Are you confused as to why your dog continues to pull on the leash despite everything you’ve tried and considerable amount of time and effort? It’s possible that something has been missed along the way: a nuance or grey area that is now standing between you and your dog and the enjoyable walks you envisioned when you adopted your dog. As I mentioned in Why Does My Dog Pull on the Leash Part I, pulling on the leash often (but not always) has little to do with actual leash pulling. It’s surprisingly easy to resolve this common yet frustrating canine behaviour problem once we can pinpoint the true cause!
8 less commonly considered "whys" for your dog's pulling on the leash
Part I of this blog entry looked at the first four “whys,” which are sometimes missed including: overstimulation; a need for support; social difficulties; and sensory-motor difficulties. These “whys” are depicted in the infographic below.
In Part II, I’ll go over the last four perspectives. As I stated in Part I, keep in mind that each dog is an individual and that this is only a sample of the more in-depth “whys” underlying this behavioural issue, along with some very high level recommendations. The key to success is nuance and customization (get in touch to discuss systems thinking driven programs and services to help you permanently resolve this behaviour).
*Please be aware that before beginning any type of behaviour modification program, underlying pain or medical issues should always be ruled out with your veterinarian.
trying to cope
Is your dog pulling on the leash because they are having trouble coping?
Dogs have innate coping mechanisms such as fast and erratic walking, peeing, sniffing, and shaking off. These coping mechanism’s can be eroded by life experiences i.e., trauma or, in some cases inadvertently through dog training strategies that fail to encompass these critical biological functions.
This means that your leash training tactics may be unwittingly encouraging your dog to pull more (yikes!).
Let me explain this more thoroughly. Your dog is frantically pulling on the leash because they are stressed and attempting to cope. You implement leash training strategies to stop the pulling which interferes with your dog’s natural down-regulating systems, diminishing their innate capacity to cope and escalating their pulling.
This viscous cycle, also known as a runaway feedback loop in systems theory, will continue until the underlying coping issues are resolved! These issues are addressed by recovering intrinsic mechanisms or teaching dogs new ways of coping.
Once this is taken care of, the leash pulling will likely stop on its own, and if not, it will be very simple to resolve.
learned behaviour | need teaching
Moving on, is your dog’s leash pulling simply a learned behaviour?
For the purposes of this post, I will use the term “learned behaviour” to refer to a behaviour that your dog has learned through operant conditioning in which they have learned that pulling allows them to access something (smells, forward motion, etc.) or escape something (danger, social conflict, etc.). I use the word “simply” because every interaction your dog has with their social and physical environments involves learning on multiple scales simultaneously (physical, social, cognitive, physiological, etc.) 24/7 throughout the course of their lives with their past shaping the present and the present shaping their future.
So the question is not whether leash pulling is a learned behaviour, but rather, is it solely a learned behaviour, and how would you know?
Fortunately, the answer is pretty straightforward within the context of the framework I’ve described here.
- Do any of the other seven “whys” apply to your dog?
- If you answered yes, it is not exclusively a taught behaviour, and you must address the other “whys” before teaching your dog to walk on a leash.
- If no, your dog’s pulling is simply a learned behaviour and you can begin leash training!
hunting or just being themselves
Our next stop will be to see if hunting or other innate motor patterns (your dog just being themselves), often known as “instincts,” are contributing to your dog’s leash pulling. In general, these innate motor patterns can be grouped into two overarching categories:
- Species-typical behaviours i.e., foraging, tracking, bedding down
- Breed-specific behaviours i.e., herding, flushing and retrieving birds
The concept of species-typical behaviour in ethology is based on the assumption that certain behavioural traits are shared by virtually all individuals of a species. Species-typical behaviours are developed and shaped by a species’ genetic makeup as well as its social and environmental surroundings.
Breed specific behaviours are capabilities that have been selected for by artificial selection, often due to their historical or current utility to humans, such as retrieving water fowl, tracking quarry, or herding sheep or cattle.
These innate motor patterns are linked to powerful internal reinforcers and motivators and, in many cases, are utterly incompatible with travelling in a straight line, which can present difficulties when training your dog to walk on a leash, particularly in an urban setting.
Teaching a dog with strong natural instincts to walk nicely on a leash isn’t insurmountable, but we need to work with them rather than against them. Engaging your dog in cooperative, safe, and mutually beneficial instinct-based activities separate from or integrated into your walks is a fantastic starting point. Some of my personal favorites include:
- Natural Walks on a 15- to 30-foot line in a forest or natural area.
- Cooperative Hunting with your dog, where you bury some treats along the path you take and then go looking for them together
- Tracking, scent detecting, or treibball or other dog sports.
- Breed and species-specific activities, such as AniEd of Ireland’s 100 Days of Enrichment
Furthermore, if you live in Calgary, I strongly recommend that you consider the Wild Woofs clinic, which combines leash training and recall training with instinct games to create a win-win situation for both ends of the leash.
conclusion
In conclusion, leash pulling is frequently rooted in concerns that are far deeper than what meets the eye, such as overstimulation, a lack of support, social struggles, and sensory-motor challenges, trying to cope, learned behaviour and instincts and self-expression. To successfully address your dog’s leash pulling, you must first determine why this behaviour is occurring, embrace the nuance, and avoid the temptation of jumping from problem to solution. Even the best training tools might have unexpected repercussions if they do not address the root cause! If you require further support for your dog’s leash pulling, please be sure to check out the Walk Wise leash clinic in Calgary!
