Does your dog walk so fast that you cannot keep up, pull so hard that you think your arm will be yanked out of its socket, and act like you don’t even exist? Your dog might just be a prime candidate for learning leash walking through formal obedience training!
What Is Formal Obedience?
Formal obedience training, also known as competition obedience, teaches a dog how to respond to minimal cues, both verbal and non-verbal, given by their handler. Typical cues taught in formal obedience are sit, down, stay, heel and come.
The structure and precision required in formal obedience is one of the reasons why it is a powerful tool to teach a dog how to navigate our human world and this includes how to walk on a leash! It fosters a healthy bond and a teamwork mindset for both the dog and the handler, and your dog learns how to engage with you.
If your dog views you as the primary source of all the good, amazing, wonderful things, you are more likely to succeed with teaching your dog how to behave both on and off leash! There is a side note, though. Formal obedience in and of itself will not fix leash reactivity or aggression, or reactivity/aggression in general.
How Does Formal Obedience Promote Leash Walking?
One of the main focuses of formal obedience is teaching a dog how to act when he is on a six-foot leash. He learns about boundary awareness and what to do when he feels gentle leash pressure. He learns where he needs to position his body. He learns that he must engage with you, his handler. And because he is taught using positive reinforcement, using rewards that he really and truly loves, he will want to do what you ask him to do!
The handler learns how to hold the leash, how to respond when the leash becomes tight, how to encourage their dog to want to walk nicely on a loose leash, how to navigate turns and backing up, and how to teach their dog to respond to cues in environments of varying levels of distraction.
Distractions can be anything, really: food on the ground, bending down to tie your shoe, toys in the area, other dogs and people, someone calling your dog’s name, cars moving on the road, loud traffic noises, sounds from people playing, etc. The more boisterous the movement and noise, the harder it will be for your dog to focus on you. This is why certified dog trainers are adamant that training starts indoors in a low-distraction environment, and we only gradually increase the intensity of distraction when the dog is ready. We do not rush a dog. Forcing a dog into situations that they are not ready for can backfire! Instead, we carefully set up the training environment in such a way as to help the dog succeed!
What Is The Standard Lesson Plan?
Lessons typically begin by teaching engagement and loose leash walking, which involves understanding leash pressure and leash handling techniques. Engagement involves your dog giving you direct eye contact both organically and on verbal cue. Loose leash walking is where your dog is allowed to walk wherever he wants on a six-foot leash as long as that leash is loose. Many trainers, including me, myself and I, will require you to forgo the flexi-leash and will instead require you to use a six-foot leash that does not retract.
During the first couple of lessons, your dog will also be taught how to sit and lay down. Once your dog knows how to move into these positions, your dog will be taught how to stay on cue. This cue teaches your dog about boundary awareness and how to exercise impulse control. Imagine that you accidently drop the leash one day on a walk and someone is about to zoom by on a bike or someone has just dropped an extra-rich chocolate ice cream cone on a lawn. If your dog has a rock solid stay, you could potentially keep your dog safe from harm!
As you are learning how to gradually progress the stay, you will be taught two different types of heel work. Both forms of heel work promotes leash walking as your dog learns to stay close to your side. Traditionally, heel work is taught on the left-hand side. Through heel work, you will learn about the reinforcement zone, also called the bank of plenty. This is where your dog comes to get amazing treats. And because your dog always comes to this same spot for treats, your dog will quickly learn that this is the place where he wants to be.
You will also learn recall. This is where your dog comes to you when prompted. Imagine your dog is sniffing a tree, or is focused intently on a patch of grass, and you have been standing there for two minutes already! Recall teaches your dog to turn his attention back on you and then come to you.
How Can The Lesson Plan Be Customized?
If you are attending group classes at a facility, customization of the plan is typically not an option. However, if you learn formal obedience through private, in-home lessons, where the instruction is one-on-one, the program is customizable and tailored to suit the needs of your dog and your specific training goals.
How Long Does It Take?
Basic formal obedience typically takes six weeks. This level of formal obedience will give you a dog who knows how to walk nicely on a six-foot leash in the presence of minor distractions. The skills learned at this stage will not be reliable and rock-solid if the distractions are too intense for the dog to handle. More work will be needed to proof these skills, or make them reliable in the real-world and in many different environments.
The intermediate stage of formal obedience typically takes six weeks, and it is where you start to increase the intensity of exercises and add more challenging distractions. Your dog's skills will become more reliable in the real-world. Exercises are also practiced to slowly begin the process to transition your dog to off-leash work. Training must be done in a safe and securely fenced area, and recall must be practised on a 30-foot long line for at least six months before attempting a recall off-leash!
The training timeline may vary depending on your dog's specific unique needs, including their breed, age, behaviour, health status and already known cues, as well as how much effort you put into completing the homework that your trainer has given you. And even after you are done training, you need to maintain what you have trained by practising a few times a week. Think of training as a lifestyle!
And remember, formal obedience is not a cure all for everything your dog might do on the leash. For example, it does not fix leash reactivity or aggression. These are complex issues that require a more specialized approach.
Contact Your Local Trainer!
Kate Hendriks is a certified professional pet dog trainer in London, Ontario who has the skill set and knowledge to teach your dog how to walk on leash using formal obedience training. Contact her today to learn more!
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