Pebbles’ Training Journey: Loose Lead Walking

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When I first started taking Pebbles out and about, I wasn’t particularly concerned about whether she could walk nicely on a lead.

I know that might sound strange coming from a dog trainer, but I think it’s really important to remember that loose lead walking is a skill we teach — it isn’t something a puppy is born knowing how to do.

Before expecting Pebbles to walk beautifully around distractions, I wanted her to have time to experience the world around her.

We spent lots of time around our house and at the recreation ground, allowing her to watch, sniff, investigate and take in everything that was happening around her. I didn’t rush her, and I didn’t turn every outing into a training session.

The recreation ground became a familiar, safe place where she could learn about her environment without me expecting her to perform a particular behaviour. Once I felt she was comfortable there, I could start asking her to learn a new skill within that environment.

Teaching her where I want her to walk

Alongside this, I had already been teaching Pebbles that being next to me was a really valuable place to be.

I practised this at home and at my training studio, initially without a lead at all. This is important to me because I want to make sure I’m teaching her to pay attention to my voice, my movement and my body language, rather than accidentally teaching her that the lead is what tells her where to go.

By practising without the lead, I can see whether she is actually choosing to stay connected to me. I use my voice and body language to encourage her to move with me, and I mark and reinforce her when she chooses to be alongside me.

I also pay attention to where I deliver her food.

If I constantly feed a dog out in front of me, I’m potentially reinforcing that position. So, when I’m teaching Pebbles that being beside me is valuable, I deliver her treats beside me too. This helps to clearly highlight the location I want her to understand is rewarding.

I talk to her a lot when we’re walking. If I change direction, I don’t just turn and expect her to follow or use the lead to pull her around with me. I talk to her, encourage her to come with me and reinforce her for staying connected.

I also use lots of eye contact. Before moving off, I’ll often ask Pebbles to look at me. It gives us a little moment of connection and means she is more likely to notice where I’m going rather than simply heading off into the environment.

I’ve also been working on changing my speed. Sometimes we speed up and sometimes we slow down. I don’t necessarily need to change pace — it’s simply another way of keeping a little engagement and teaching Pebbles that paying attention to what I’m doing is worthwhile.

Exploring the world without pulling me around

This is probably one of the most important parts of my approach.

When we’re out walking, I don’t expect Pebbles to spend the whole walk walking neatly beside me — but I also don’t allow her to drag me around.

There is a middle ground.

When we’re somewhere new, or there are lots of interesting things happening around us, my expectation is simply that she can move around on a loose lead while having the freedom to investigate her environment.

She can sniff, watch things, stop and take in what’s happening, investigate interesting smells and, when appropriate, say hello to people or other dogs.

But she doesn’t get to pull me from one thing to the next.

At this stage, I’m not looking for a perfect position beside me. I’m looking for her to learn that she can explore the world without needing to pull to get where she wants to go.

When I think a social interaction is appropriate, I also like to cue her into it rather than allowing her to simply rush over.

If we see another dog that I think would be suitable to meet, I’ll first cue Pebbles to pay attention to me and then give her permission:

“Okay, say hello.”

I do the same with people.

I also use a cue around sniffing. I’ll let her know when she can investigate with a “go sniff”, give her time to enjoy it, and then ask her to come back with me.

And this bit is really important — I reinforce her for walking away.

If leaving the interesting smell, person or dog also leads to something good happening, she’s much more likely to make that choice willingly again in the future.

Giving her time to process

Our walks also contain plenty of regular breaks.

If Pebbles sees something new or exciting, I don’t feel the need to immediately move her past it. Sometimes the best thing I can do is simply stop and give her time to watch.

This gives her an opportunity to take in what she’s seeing, process the information and decide what she thinks about it.

The goal isn’t to make her ignore everything around her. It’s to help her learn that new and exciting things are information, not automatically something to worry about.

If she sees something unusual today and has time to process it calmly, the next time she encounters something similar, it should be much more familiar.

So what does a good walk look like?

For me, it isn’t a puppy walking perfectly at my side for the entire duration.

It’s a puppy who can walk with me when I ask, engage with me when I need her attention, investigate her environment appropriately, stop and take in new information, and make good choices about when to move towards something and when to move away.

Pebbles is still very young, and her loose lead walking is still a work in progress.

But because I’ve spent time building the foundations rather than rushing the finished behaviour, I’m now able to gradually increase the amount of loose lead walking I ask for in more distracting environments.

And I think that’s the important bit:

I didn’t teach Pebbles to walk nicely by stopping her from exploring the world. I taught her that she can explore the world AND choose to walk with me.