How to Train Your Dog to Walk on a Leash in 4 Steps

Long walks are beneficial for your dog for several reasons. Walks help support:

• Good behavior: Your dog needs both physical and mental stimulation to avoid becoming bored or stressed, which often leads to destructive behavior.
• Overall health: Daily walks improve your dog’s heart health, lower blood pressure, and build up muscles and bones. Walking helps in all stages of a dog’s life; walks help support a new puppy’s developing body, maintain strength and stamina for an adult dog, and keep an older dog active and fit.
• Socialization: Dog walks introduce your pet to new places, people, and most importantly, new dogs, which helps develop good behavior with other animals. Dog parks, dog runs, and other areas where dog owners and their pooches congregate offer ample opportunities to socialize your pet.

Dog walking involves more than connecting a leash to your dog’s collar and taking it outside. Leash training is essential because walking poses many risks to an untrained dog’s safety in the form of vehicles and other animals. In addition, improper dog training can lead to an injury to your dog’s neck if it pulls too hard on the leash. Here are steps to follow to train a dog to walk on a leash:

1. 1. Introduce the leash to your dog. Before you begin adult or puppy training, let your dog acclimate to wearing the leash. Play with your pet while it wears the leash, and make your pet come to you while wearing it; reward the behavior with dog treats when it accomplishes the goal. Puppies and many adult dogs have short attention spans, so keep these early training sessions short.
2. 2. Train inside before you go outside. Teach your dog to walk a short distance inside your house or apartment before taking it outside. Develop a cue word or use a clicker to signal your dog to pay attention to you. Reward your dog with treats and positive reinforcement when it follows these commands.
3. 3. Go for your first outside walk. With the end of the leash firmly attached to your dog’s collar, take your pet outside for a short walk for the first time. Keep your eyes on your dog and use your cue word if the pet starts to pull on the dog leash.
   
4. 4. Teach your dog to walk by your side. Keep your dog by your left side at all times on a walk. This reduces the chance of your dog becoming distracted or tangling you on the leash. To teach this skill to your dog, keep its leash short to rein in its movements, and encourage your dog to remain near you with treats. Use the cue word when it strays from the left side. The goal is loose leash walking, where your dog remains by your side on its leash without pulling.

Here are additional walking tips for pet parents:

1. 1. Follow safety precautions: When your dog is ready for leash training, ensure it has an ID tag with its name and your contact information on its collar. Make sure you always leave the house with treats and poop bags, both during and after training.
2. 2. Prevent pulling: When a dog pulls its leash when walking, it can injure itself by putting undue pressure on its trachea. There are two appropriate responses to pulling: stop walking and wait for the dog to return to your side, or turn and walk in the opposite direction until it catches up to you. Offer praise and treats for good behavior. Determined pullers may need a special no-pull dog harness, such as a front-clip harness or head halter.
3. 3. Redirect attention to prevent barking and lunging: Dogs often bark at outside stimuli while on walks, such as other dogs or passersby. If barking becomes a recurring problem, redirect its attention with treats or a cue word and reduce its accessibility to the object moving away. Certain dog breeds, like collies, are also prone to reacting to other animals or people by lunging at them. Use the same dog training tips for barking: Redirect your dog’s attention and move it away from the target of its lunges.

Your dream of having a dog who understands words like “sit,” “stay,” “down,” and—crucially— “no” is just a MasterClass Annual Membership away. The only things you’ll need to train up a well-behaved pup are your laptop, a big bag of treats, and our exclusive instructional videos from superstar animal trainer Brandon McMillan.