Hi, my name is Dr. Uri Burstyn I'm a veterinarian in Vancouver, BC and I'd like to welcome you to my series of practical skills for pet owners I'm here today with my friend Chewbacca, who you'll see in a moment to talk to you a little bit about how to properly use the leash Now this might sound pretty simple, but it actually is not because I really often see people with their dog on a leash Completely misusing it And the most common issue I see around this is when I see dogs just pulling on a leash and the owners pulling back and neither one of them has any idea what the other one wants And there really is absolutely no control over the dog and the dog really kind of isn't-- barely even aware there's a human attached to it and this is not an ideal scenario So the most common way to misuse a leash is to use it as a handle as something that is attached to your dog that you use to pull on your dog And this is absolutely the wrong way to use it a leash is a communication tool for those of you who ride horses It's no different than the reins on a horse.
Will my dog ever stop pulling on the leash?
This is not something-- You know, you have a 500, 600 kilogram animal This is not something you can bully or force to do things it's something that you can communicate with so we like to use leashes to communicate with our dog friends and it's really important that the communication be clear and consistent Okay, that's all a dog wants from you is for you to be clear and consistent Dogs don't misbehave, dogs always want to please you, but they have a short attention span.
There's a lot going on around them And sometimes they just lose focus on what it is that you want them to do So when you have a dog on a leash don't think of it as a handle think of it as a way of communicating with your dog when he or she is 6 feet away from you and the way to accomplish that is to make sure there's no tension on the leash when under normal walking conditions What you want to do is when your dog moves out of the range of the leash you give them a short, fairly sharp jerk to let them know that they're moving too far away And the dog is going to feel nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, They get to the limit of the leash and they get-- "Oh!" "I have to go back here.
okay," and they'll come back in By the same virtue if you're walking along and the leash is slack, and you want to turn right or left you simply give it a little tug and tjhedog will-- will know that that's the way you want them to move or a little tugback if you want them to slow down now obviously this is not something they're gonna figure out on their own you start walking your puppy on a leash when they're quite young But if you have consistent and clear leash handling techniques So if every single time you want to go right you give it a little tug Or every time you want to stop, give it a little pull back Then your puppy's gonna learn really quickly that "this is what my pack leader wants me to do" And they'll do what you want them to do.
That's how dogs are wired they want to please you And what you're gonna, avoid is those puppies that are just straining on the leash You know trying to get to other dogs and trying to get across the road and completely ignoring you So just remember: ✗ Not a handle ✓ Communication tool And short little jerks with your goal being the relaxation of the leash inbetween is the way that you communicate with your dog And if you're consistent and clear about what you want Then your dog will learn from you, and they'll learn quickly Now if you do have a dog that really is, is really excited about the world, and really wants to pull just remember this is not a dog who's naughty or misbehaving himself.
This is a dog who simply has a short attention span and again Sharp tug on the leash your goal is to make it go slack, now it might require a bit of-- bit of arm strength But your goal is to make the leash go slack and then relax it as soon as the dog is doing what you want it to do And very quickly they will learn how to communicate with you through this leash So we're gonna go outside now and me and Chewbacca are gonna try to demonstrate what I'm talking about So I'm gonna ask Chewy to demonstrate for me here how to not walk on the leash And then we'll try to show you how to properly walk on the leash So Chewy, Come on, off you go.
Whoa! There we go That's what we did not want. We don't want to be pulling on that leash him pulling that way, me pulling this way Him looking off into an entirely wrong direction And then it just turns into a tug-of-war between me and him which he'll probably, you know one of us might win but both of us will probably not enjoy it very much So remember we want to use the leash as a communication tool We'll give him a little jerk, just like that, little tug and there we go look at this, so his attention's on me.
Why does my dog always pull on the leash?
He's moving with me Should we-- should we go for a walk? Here we go Oh, and then come back this way again Come on, just like that Notice how when we're using the leash as a communication tool His attention is kind of in a direction of our travel So if we want to go this way, he'll pay attention this way without me really having to work my biceps or really pull on that leash the key here is not to be wrestling, not to oppose my strength to his, but just simply to ask him to come this way come on, come this way, and he'll oblige So that is a dog that's effectively communicating with me, and I'm effectively communicating with him with a leash Thanks buddy Once again, he's again distracted.
He's looking off in the distance There you go, just a little tug on the leash brings him back to where I want him to be So I hope you find this useful.Thank you for watching. Please give us a like and a share And remember to go out and have fun with your dog.
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