And, now that I have some time, I would outline my commands/training programme. I may be teaching you how to suck eggs - sorry about that - but below with the clarification is how I have trained all of our dogs since (and during) Bob’s life. And why we had to train this way.
Bob was a pound rescue (labxGreyhound) and was found as a stray and desperately emaciated. My other trainer was a very reactive little BC (told to PTS at 5 months by professional trainers - she turns 14 years old in 2 months so, obviously, I didnt do that and went to the trainers above for assistance.)
I call these two dogs “my trainers” as I was fortunate that all my dogs prior to that came out “pre-trained” 
. Patricia McConnell, Turid Ruggas and my sister (a special needs teacher) helped develop these methods.
Bob obtained - at 12 years and after a lot of training and learning how to train - Canine Good Citizen at Gold level. It is an amazing achievement for such a dog - actually, for any dog. We bawled our eyes out when he achieved the last level.(NZ does CGC in 4 stages - with increasing difficulty as you go up the levels.)
Bob was 18 kilos when we got him at at 18 months - think skeleton with black skin stretched over it. At 3, he topped 45kgs and the vet said he should have been >30kg when we got him. This X is a popular hunting dog here - as both breeds are originally hunting dogs and have stamina. He, we suspect, got lost in the bush. But this really impacted on his “intelligence” or “learning ability”.
My sister recommended breaking each “thing” down into the smallest possible components.
Although we did have two other “normal” dogs at the time, he learned from the humans - you should have seen him trying to catch a basket ball with his front legs cause that’s how we did. He managed it - and, yes, praise praise and be happy with him.
So - walking on a loose leash has a lot of steps - unknown to me at the time. You can do a number of these in sequence with dogs that have good learning skills - and most labs do. At all times, reward.
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Name recognition - we started by standing in front of him and saying his name and rewarding him with a treat. (He was food driven due to his early life.) Then progressing to being to his side and behind him. He also - over a great deal of time - learned that he was included in “all dogs”
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Training a “recall” - but not a formal one if you know what I mean. Basically to come when I called his name (at first) and then with the word “Come” - consistency is extra important with these types of dogs. Moving into more and more distraction laden environments. (Yes, he learned to do a recall past a rotiserrie chicken. he was a good dog and loved working with humans that showed him any affection.)
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Working out exactly what type of loose leash walking you want - by your side? slightly in front? out on a long line? able to “stop and sniff” or “exercise walk”? Moving between these? what is the dog’s natural pace? These are all different and I do use a separate command for each.
Which one I start with really depends on what the dog that I am training. With Bob, I started with “With me” - his shoulder is on my leg and no more than 50cm from my side. This was to provide comfort and support for a dog that had been lost. With our recently re-homed BC, I taught him “go wayward” - ie working out in front of me but to come back when called. (I now have to work with him that “good boy” doesnt mean trip me up to get a treat! My bad.)
All of our dogs learn “With me”, “in front”, “Go wayward”, “Walk Walk” (for exercise), “Sniffy Walk”, and, most important of all, “No pull”.
- Be HAPPY in your body language and voice.
- Know your dog’s natural pace - and if you need to, add “slow”.
- How did I train this? PLEASE follow Turid Ruggas’ method - it works well - and I have used that for training all of the above. Essentially, when they stop and look away from you, give them a few seconds, call their name and the second they look at you praise, say your achieve word (such as good) and move off. Not necessarily in the direction that you were originally progressing but being joyful in your body language. Or, as I say in my classes, act like a blithering idiot .
This does work - and, having the multiple walk commands, gives you a finer definition of what your dog can do when. it also allows you to praise more.
