11/05/2026
Accidental training?
When I first started doing walks for this guy, he pulled. He zigzagged, doubled-back to sniff, pulled towards people and dogs, and would pick up anything on the ground... lab.
Now, we were not doing walks to train, we were just doing walks for the exercise. For me, that meant I wasn't doing what I would normally do for leash training. No food, no toy, no special exercises, no routine changes, and no gradual build up to full walks. We just went out and walked for 30 minutes three days per week.
And everytime we walked I maintained consistent rules and expectations.
✅️Keeping the leash loose means we can move forward.
✅️Pee and p**p only in the grass on the road side.
✅️You can stop to sniff as you please, but pulling me toward something you want to smell doesn't work.
✅️We can't pick up things on the ground and I'll help make that happen by keeping you out of reach with the leash.
✅️We don't engage with dogs and people on walks and I'll help make that happen by giving distance where appropriate and giving verbal encouragement to keep moving forward.
Now we have relaxing leash walks together and the rules are so well established for him that he rarely needs any help from me to be successful.
All this to say, while training is most efficient when it is well thought out and intentional, you can make huge progress simply by creating rules and being CONSISTENT about them!
