According to a famous HnH Dog’s article, your dog’s constant pulling on the leash can cause serious injuries, resulting in strangulation, choking, hypothyroidism, and deterioration of the nervous systems, eyes, and ears. Even worse, extreme pulling can cause death significantly when the leash tightens your dog’s neck. Tightening obstructs blood flow and causes internal bleeding due to pressure imbalances. However, utilizing these five quick tips will effectively help stop your dog from pulling on the leash:
Use Training Collars
Training collars, also known as electronic collars, shock collars, or e-collars, are dog training devices used to deliver a remote shock to a dog hence discouraging unwanted behaviors. You can use a collar alongside wireless fences to teach your dog to avoid going places he is not permitted to. With a collar or a dog harness, you can quickly stop your pet from pulling on the leash, considering you tie the collar’s clit on the dog’s chest, making it easy for him to walk following your direction.
Additionally, teaching your dog heeling while on a collar makes it easy, especially since you’ll be able to teach him to walk directly next to you. Heeling reduces the odds of pulling significantly since walking directly next to each other reduces the distance for creating the pulling force.
Employ the Red and Green Light Games
Like the typical traffic lights, the green and red light games will seamlessly help you stop your dog from pulling on the leash. The trick is to light the red light as a means of saying stop when the dog reaches the end of the leash immediately before he pushes, while the green light indicates to go when the leash loosens, and you want the dog to walk or move forward freely.
Usually, unlike other methods, this technique takes time especially considering you’ll have to teach your dog how to recognize the meaning of every light color before transforming to the purpose and more. However, light games have proven to be effective with time, mainly when employed earlier with puppies.
Rewarding After Obeying Commands
Positive reinforcement still takes the lead, especially since your dog will quickly learn manners to keep and avoid, including pulling on the leash. Be sure to use praises and treats when your dog makes eye contact with you while walking and as soon as he obeys the stop and keep walking commands, give the intended reward.
Also, while your dog is seated, train him to stop leash pulling by holding treats in of his nose and bringing them to his eyes and in every eye contact motion made followed by obedience to walk and sit commands, offer the reward as an encouragement.
Redirecting Your Dog’s Reactions
The earlier you teach your dog commands and avoid unwanted manners, the better you can easily lead him to stop leash pulling. Primarily, when your dog learns to stop barking at other dogs, people, and cars, he will identify with the word ‘stop’ to discourage him from doing certain things, hence making it easy for you to command him to stop pulling on the leash.
Working With a Trainer
An experienced and passionate certified dog trainer is an excellent consideration for stopping your dog’s leash pulling behavior, mainly if the trainer uses techniques like heeling. Heeling teaches your dog to walk directly next to you, hence preventing a difference in distance that may lengthen the leash for him to reach its end, forcing him to pull. Likewise, a qualified trainer will use different collars to teach different walking styles, especially those focused on teaching the dog to stop pulling.
An experienced trainer focuses on teaching your dog from leash pulling with standard collars, especially if your dog isn’t a sleeker neck or head dog type. However, if you’ve got a more elegant neck dog, the trainer will use other collars like the back harnesses, the muzzle harnesses, and the Martingale collars. The Muzzle collars are ideal for teaching your dog to stop leash pulling by following its nose with commands like stop and go.
On the other hand, back harnesses are suitable if your dog is a small breed type considering you can easily choke small breeds with different collars. Also, muzzle collars are ideal if you’ve got a dog with furs that quickly shed. They effortlessly teach your dog to stop pulling by learning how to control the distance away from you while walking directly next to you.
Conclusion
While most dogs enjoy pulling on the leash as an exciting experience, excessive pulling can lead to severe injuries. Embrace tips like teaching your dog how to walk directly next to you, using collars, or hiring a qualified dog trainer to comprehensively train your pet on how to stop leash pulling once and for all.