Dogs Keep Pulling on the Leash Despite Training
Owners are facing challenges with their dogs, including leash pulling, whining over toys, and reactivity to squirrels. Solutions involve training techniques like recall and gentle lead use, alongside addressing underlying anxieties.
SOURCES (60)
“I need help! My dog (7 months, Female, Springer spaniel) is training to be a service dog. She is perfect and very well trained... except when walking on a lead. Im using the method where you stop when they pull. I can't reward her with…”
“Hi everyone! I have a golden retriever that just turned 1 in July. Her leash manners have always been something that I have struggled with. The problem is, she is only food/toy motivated inside. Outside, she becomes very environmentally motivated. Food loses about 90% of its value the second I open the door for a walk. I have tried many treats to find that “golden” one that works. For example, I have figured out that outside I cannot get her into a heel position with a treat or a toy in my hand,”
“I used to call my beagle stubborn when he'd plant himself halfway through a walk. Took me a while to see that he was working through a scent I'd marched right past. Some days I still need us to get home, but I don't treat every pause like an argument now. What's something you misread about your dog until you knew them better? submitted by /u/TheDogCareGuy [link] [comments]”
“Adopted a pittie mix in April and she’s been great! We had a few issues with peeing in the house and jumping but those were quickly, and easily, trained out. But i’m just stumped about what to do with this issue. Lately however, when I walk her in the evening to make sure everything is out of her system (mainly poop/pee but also energy) when she doesn’t want to go home or continue walking she crouches down in a way that makes her slip her harness if I try to pull her, which sometimes she crouche”
“I adopted a 1½-ish-year-old Boxer/Lab/Pit-type mix in July. He’s very food motivated and can respond to commands pretty appropriately in other settings. However, now and for the past 3 weeks, when we try to take him on a leash, he turns against the leash and starts biting and tugging it. This typically happens toward the end of the walk, maybe 10–15 minutes in, or after he poops when he gets excited. Not much trend Once it starts, it’s basically impossible to get him to stop. He won’t listen to”
“Hi all, Will try to keep this short but looking for some advice. I have a 14 month old Staffy Husky cross. Originally he was walked on a harness however he’s now over 40kg and very muscular, and a hardcore puller on the lead. By the time he was 8 months old he was regularly pulling me over on walks so I invested in a trainer who specialised in large and bully breeds. I now walk him using a figure of 8 lead but he still walks under tension at all times and has slipped the nose loop before which c”
“I recently started trying to teach my dog loose leash walking by starting at home and having her on leash walking beside me and giving her some food every few steps she's able to walk beside me without the leash tensing. Problem now is she seems to have developed a habit where she'll just bunker down and not move and when I pull she will have no reaction and stare at me as she's waiting for food or she won't move. I feel like I messed this up and she's in an even worse state”
“My dog is an absolute nightmare on the leash and always has been despite years of training efforts. I genuinely think something might be neurodevelopmentally off with her because I’ve had dogs all of my life and have never had one who is this reactive or insistent on doing what she feels like at the moment on our walks. If she sees someone, another dog, even a random other creature like a lizard, she wants to go up to, she will throw herself on the ground and it will take Herculean effort to get”
“Ok so I have a now 5 month old pitlab that I adopted from the humane society that ive had since she was 3 months old. One of my biggest issues with trying to train these is that she is not interested in any food when we are outside, ive tried regular training treats and she will sniff and look away, ive tried her favorite Hotdogs and cheese, she will sniff and look away or spit them out. But shes happy to train at home. Ok so here are my list of problems I need help training; 1.) When we go for”
“Hi all! We have a 1.2 year old male boxer who is still intact. We are getting him fixed in the next couple of months, BUT... he's so aggressive on the leash. He used to be able to be off leash with no issues, had decent recall and got along with everyone. Since May, he's become such an asshole. He's TERRIBLE on leash, tries to attack every human or dog he sees and is completely unmanageable for me (I'm a smallish lady). I love him so much and he's so good at home with us but”
“hello, my puppy is 7 months old. we are learning loose leash walking (making good progress unless she’s excited or sees another dog). my puppy is a very timid girl and gets scared easily (think seeing a box on the road and being terrified of it). when she gets scared on the leash, she immediately tries to bolt away from whatever is scaring her. i’m wondering what is the best way to respond to this? i don’t want to force her to be close to something she is scared of, but i also feel it isn’t safe”
“Hi my partner and I are having a dilemma involving my mom's new puppy involving leash training and I want some advice on what we can do to bring up the right things with her. For context we all live in my grandmother's house and already had three dogs, our oldest has been slowly getting closer to passing so we all had a agreement to not get another dog until she did. Cut to my mother on a whim deciding to get a 10 week old puppy (chihuahua pug mix) that my grandma was NOT happy about her”
“I have a 9 week old puppy. We have her on a leash that drags behind her so we can easily stop or correct behavior. This is working well. I’m not so sure what to do with her in the yard. Should I let her run free in the fenced yard? She eats everything she finds and can get too rambunctious. But if I keep on the leash she pulls and jumps to get away. Also, if she is walking nicely and looking for a place to potty she is ahead of me and I don’t want to teach her bad leash habits. I know she is ver”
“Ive tried all the general methods at this point: back & forth walking as soon as he pulls, stop & go, turn back & end the walk if he pulls, constant treats & engagement- he doesn’t care about treats when he’s on the street. He’s a poodle & I currently use a collar but it’s literally breaking my heart too see how hard he’s choking himself on the collar because he likes to LAUNCH himself onto the street from excitement. Do I have to accept that he’s just always going to pull &a”
“I have a mini schnauzer 8months old. I know she's in her rebellious adolescent stage but when I need to go somewhere and I need to take her (mainly for continued training) she runs from me. She does this all day long, not just for car rides. Her body language tells me it's a game to her. I never chase her, instead I offer her a treat so that I can grab her. Am I doing right by offering her a treat everytime? When I don't need to pick her up but I attempt to, I will walk away and igno”
“My dog is leash reactive but otherwise is incredible and I am really struggling with it. He can play hide and seek, does nose work, commands like center, heel, stay and leave it all really well. Even with the cat as a distraction (he'd 100% eat him, no sarcasm there We got a trainer who has great reviews but the first time we met we just talked for 45 minutes.. we had an email consultation before hand so I didn't expect to just not learn/ actively practice anything. The last fifteen minu”
“How did you guys get your puppy to walk nicely on the lead? Our 3.5-month-old Cavapoo just pulls and pulls—so much so that she ends up swinging herself around! She gets instantly distracted by everything: people, dogs, babies, prams, and bikes. The second we step outside into the park, all her indoor commands completely go out the window. We currently walk her on a harness, and the local park we use is fairly active. I really hope her walking gets better—this is the one main thing we want to mak”
“I have a 3 year old golden retriever (rescue). He’s full of energy and has a serious prey drive. On walks, he wants to pull at everything and anything. Squirrels, birds, dogs, people, things I don’t even see, pulls. I’ve been trying to train a loose leash walk for a while, and I’ve seen no improvement. It usually goes something like this: dog pulls, I force him to wait, look at me, and sit. Treat. Give command to start walking, I walk one step, and he pulls hard towards whatever he wants. I stop”
“I have a 2-year-old mixed-breed female dog who is very energetic. When we go for walks, she pulls hard on the leash because she wants to go towards people, and sometimes tries to jump on them. She also jumps on visitors at home and can accidentally hurt them because she doesn’t realize her size. I know I should have trained her earlier, but I didn’t take her on walks much when she was younger because I had problems with my legs. I’m doing better now and want to start training her properly. Where”
“Jasper, 20.5 weeks, probably 60lb now cattle dog mixed with a bunch of other larger breeds of dog. Had him since August 7. He has discovered the You Can't Catch Me game. We need to put much more effort into training his recall than we have, I know this. But for the moment, he's a very large, very fast puppy with the recall of your average housecat. He turns into a giant sharky goblin when he's over tired (I know this is normal for puppies but it is a lot when a dog as big as he alrea”
“Hello everyone! I have a 6 month old shorkie, I’ve been trying to take him on walks but he’s not liking it? I will take him out and he’ll walk maybe 20 feet, stand and watch the cars pass for 10 seconds, pull on the leash to smell spots I don’t want him to smell (specifically any grass that’s directly in front of my neighbors grass, like the one before the sidewalk) and then he will walk back to our house. He’s outside for maybe 3 minutes. I’m not sure what the issue is. He does tend to like sha”
“I have an 11 month old German Shephard. He is not neutered yet but will be soon. If he is off leash he will keep going. How do you teach him to come back? submitted by /u/Prettyred1 [link] [comments]”
“Our bichon pup is 11 weeks (not fully vaccinated)- we have had her for almost 3 weeks. We have been trying the leash at home but she will just lay down and refuses to move 🙃. She doesn’t seem motivated by treats/toys at all when on the leash. She will be able to go for walks in 2-3 weeks how can I overcome this? submitted by /u/Jolly-Experience6818 [link] [comments]”
“I’ve found there can be such a big difference between practising at home and trying the same things outdoors. At home everything can seem to click, but once there are other dogs, people and a million different smells around, getting the same focus is so much harder. For those who’ve experienced this with their pup, did it mostly get better with time and practice, or was there anything specific that helped? submitted by /u/Massive-Row-3229 [link] [comments]”
“Hi 👋🏻 we adopted a 3 month old beagle mix a little over two months ago and from the start I made a horrible mistake and walked her only with my adult dog. Now she refuses to walk without him despite my attempts at praise, treats, luring her with said treats, walking the same route, different route, getting in the car and driving elsewhere. I'm at a loss with how to make her confident enough to walk without him and also feel pretty guilty cause I could have very easily avoided this. Any ide”
“7 month old cocker spaniel. She's great at everything, but she cannot walk nicely. I've been trying my best to train her to at the very least not drag me around when on walks but it's not working. Took her out for a training walk today, and because she became overexcited in the house we had to leave later than I wanted. Which meant everyone was outside going to work and school. I should've just called it but I thought no we'll see how she does. And she was doing FINE until an”
“I want to train that with treats, but my dog doesn't do any other commands when I give him free. He is just running to the treat, and comes back. I have used a leash to, so he needs to do the command and can't go to the treat, but it's a little bit frustrated for him and than he doesn't look to the treat, but looks at me 😅 if someone has any tips, it would be grateful. submitted by /u/Gloomy-Angle3769 [link] [comments]”
“My puppy is 15 nearly 16 weeks and she is mental on a leash, pulling, sniffing or chewing by everything, distracted by anything that moves and refuses to listen to me. Even when I have treats and she knows it she won’t listen and she is the most food motivated dog I have ever met. I’m currently in the beginning stages of trying every time she pulls stop method but she seems to just get frustrated and not get what I want. She’s got that every time we stop she sits down or looks at me but hasn’t g”
“my dog is always excited to go outside, but if i try to bring him outside the closed off estate we live in he will always turn back a few minutes later to try go back home. this is especially true when i drag him to the park (a place he will comedically walk a few steps in before pausing, staring at me, and trying to turn back) we live in a pretty traffic heavy place so im not surprised he dislikes it (he's naturally pretty jumpy and im sure he can sense my own anxiety disorder as well), but”
“My 70lb Rhodesian ridgeback mix, rescue, 6 years old, used to pull a ton at all times. We’ve gotten much better and actually have pretty relaxing walks, but the second we turn around to go home she is relentless. Right now I admit the harness she has is not great for pulling but I mostly use a flat collar for walking, connected to the harness via carabiner, which has a handle as we also have had issues with reactivity so I like to have something I can grab and hold her back if needed. She’s gott”
“Aside from some great progress in the first two weeks, my dog is miserable to walk. We go for two walks a day every day and never get anywhere. We’re just turning back and forth constantly without ever making it more than four blocks from the house. He doesn’t seem to care how much I turn the other way. My training class taught him ‘heel’, but he only does it inside or in the backyard. He won’t even give me focus outside and refuses to check in unless we’re in the backyard. He completely ignores”
“So my 7 month old dog was a rescue dog and for the past 3 months I have been training him. He was very untrained when I took him, our walks were chaotic, he used to be dragging me, pulling on leash, eating everything, barking at people. Now he doesn't do any of that and is a very good dog on a walk. I have taught him a few commands like sit, stand, down, spin, guard etc. However as a first time dog owner, there are a few things I couldn't teach such as him being over excited with visitor”
“My puppy is a 7mo mix of labrador and border collie with whom we were with a professional private trainer last week. My girl wasn't THAT bad, it was just hard to keep her attention and the trainer told me that it was clear that my puppy wasn't interested in training, that she wasn't enthusiastic about it. It seems to her that she prefers to do her own thing (like explore, sniff around) and then when she feels like it, she'll do a few things to get a treat... Is there anything we”
“Long story short, my lab is very high energy and when we go outside she wants to book it. She's gotten a little better over the years but there is still those times where she pulls. I hired a trainer who has us using a Martingale collar on her as well as a gentle lead on her face. It does stop the pulling but she hates it. The trainer has me throwing high value treats at her whenever she tries to take it off.. Anyway, I just dont see how this is going to teach her unless I just keep using th”
“One thing I’ve learned with dogs is that sometimes we keep repeating a command when the dog has already told us pretty clearly, “I don’t understand what you want.” I used to think repeating yourself was part of training. “Come. Come. COME.” Meanwhile the dog is looking at you like you’re the one being difficult. What helped me more was backing up a step and making the behavior easier. Shorter sessions. Fewer distractions. Reward the correct response immediately. Then slowly make it harder. And p”
“Hi, we've been doing 2+ walks a day since we got him at 15 weeks and yesterday I think I accidentally exposed him to too busy of a street with a lot of cars going fast. I took him home and he napped. This morning on our normal route (much quieter roads with only a few cars) he acted very afraid of the cars and wouldn't take the treats he'll normally do anything I ask for. He also started pulling pretty hard towards home and whimpering a lot (normally he doesn't pull hardly at all”
“my male english working cocker is about 20 weeks old, he's soo high energy but extremely smart and a fast learner, and pretty obedient for the most part. he finally got his last round of shots last week and we're so excited to be able to take him on walks and adventures now! that being said he's only gone on a couple walks with us (not as many as we'd like in an ideal world but the high temperatures suck and our work schedules are weird hours), and of course it's his first ti”
“Hi all- I’ve had my dog since she was 2 months now and she’s almost 10 months. I’ve been working on loose leash walking with her almost daily since I got her and while she does good in low distraction areas and when she’s focused- other times she walks ahead and pulls. And if she see other dogs it becomes a game of trying to distract her with command etc and it does work sometimes but others she goes crazy and starts flailing on leash (I will give it to her, I’ve atleast got the barking down to”
“She’s a smallish mutt, around 2. When we take her for walks off leash in the big field by our house, she basically always cares only about us. She literally ignores other off leash dogs and won’t even say hi to people who ask to pet her because she’s just paying attention to us. But a lady walked by and our dog absolutely had to go say hi. no idea why. She darted off toward this random stranger and the lady let out this little scream and started to move faster away, which only made the game more”
“Please help me, i feel like i‘m losing my mind. My ex boyfriend left me with our golden retriever puppy that is now 10 months old. I do have a private trainer that helps me every now and then, but i feel like it‘s not enough. My 10 months old golden retriever walks like an absolute mess on the leash, he goes left then right then behind me, pulls as soon as he sees something interesting. He has a no pulling harness which is placed on his chest, we use this only, this was a recommendation by his t”
“Hi everyone, I could really use some guidance. My almost 5-month-old Golden Retriever puppy is a strong puller, especially when he sees food bags on the sidewalk. This morning he saw a food bag and kept pulling me toward it. He somehow managed to escape his collar while pulling and went to open the food bag. When I tried to put the collar back on, he started growling at me aggressively. I threw couple of treats at him and when got closer to put the collar on, he bit my hand. I understand if he’s”
“Hi all, 5 months ago, we adopted a 6 year old rescue. She's very sweet but also really anxious (probably due to trauma). As she was rescued from a large-scale breeder, she never learned how to walk on a leash, let alone walk outside of a dog kennel. It's clear that she feels at ease when we are home with the three of us, but once we go outside, she's easily distracted and anxious. A ball bouncing, a motorcycle passing by, a human walking towards us, ... You get the picture. She's”
“My Husky/Aussie Shepard mixed puppy just turned 16 weeks, and has started going on walks after receiving all her vaccinations. I am looking for healthy habits and tips to start getting into in order to help her train her recall ability. Also looking for leashing tips when we’re out on these walks. submitted by /u/primoprimo [link] [comments]”
“Hello! I am posting this to ask for help. My dog is 1 year old, we have been training since he was 8 weeks. When we walk he knows heel, if i stop he heels. When he pulls i turn around and he follows then we turn back around and walk and he pulls. If I have treats he walks beside me till he gets the treat then walk ahead and pulls. So I've tried stopping (he heels and we go and then he pulls) ive tried treats (he walks beside me till he gets a yes and a treat then pulls) ive tried turning aro”
“I have a mini educator. E collars purpose of for recall only so he can have leash freedom. He's perfect with recall and e collar recall at home, but the second we attempt to go out in public he completely ignores it. His working level is 5/100. He knows what the stimulation means, because at home, he will come without a verbal cue at the feeling of stimulation. However, the mere second we go in public (whether it's down the street, in a boring quiet parking lot, in the park, in a busy ar”
“I have a 5.5-month-old male Rough Collie, currently about 21kg, and walks are becoming really difficult. He pulls A LOT, but the biggest issue is when he sees people. He LOVES people. He’ll start whining, pulling towards them and trying to jump up to greet them. He’s already big and strong enough that I struggle to hold him back, so at the moment my partner generally has to walk him. If I walk him, I need my partner there with me. We currently use a very short traffic leash because we need that”
“I've already asked once here and it's same about the puppy. She's a 10 month old mix breed (don't know his breeds she's rescued) We've had a problem for the past days where when we take her for a walk she gets excited and begins spinning and running pulling the leash. I tried stopping her to calm down and keep walking but she'll just get more excited or turn rather anxious and begin to try escape by pulling back (she has almost achieved to escape once and we had to ca”
“About a month ago I took on a five year old dog from an elderly couple. This dog has the absolute worst leash manners. Her response to any kind of leash pressure is to lean hard against it. It's like a compulsion. If she wants to go somewhere and hits the end of the leash, she drops her head and leans hard into it like a weight pull dog. If she doesn't want to go somewhere and hits the end of the leash, she flops on the ground and sometimes alligator rolls. I can use a prong collar, harn”
“he’s 7 months, lab mix, super sweet at home but the second the leash goes on he turns into a total maniac. pulls like he’s training for the iditarod, lunges at every squirrel, and completely ignores me when i try to get his attention. walks are just stressful for both of us right now. i’ve been working on basic stuff at home and he sits and stays fine indoors, but outside it’s like nothing sticks. how long did it take your dog to actually chill on walks once you got serious about training? any t”
“I used to walk dogs for a company that advocates/used positive reinforcement techniques, so I know a few things and have been helping my friends with their golden who came to them untrained and pulling like a maniac. I’ve been using a Heather’s Heroes Sidekick halter and doing lots of turnarounds, treating for walking at my side and she’s improved, but still wants to be out ahead a lot of the time. Apparently she’s also better for me than my friends, and they recently got a prong for her - I’m n”
“Hello!! I have a 4 month old german shepherd, he’s the sweetest boy❤️I want to start going out on walks with him soon in public but when we walk around our property, he pulls so much and chokes himself out even when I have treats. I’m scared I’m going to hurt his throat or am already hurting his throat. Was just wondering what people recommend using at this age for proper leash manners?? All recommendations are appreciated!! submitted by /u/Remarkable-Life2212 [link] [comments]”
“I’ve been trying to train my 5-month-old Toy Poodle to walk calmly on a leash for weeks now, but every day feels exactly the same. At home, she listens to me so well, but the second we step outside, it’s like she completely forgets I exist. She just wants to sprint around and pull in every direction. She’s also not very food motivated, which makes things even harder. Today I honestly reached my breaking point. I was trying the “freeze when they pull” method, but she started running and jumping a”
“Something clicked in my GSD’s brain today. We’ve been working hard on loose leash walking for two weeks straight. Everything hurt. He was frustrated all the time. I dreaded taking him out because I knew I would be sore after. I live in an apartment complex, and you would not believe the looks and comments I got. He’s a big boy, around 85 pounds, and he looks scary. I have him muzzled (and fully muzzle trained!) because of a false bite accusation and because he likes to smuggle sticks into my hou”
“Putting a harness and a leash on my dog is always a struggle. As soon as I grab the leash she starts jumping and running and all of that. It's very hard to make her sit down long enough to put a harness on her. She tries her best to stay still but the excitement is just too much 😅 I've tried waiting until she's tired of jumping and running, whenever she's a little bit calmer, but when I try to secure the harness she just keeps moving and it turns very frustrating for both of us,”
“Hello all, I have some questions regarding loose leash walking. Backstory: I have an 8 month male Golden. High energy. We did some training classes and in home trainer as well. Got one for walking but they liked “force” and corrections and started talking about how he’ll “need a prong collar” so I stopped that. The only force free trainer I can find in the area seems to be defunct. The main problem: he starts to walk good by my side, I reward and he instantly leaves my side. Like getting the tre”
“My dog is 6 months. I’ve been walking him for about6 weeks now. When we first started, he got a hang of walking on leash quickly cause I left a leash on him since he was 2 months old. When he finally had all his shots, I took him walking in the neighborhood. He was 4.5 months and we would walk for only 10- 15 minutes. He was super anxious and shaking, so I would hold him when he needed reassurance then put him down. This is totally a problem I created. I thought if I comforted him it would allow”
“Hey, I have 2 dogs (1 and 3.5yo), both very well trained but I feel like I’m missing something How do you teach a dog to walk on a loose leash? I genuinely don’t understand how some people can walk their dogs with zero tension, even when they’re excited My dogs are socialized, desensitized to different environments/stimuli, I train with them every day and we do dog sports. They don’t pull like crazy, but there’s almost always some tension. I’ve tried pretty much everything I’ve learned about, bu”