31/05/2026
Lead walking is one of the hardest things you will ever teach your puppy… and I don’t think that gets said enough.
I work on a lot of this with my clients and our puppy clubbers inside Puppy Club, because what’s actually going on here is usually not what you think. Your puppy moves faster than you do, they’re driven by their nose, and everything out there is interesting. So when they pull and it gets them to that smell, that person, that thing they wanted to get to… even just once… they start to learn that this works. And once it starts working, they’ll keep repeating it.
You might have already noticed this starting to creep in a bit. Maybe it’s only on certain walks, or when there’s more going on, or when you’re in a rush and you just let them get on with it. And it makes total sense in the moment, because you just want to get from A to B. But from your puppy’s point of view, they’re getting exactly what they wanted out of it, so there’s no reason for them to change it.
So if this is something you’re dealing with right now, these are the bits I’d want you to focus on first:
▪ Start early… don’t leave it and hope it sorts itself
▪ Reward them for being near you, not just when they stop pulling
▪ Keep it short and simple so they can actually get it right
▪ Work in quieter spaces first before expecting more
▪ Be consistent with how you move so it makes sense to them
And just as important, keep an eye on the things that tend to trip you up:
▪ Letting them pull “just this once”
▪ Going on long walks and expecting perfect behaviour
▪ Starting in busy environments where they’ve got no chance
▪ Only reacting once it’s already gone wrong
▪ Changing the rules depending on the day
If they’re pulling, it’s working for them in some way. Once you see that, you can start to change it properly instead of just reacting to it in the moment.
This is one of those things that’s worth getting right early, because it’s a lot easier to build it properly now than try to undo it later.
And if this is doing your head in a bit at the moment, we go through all of this in a lot more detail inside Puppy Club 💛
