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Now that your dog can heel off-leash you’re ready to teach your dog to heel on-leash. Now, this may sound much easier than heeling off-leash but it can actually be more difficult. Many owners stop paying attention once their dog is on leash. Instead, the dog forges ahead and pulls or falls behind and then the owner uses the leash, and not their verbal feedback to correct their dog.

Remember, you’ve proven at this point that you can use your brain, your body, your voice, and if necessary, lures, to keep your dog by your side. You don’t need the leash. A good way to prove this is to putyour end of the leash into your pocket or drape it over your wrist. If your dog puts tension on the leash, it will come free, so you won’t be able to rely on the leash to keep your dog by your side.  Heel your dog just like when they were off-leash, but this way, they will get used to the sensation of the leash, and they will learn that they should still walk by your side, leash or no leash.

If you can do this successfully, you are now ready to take hold of the leash. Just make sure you don’t use the leash to control your dog. Use your body and use your voice.

Finally, you’re ready for on-leash loose-leash walking. Walking is different from heeling in that your dog doesn’t need to remain directly by your left-side. Walking is more casual, your dog is free to go ahead or behind a little bit. However, your dog should not forge ahead so much that they pull. If your dog ever pulls on the leash, simply stop walking and wait until they stop pulling. You’ll notice that this is very similar to the exercise that I explained in the video about training Loose Leash walking with Wait & Reward Training.

If you’ve gone through the process of teaching your dog to follow you off-leash, heel off-leash and heel on-leash, you’ll now find that loose-leash walking will be very easy to train.