") -- and while feeding the treats onto the target, discreetly take your dog by collar or tab leash

• if your dog leaves the target without waiting for the other treats, bring him back and show him the other treats he missed and then quickly continue dropping treats on the target while he's eating the others.
• then go back and try again, if necessary put a drag line on your dog so you can limit his options by stepping on the line, though carefully - this is not intended as a punisher, only to limit options and help your dog succeed

This can be a good way to exercise your dog. You can set up several targets and stand between them. Then send your dog to a target by pointing at it (you'll need to teach this direction). When he touches the target you click, then he runs back to you for the treat. Then send the dog to one of the other targets or the same one again - keeping it random. If the dog goes to a target you didn't direct, he just doesn't get a click/treat. As you add distance, your dog will be running back and forth at your direction and getting both mental and physical exercise.  Start with just 3 feet and gradually shape to 20 feet.

Teaching race to plastic target - "go"

Targeting to Get Behaviors

Targeting works well to get your dog to move somewhere away from you or when a behavior involves a specific place. Your dog can be taught to target a margarine lid, target stick, your hand, his leash or his bed (or anything for that matter).

Targeting is often a component of other methods to get the behavior (and vice versa) and in a sense is what is happening (hand targeting) when you move away from food luring. Keep in mind that transitioning the human to a standing/upright position can be difficult with some lured behaviors, so using a target stick can be helpful. Almost any trick taught by luring can be taught by targeting – once you create a target fiend in your dog.

Gimme here:  My person and I invented something special using targeting and then free shaping.  I have a piece of wood that I learned to target with my front feet.  Then my person used my favorite free shaping to teach me to spin in a circle while keeping my feet on the wood target.  She calls it a forehand pivot.  I'm very good at it and people say I have a sophisticated awareness of my back feet.  That may be true, but I just like doing it because its fun.

Anti-target is teaching the dog to move away (or move a body part away) from the anti-target end of the target stick and gives you a whole range of movements you can teach your dog.  Its especially useful for freestyle and many tricks.  The anti-target end is usually painted a different color (white) than the target end (blue or yellow).  [note: these colors are easiest for dogs of all breeds to see.]

I start by teaching each of the targeting base behaviors so I have them in place when I need one.  You will notice right away that some dogs are nose dogs and some are paw dogs.  That means they prefer to touch with either their nose or foot.  It is a useful exercise to make sure your dog has both nose touch and foot touch behaviors among his targeting basics.  For instance: foot touch a margarine lid, nose touch a target stick, nose touch your hand, nose touch his leash, foot and then bumm touch to his bed.

Your dog can target and follow your hand (medium to large dogs) or a target stick (smaller dogs) to learn to walk alongside you. You can teach your dog to rest his head in your hand during a veterinary exam (starts as a luring exercise). Targeting, or going to lay on his bed, is a good behavior to teach in place of rude door behavior or begging during dinner.  You may want to keep the target as part of the behavior, so plan ahead.  You may need to take that bed with you when you travel (or you could teach the same behavior to different bedding that you indicate by a cue).  Usually you will need to fade the target during moving behaviors.

To teach your dog to nose target your hand or target stick, click/treat every time your dog turns to look at your outstretched hand or the target stick. Then gradually increase the behavior until he follows your hand or the target stick.

When you start working on the dog walking alongside you, first your hand will be at nose level, then you will fade your target hand to a position near your waist as if you were holding the leash.  In the case of a target stick you fade it by sliding it up your arm so that less and less of the stick is visible in your hand.  If you use a target stick a lot, it can be helpful to make several in different lengths (36", 24" and 12" are helpful sizes).  Make sure your target stick has a rounded end so your dog isn't put off by nose touching an abrupt edge.

For the bed example, you might click/treat every time your dog turns to look toward the bed. Then gradually increase the behavior until he goes to and lays down on the bed.  Did you notice the free-shaping element there?  Be sure to use small increments as you shape to the end behavior. In the end you must decide what cues to use. You can put it on that verbal cue "go to bed", as well as teaching that the sound of the doorbell is the cue to go to bed.

Plan ahead to decide what cue you want to end up with, so that you are taking a direct route fading-wise and don’t create more work for yourself and your dog.

Teaching Anti-target

Teach your dog the anti-target concept in advance as another targeting basic.  First teach your dog that touching the anti-target end does not "count" as a clickable behavior. Hold the stick parallel to the ground by the middle with both the target and anti-target ends available. The dog must target the correct end to get a click/treat.  Then holding the stick by the target end (blue or yellow bulb) gently touch your dog in the flank area and click for any movement away. This is a gentle tickle – not a poke in the side.

If your dog attempts to target the anti-target end, you have multiple options:

• lift the stick away and use a shorter leash to control the head while reaching around to tickle the side
• repeatedly allow the dog to touch the target end without reward and wait for the unrewarded behavior to extinguish
• go back and repeat the exercise that teaches the dog to target only the bulb end of the stick

Teach the dog with gentle touches to the front feet to move the feet away at the approach of the anti-target end. Add touches to other body parts, always click/treating when the dog moves away.  From time to time, go back to targeting the target end to make sure the dog doesn’t lose that behavior and to solidify the difference in the two ends.

Target a Trick
I recommend using targeting to teach your dog a trick.  That is a good way to practice a training method so you can relax and enjoy the process, before you use targeting for something important.  Remember, "important" is a human point of view; its all tricks to your dog.  Speaking of tricks, here's a list of possible tricks for targeting:

spin
around you
over or under an obstacle
onto an obstacle
weave under the legs - stationary
weave through legs walking
low crawl (butt stays down)
high crawl (butt up like bow)
ballerina (stand up)
sit up and beg
left and right
chin in your hands – a freestyle ending

Here's a list of possible tricks for anti-targeting:

side passes in front of you
side passes beside you and with you
side passes beside you and away
pivot on forehand
pivot on hindquarters
backing up
move straight toward you while you back up
backwards (pivoting) leg weaves
trot in place

Remember:  You are limited only by your own creativity.

Overall Training Plan

Stages of Learning
Effective training follows a pattern of "stages".  There are six stages of learning for you to work through if your dog is going to be well trained and reliable.  People who are training with canine performance goals in mind, should aim to train through all six stages.  Those who simply want an great companion who is a joy to live with, may not need to go that far.  Do realize, some behaviors don't even have all three of the last stages as components.

Once you teach your dog several behaviors and go through the 6 Stages of Learning for each, you notice your dog understands the pattern and knows what comes next.  With reward based training, your dog becomes a willing partner who is eager to learn.  So, the more you train the faster and easier it gets.  Be careful though - reward based training is so much fun that it can be really addictive.

The 6 Stages of Learning are:

1. Get the behavior
2. Add the verbal cue
3. Wait for the cue
4. Add distraction
5. Add duration
6. Add distance

Get the Behavior
In order to reinforce a behavior, you must first "get the behavior". You cannot reinforce what is not happening. There are five general methods to get a behavior: Capturing, Luring, Free Shaping, Targeting and Modeling.  Each will be discussed in detail in a separate blog entry.  They each have advantages and disadvantages.
 
People tend to have preferences about which they use the most. I have noticed many dogs seem to have preferences or at least differences in their learning style that make one or another more effective for them.
 
Your goal should be to have a working understanding of all five methods and know when to best use each.

In this blog you will notice that I speak of "shaping" a behavior and also "free shaping" as a method to get a behavior.

• Shaping refers to the process of gradually changing the behavior you are getting to get closer to a final version of the behavior.
• Free shaping as a method to get behavior refers to using shaping only with what the dog offers to you (i.e. not using capturing, luring, modeling or targeting to prompt the behavior).

Capturing is most effective for behaviors your dog already does in a more or less complete form. Such as: sit, sit up and beg, down and potty. Each dog has its own repertoire of things it does frequently. Capturing is not effective for teaching the dog to do something that he is unlikely to do naturally.

Luring is best used for getting the dog to move or assume a position, such as luring into a sit or down, or luring them to walk alongside you.

Free Shaping is sort of an advanced form of "capturing" and is used well for behaviors the dog does not offer or do naturally as a complete thing. It develops your dog's creativity and confidence and makes learning into a cool game for the dog.

Gimme here:  I especially love free shaping games.  I'm very clever and creative and I have oodles of confidence, so I can really shine when we play this game.  I'm not bragging, it's the truth.


Targeting is best used to get your dog to move somewhere or when a behavior involves a specific place. Your dog can be taught to target a margarine lid, target stick, your hand, his leash or his bed (or any thing for that matter).

Modeling/Molding involves physical manipulation of the dog into a position or place. It can be effective for simple behaviors with some dogs. Many dogs seem to resent being physically manipulated into position or are uncomfortable with being touched or held in certain ways.