How to Reduce Pulling on Lead

For many dogs, going for a walk is the highlight of their day. If a dog's excited about something, it wants to engage with it wholeheartedly, which can sometimes mean a lot of pulling and excitement on the leash!

Because of this, many dog owners especially if their dogs haven’t been taught otherwise, will experience pulling on the lead. Pulling is more likely if the dog sees something that excites them or wants to engage with.

At GAPNSW, we’re passionate about providing the greyhounds that enter our program with skills for their domestic life, including loose-leash walking!

Loose leash walking is something we develop within our programs, if you still need a little help developing this skill, read on!

Reactivity is an overt, often exaggerated emotional and behavioural reaction to a given stimulus. Many people use ‘reactivity’ as a catch-all term to talk about dogs that react strongly when they're on walks with other dogs, however, reactivity can refer to a variety of things.

The difference between reactivity and pulling is that a reactive dog might pull on the lead when they see a triggering stimulus, but a dog that is pulling or strong on the leash isn’t necessarily reactive.

A dog may pull for a variety of reasons, from reactivity to a certain stimulus, excitement, or it could be that the dog hasn't walked on the lead much before and doesn’t know how to respond to any tension in the lead.

It’s important to first understand why a dog may be pulling, so we can apply the appropriate techniques to help them!

Often it will be the dog is excited and simply just wants to access whatever they want to access, be it a scent, another dog or a person. The dog wants to access something ASAP, so they move faster, often faster than the human can keep up with, so the lead goes tight and ends up pulling the person (which in extreme circumstances can result in the walker overbalancing and falling!).

The best way to counteract this is to make it easier for the dog to do that when they're walking on a loose lead.

A simple way of doing that is every time the lead goes tight, the person stops walking. This eventually teaches the dog that pulling the lead actually is counterintuitive to what they want because the more they pull, the longer it takes for them to reach what they want.

Now, this can cause a degree of frustration (for both owner and dog) so we always advise people to take treats with them so they can reward the dog walking beside them, or checking in with their owner.

That way, there are now at least 3 ways the dog can be positively reinforced, frustration is minimised and the dog is learning how to achieve its goals.

GAP NSW recommends (and also sells) front-attaching harnesses for dogs that are prone to pulling, which helps people obtain more control over their dog because it diverts the momentum to the side rather than oppositional force.

If a dog is prone to pulling the lead, it is very important to avoid walking with the lead constantly under tension. Not only is that quite uncomfortable for both you and the dog, it basically makes it so the lead going tight is no longer salient (interpretable information) for the dog.

Imagine we are walking with a person and holding their hand. If we wanted them to move with us, or stop and they weren’t paying attention, they would feel their arm jolt when we moved or stopped. That way, the pressure is actually teaching/influencing them to respond with the correct movement. This would not be the case if there was constant pressure.

We don’t want to be as forceful as a leash correction technique, however, we want the dog to understand that when the lead is tight, that means something is happening, however, if the lead is constantly tight, the dog may begin to ignore the indications.

Speaking of leash corrections, that’s also something we want to avoid. At GAP NSW, we see leash corrections as a form of positive punishment. We believe that leash correction will often make a dog more anxious and increase the chance of them pulling.

Improvement entirely depends on the dog and how long they've potentially rehearsed pulling.

Some dogs, if they've had a history of constantly pulling on the lead and received no other feedback from their owner, may take a long time to learn loose lead walking.

However, you can teach an old dog new tricks and any dog can be taught to walk nicely on the lead. It's just about recognising why the dog might be doing it and working with them in a positive manner to get them to walk in a nice loose lead. Yay!

Importantly, this is something we observe for greyhounds in our programs, and will work with them so they’re as ready for adoption as can be!

If you know that your dog pulls on the lead, especially if you know that they are more likely to pull in certain situations, it's best to start off with walking in quieter areas that are less likely to cause your dog to pull.

That way, you can build a history of loose lead walking and then once the dog has plenty of experience getting rewarded and having a nice time walking on a loose lead, can you start to go in busier and busier environments. You’ll be loose-leash walking in no time!

On your walks, we recommend taking treats, waste bags and their wire muzzle (that is provided at the time of adoption). Don’t forget a camera to snap amazing photos of the fun you have together!

At GAP New South Wales, we're committed to helping greyhounds with skills for their domestic life.

Each day, our wonderful dogs get a walk where we practice our technique, socialise with other dogs, and of course, have a nice enriching time.

When you apply to adopt a dog, we’ll provide you with information about their behaviour. You can even meet and greet them to take them for a walk before adopting!

Importantly, each adoptee is able to contact our behaviour team, who can support you with anything you need, including the refinement of loose-leash walking.

Does going on adventures with a greyhound sound like fun? We think so too.

Start the process of meeting your new best mate and view our greyhounds for adoption today!