Dogs walking on leash without pulling our arms out of sockets is the holy grail of pet training. The amount of frustration it can relieve when you can walk your dog without a tight leash is insane!

This next blog series is going to be all about how to get better leash skills with your dog. Let’s dive in!

A big issue I see with people teaching leash skills is a lack of clarity. Clarity is one of the most important things to provide our dogs with any training goal. I constantly see dogs who are confused and owners who are frustrated.

One way you can eliminate this issue is with physical signal to your dog that a certain set of rules are in place. The method I use is called “The Mullet Method." (Shout out to the trainer who coined the clever term. I heard it on a podcast years ago. If you know who that is, please let me know!)

The Mullet Method helps provide clarity by setting up and teaching the dog 2 different sets of rules. 1 set of rules is for walking with a loose lead. 1 set of rules for letting them lead the walk and put pressure/pull on the lead. The way I differentiate the rules is based on where I connect the leash.

Generally I use a harness that has both a back clip and a front clip. When the leash is attached to the front clip we are in work/training/loose leash mode. When attached to the back clip we are in a relaxed state where the dog’s nose gets to lead the way (as long as it’s safe of course). Business in the front, party in the back!

For those of you who don’t use a front clip harness, you can do this same thing with a back clip harness and a collar. Dedicate the collar for the loose leash rules and the back clip for the relaxed rules. You could also do this with 2 different collars. You could also do this with a back clip harness & a slip lead. There are multiple ways to make this work.

Having the different clips for the different sets of rules helps add clarity for both ends of the leash. Having to make that physical switch will remind you what expectations to have for your dog. As you continue training, your dog will too.

This system also gives you a layer of protection for your training. If you don’t have time or don’t want to focus on training on any given day/walk, that's okay. Connect them to the back clip and let the lead. Now you avoid hurting any of the training you've done on the front clip. Way better than having to keep the loose leash rules in check every single time you put their leash on.

This system has helped my clients immensely. I hope it helps you too!

The next blog will be covering how to get started on the actual walking/training steps!

Need some help teaching your dog to walk on a loose leash? I can help! Set up a discovery call with me or join my online learning community Evolved Dog School!