Problem 03 · Lead work

My dog pulls like a train.

Two hands on the lead, one shoulder aching, and a walk you’ve quietly stopped enjoying. You’ve tried the harness, the halti, and three different leads — because everyone told you it was the kit. It was never the kit.

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01 — Does this sound like your walks?

You already know the list.

Owners describe this to us in almost identical words.

01Your shoulder and wrist ache after every walk
02He chokes himself on the collar and doesn’t seem to care
03Harness, halti, three leads — the kit keeps changing, the pulling doesn’t
04Ten calm yards, then gone again
05The walk is a zigzag — nose down, dragging you between smells
06Worse on the way out than the way home
07You plan routes around the pull points
08The kids can’t walk him, and you wouldn’t let them try
02 — Why it happens

Pulling works. That’s the whole problem.

Three things are usually running at once, and dominance isn’t one of them.

Cause 01

Every pull gets paid

He pulls, and he gets there faster — the smell, the park, the other dog. The lead has taught him that pulling is how walking works.

Cause 02

Nobody taught a position

Walking beside a human at human pace is not natural to any dog. A loose lead is a trained place to be — and it has to be worth being in.

Cause 03

The walk carries everything

If the walk is the only outlet the dog gets, he arrives at the front door already over threshold. Some of the pulling is just pressure looking for somewhere to go.

Dogs don’t pull because they’re dominant. They pull because it works, every single time.

Scott McKay
03 — What we actually do

Stop paying the pull. Start paying the position.

The order matters more than the technique — and your half of the lead changes as much as the dog’s.

01

Watch the walk, not the dog

Where it starts, where it spikes, what your hands do. Half of what the lead is saying is coming from your end, and nobody has ever shown you that.

Assessment
02

Pulling stops gaining a step

From day one, a tight lead never gets anyone anywhere. Not punishment — just the end of the deal that built the habit.

Weeks 1–2
03

Teach a position worth being in

A place beside you that gets paid — properly, and often. The dog learns the loose lead is where the good things happen.

Weeks 2–4
04

Take it where it’s hard

Past the pull points, out the front door, towards the park. Distance, duration, distraction — in that order.

Weeks 4–6
05

Hand the lead over

To you, and then to the rest of the house. It isn’t fixed until the person with the weakest grip can walk him.

Weeks 6–8
04 — Straight about this one

What we will and won’t promise you.

What usually changes

One hand on the lead. A relaxed arm.

  • Walks stop being a workout you didn’t ask for
  • You go where you want to go, not where the nose points
  • The kit stops mattering — flat collar, plain lead
  • Anyone in the house can take him out
What we won’t say

That he’ll heel like a trial dog forever.

  • That you’ll get competition heelwork on a Sunday stroll — you don’t need it
  • That it’s sorted in one session
  • That the dog changes while your half of the lead stays the same
  • That we can guarantee it — dogs aren’t machines and outcomes vary
05 — Where this usually goes

One of two, and the assessment decides which.

Most pulling

The Fix

One named problem, six to eight weeks, with the outcome written down before we start. Pulling on its own is a Fix.

If the lead is the least of it

The Transformation

When the pulling comes with lunging and barking at other dogs, it’s a reactivity problem wearing a lead problem’s coat — and it needs the longer runway.

Both run in person or online · Neither is sold on the day you meet us

Let’s see the dog before anyone talks about money.

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Free · No obligation · Norfolk and Suffolk, or online from anywhere