Loose-leash walking: How we trained and what I’d change

First written in December 2020 and last updated in August 2021.

Loose-leash walking might be the most common behavior pet dog owners want to teach. When I adopted Scout, I felt like the epitome of an enjoyable canine-human relationship was being able to go out for a nice neighborhood walk!

And not only is walking the dog a classic family activity—solid leash manners also open up our worlds, making it possible for us to safely enjoy more places with our pets.

So… how do we get there? A quick Google search for training your dog to walk on a leash comes up with about 5000000 million results (I’m only slightly exaggerating). Like anything in the dog world, there are multiple different paths to a similar end goal!

Here are all the details about how we personally developed Scout’s leash manners: The training process we followed and what I’d change looking back.