Our second Be Kind to Animals Week tip for being kinder to your canine, it using a reward based technique to deal with your dog’s behaviors on leash.  Leash walking your dog can be frustrating if your dog is either pulling you forward or lagging behind.  These behaviors can be exacerbated by pressure on the dog’s neck (see Tip #1).

Using reward based techniques makes leash walking a more enjoyable experience for you and your dog.  Perhaps the simplest method for better leash walks is to make a loose leash the only thing that allows the dog to move forward.  If the leash goes tight, just wait for your dog to let the leash go slack.  The reward for keeping the leash loose is forward movement.

For more reward based leash walking techniques:

This post by Diamonds in the Ruff details how to handle dogs that pull on leash.

This post from Dr. Sophia Yin details how to handle dogs that lag on walks.