If you’ve ever had the joy of watching dogs play together, you may have noticed a few things. Dogs give play their best shot every time. Dogs’ play styles can vary greatly depending on their age, breed, and size. But one component of play that is pretty consistent among all dogs is the way they move while playing. Play is often observed with dogs moving in circles. Whether they are racing around the yard, around people, or around furniture, circular motion is evident everywhere. Even when dogs are greeting other dogs, appropriate introductions involve circling one another.

There is something to be said about moving in circles. It gives us the opportunity to revisit something we may have missed, to review and reflect on what we did, and to try again with the possibility of a different outcome.

This concept is actually a major cornerstone of training dogs. For example, when clients contact me, they often struggle with teaching their dog to walk nicely on leash. Factors such as the dog’s age, learning history, temperament, and learning environment all play a part in how easy or hard this skill may be to master. Then we have the human end of the leash. A person’s own temperament, training style, mechanical skills, movements, and even voice inflection all affect their ability to successfully teach and engage with their dog. That’s an awful lot to consider! This is why professional assistance is often necessary to improve responses to cues by circling back to review, reflect, and discover new ways to achieve improved results.

The bottom line is that dog training is not a linear progression either. It’s not as simple as assembling a piece of furniture with a set list of 10 steps till done.

On a micro level, you can find a short list of 3 specific steps to teach a dog to walk nicely on leash. But even when practicing this skill out n’ about, or in your own back yard, the dog’s responses can easily fall apart. There are many subtle nuances to dog training that are often overlooked. Again, another reason to employ the skills of a professional to help navigate these nuances.

Let’s circle back to the prospect of how dogs naturally move and what we are asking of them almost every time we put them on leash. They want to meander around and move at varying paces, and we want to move in a linear fashion, at the same pace. This poses a direct conflict for everyone! It is the inherent reason why teaching a dog to walk on a loose leash is harder than we think and can take longer than we ever imagined.

Consider this new list of tips for loose leash walking:

  1. Practice indoors first. Have them on leash in your house, and in your back yard, where you can practice in a more familiar and quiet environment.
  2. Ditch all sidewalks completely.
  3. Walk in the street or a quiet cul-de-sac.
  4. Better yet, walk in an empty parking lot.
  5. Walk in wide open spaces where you can change directions frequently and see other distractions from far away.
  6. Ditch a short leash. Sometimes a longer leash (10 feet or more) can be the best solution to see how and where your dog wants to go and then use this information to encourage them to engage with you instead.