Walk This Way
BY JODI ANDERSE
AKC Family Dog July/ Aug

If a walk with your dog feels more like a wrestling match than a stroll, you've come to the right place. For years I've watched countless people and their dogs being jerked around by each other—like kites searching for that one big gust of air—and it's high time we put a stop to it. For the dogs, these walks (with us) are a constant struggle for air as well as direction. And for us, a walk (with the dog) becomes the dreaded time of day when friends and neighbors watch as we fly by like sleds on concrete, barely able to balance 10 consecutive steps. If you count yourself among these people, I'm going to let you in on a big secret: It doesn't have to be this way. The walk you've dreamed of, the one when your dog trots happily and dutifully by your side—with so much slack in the lead, both of you could step over it—is, believe it or not, easily attainable. Here's why.
While some dogs are bred to pull (like sled dogs), the majority (your dog and mine) are actually taught to pull. Inadvertent though it may be, we are in fact the ones doing the teaching. We do this because while we think that keeping our dogs on a tight lead will actually make them want to walk closer us, quite the opposite is true. If a dog feels an unpleasant pressure once he reaches the end of a leash, he will conse-• quently pull harder to get away from this hurtful sensation and, in this case, from us.
If, however, you were to teach your dog that it's the distance between you—not the closeness—that hurts and that staying by your side actually feels good, your dog would then choose to walk next to (not in front of) you, thus eliminating the drag altogether. This is how to do it:
First, you'll need the right equipment. I call this the Four L's.
1. Leash: I prefer the leash to be about six feet long and made of leather. (With time, the leather gets softer and easier to grip.) Six feet allows you and your dog the fair and necessary length to move about without having to drag each other around. Six feet also affords you the necessary time and room to negotiate a proper correction well before the slack is taken up by too much distance between you and your dog. Keeping some slack in the lead means you and your dog are walking comfortably, so constant slack is what we're ultimately after.
2. Look: Getting a dog to look at you is the real key to a great walk. This eye contact seals the partnership between friends. With so many sights, sounds, and smells to distract him, he easily and often forgets you're even behind him. Getting him to look at you reminds him you're there. This is when the Lure (or leash correction) comes in.
3. Lure: When a dog is distracted and has forgotten that you are still walking with him, some kind of message has to be sent (through the leash) to let him know that you are in fact still there. This message or signal is called a leash correction and it's done in much the same way a fisherman "jigs" the end of a baited line. As the fisherman does this jigging or flicking to tease an oncoming fish to take the bait on the end of his line, you will be teasing your dog to notice you are close by, thus taking the bait to come nearer to you. For some dogs, a gentle flick of the wrist is all that's needed to make him stop in his tracks and turn to look at you. For others, the flick has to carry slightly more force. While many people tend to yank and yell when a dog pulls, this kind offeree will only turn the training exercise into a disaster, so use only the amount of force necessary to cause your dog to turn around and look at you. It is this look that allows you to lure your dog back to your side. If your dog so much as glances your way at any time during a walk, smile and pat your leg to draw him toward you.
4. Love: Attitude is everything. You are, after all, the one your dog should want to be closest to. So whether you help him get there with a leash correction or by luring him to you with a pat on your leg, if ever and whenever your dog is either near you or looking at you, lovingly let him know you are happy he's there.
Now let's talk about how and when to use these tools. Practicing this at home, indoors, will give you the confidence and expertise you will need out in the real world.
While walking, leave enough slack in the lead for your dog to explore and become distracted by the sights and sounds around him. Each time your dog seems to have forgotten that you're behind him, flick the lead to remind him you're there. If he turns and looks (as if to say, "Why did you do that?"), pat your leg to lure him close to you. Then, with love in your voice (as if to say, "That wasn't me who did that; it must have been the distance between us"), praise him for arriving at your side, letting him know if he stays close to you he will be safe. Repeating this exercise several times
on each walk will quickly teach your dog that the distance between you is no fun. The real upside here is that, in addition to you no longer being dragged like a kite, your dog will be learning that staying close to you is the best and safest place on earth. Sr

Jodi Andersen, a New York-based professional trainer, is the founder of TrainingWorks for Dogs and the author of The Latchkey Dog.