The Weekly High Five 🐾

Hey Reader,
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I was walking alongside Maisie's owner a few weeks ago. Golden retriever puppy, maybe five months old, front-clip harness, all the right gear.

Another dog appeared half a block ahead.

Maisie's body swung forward. The harness redirected her angle. She couldn't lunge the way she would have without it. And she was still completely gone. Locked on that dog, pulling with everything she had, just in a slightly different direction.

Her owner looked at me. "I thought this was supposed to fix it."

She had done the research. She bought the harness with the best reviews. She'd been using it consistently for weeks.

The harness was doing exactly what it was designed to do. That was the problem.

Here's the deal. Front-clip harnesses change the mechanics of pulling. They don't teach your dog what you actually want from them on a walk.

There is no harness that teaches a dog "when the leash is loose, we keep moving." That's not what they're built for. They redirect a body. They can't build a skill.

Essentially, your dog isn't pulling because they're stubborn. They're pulling because nobody's shown them what walking next to you is actually supposed to feel like.

Here's one thing you can try on your next walk.

Pick one moment when the leash goes tight.

Stop. Don't say anything. Don't pull back or redirect. Just stop and wait.

The second there's any slack (even half a step), move forward again.

Do that every single time the leash tightens. Even once per block is enough to start. Give it three or four walks. Watch what your dog starts doing.

That's the beginning of the skill. Loose leash equals forward movement.

Here's what I also want you to know. The harness is one piece. There are three other things most families do on walks that quietly make pulling worse:
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1. Tightening the leash when another dog shows up
2. Walking too fast past distractions.
3. Waiting too long to create space before your dog hits their limit.

That's what I'm covering on April 29.

I'm running a free 45-minute live workshop called Calm Walks for Dogs Who Listen Inside But Not Outside. We're going to look at why spring makes walks harder, the three mistakes that make pulling worse, and a focus exercise you can start practicing the next day.

It's free. It's live. You can ask me anything in the Q&A.

Wednesday, April 29 at 7:00 PM Eastern.

​Click to SAVE YOUR FREE SPOT​

Can't make it live? Register anyway. I'll send you the replay.

A couple of weeks into working with Maisie, her owner had the engagement work dialed in. The same focus piece I'm walking through on the 29th.
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When a dog appeared ahead, Maisie would pull, then refocus, take the treat, let the dog pass.

Same harness. Completely different walk. The harness didn't change. The skill did.
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You got this.

Happy training,

Pam,
CPDT-KA