@bdmw3e It's not created just for you (sorry!) but it's a copy/paste of a post I've made in the past seeing it is a common skill that many people struggle with. Tagging /@between_winds seeing they expressed interest too:
With loose leash walking there's a number of components.
- Impulse control
- Understanding what leash pressure means
- Handler not allowing bad habits to continue when they happen.
- The dog has to learn that every bit of instinct that exists while walking does not apply.
It's one of the hardest skills to teach a dog, which is why there exists so many punitive tools for it.
What I would do is get ahold of a two point harness. Balance harness, Two hounds harness, or the 3-in-1 Easy Walk harness for day-to-day management so you can keep control. I used this to keep control of my 95lb doberman until we could build on the foundations.
To teach loose leash walking, start with teaching collar grabs. Basically, hold your hand up and start teaching this by moving your hand towards the collar and once you make contact, a party happens, treats, praise, just general happiness. Once you get to the point your dog will move towards your hand, the party no longer happens when your hand touches, but when you take the collar in your fingers. Once your dog moves to you and you take the collar in your hand/fingers without any issue, then you can start teaching directional instructions with this.
To teach directional cues with collar pressure, you're going to need a loaded clicker. That means your dog understands that click = food.
Once you have the loaded clicker, use your collar grab and add the tiniest bit of tension and bring a treat up to your face. Mark and reward. Do that a couple times and your dog should start looking to you when you give the tactile cue with collar pressure. Mark and reward every time.
Once you get the looking, take a slight step. Mark even the
slightest shift in body weight towards you. After a few repetitions, it'll start looking like
this.
Do this same steps on the other side. Do the same steps with collar pressure coming from behind. Once you have your directionals and your dog can do all this with collar pressure, add a leash. Teach the same things inside. You should have loose leash walking at this point seeing your dog understands what the tension on the collar means.
Once you have got it right inside, follow these same steps in another room. Follow the same steps in a quiet outdoor location after your dog has had a sniff walk on a harness and long line to get to know the area. Once you have that, you can start slowly adding distractions.
Dogs don't really know how to put things together in each new place they go right away. By practicing these steps in different areas, you're creating mastery.
