12. June 2026

Loose Lead Walking

Loose lead walking is a necessary skill for all dogs and their owners to master. Yes I call dogs guardians as owners. They are not mum and dad. The dog is a dog not a fur baby it is a dog. Yes it is part of the family and is loved but should never be treated as a child or anything other than what it is. Now this may sound harsh however it is where many problems start.

Dogs need clear parameters to work with and also need clear leadership. This starts with your new puppy!

At new puppy stage we need to start getting the puppy to realise we are the best thing in its world so that we start to build strong bonds with the dog. This is when we start in the garden or an enclosed space encouraging the puppy to walk with us on the side of our body we want the dog to eventually work on at all times. The usual side is on our left but is a matter of preference.

We start with the new puppy off lead and we use treats to encourage the puppy to walk beside us regularly paying the puppy with the treats when in a good position beside us. This also helps get the puppy focused on us even before the lead is applied. By doing this it helps greatly when we do progress to using a lead.

When the puppy is fully vaccinated of course we want to get it out in the big wide world but before that we must have decided on the equipment we are going to use and have familiarised the puppy with it.

In recent years more and more people are choosing a harness for their puppy in the belief it is kinder on the dog. This is in fact not correct! A badly fitting harness can cause rubbing of sensitive skin, it can restrict shoulder movement and can cause skeletal issues. Harnesses can also encourage pulling which is not surprising when they were originally designed for that job. Harnesses on dogs were for pulling sleds and of course still are.

A better option is a flat collar and lead. The lead should be a set length not an extending lead which again can cause pulling or even be more dangerous by getting wrapped around the handlers leg and pulling tight. Although a flat collar is a better option it is not the best as it is of fixed length. The best option is a Slip Lead. You may hear some trainers say slip leads are cruel as they are a noose around the dogs neck and work by chocking the dog to force its behaviour. Well used incorrectly that may be true but when used correctly it is the softest and best option.

We should at this point have the puppy walking in a good position from its early training so we can simply put the slip lead over the pups head and that is the lead on. if our early work is established the lead will sit softly around the pups neck however it does give us the tools to correct things quickly and easily without roughness if we need to.

To be used as a lead for training the collar part should be fitted right up behind the dogs ears and the lead will have a toggle of some description to set the length around the neck to keep it in position. we then with the puppy at our side set off forward on that loose lead and if it gets too far in front of us we simply give a little flick or pop on the lead to get the dogs focus back on us. We do NOT pull the lead tight and keep pulling as that will tighten the collar part and set up a real pulling battle. we keep the lead loose give it that flick or pop and reward the puppy for refocusing on us and repositioning beside us.