Walk training… FINALLY progress?

Hey guys! Just wanted to share a little (minor) success I’ve been feeling lately!!

I have a 9 month old American Cocker Spaniel pup, and she’s the sweetest little energy ball. Her on walks, though, is a huge huge pain cuz of the non stop pulling, ignoring commands and constantly putting anything she can find into her mouth and refusing to drop it.

For MONTHS I’ve been trying to get her to loose leash walk. Stopping every time she pulls. Reward her for eye contact, etc. But for the longest time, nothing felt like it was working and I feel like crying a least once a day when we’re out for our walks.

Until a reditor on this sub told me about “playing” on our walk. It made me realize that I was taking the walks WAY too seriously and in reality, the walks are for HER and it’s HER dedicated time of the day.

I started to just let her loose (long leash) and sniff around. Practice recalling + reward every now and then. Keep my route mostly the same -> same park, just deviating in directions and taking different turns sometimes. Inserting short sessions of easy commands… then some heel walking training at the park as we go.

After 2 months of doing this, she now recalls (MOST of the time), willingly come by me for heel walks after a sniff session, and looks back at me when she starts feeling tension in the leash.

Now… she is no where near perfect at walking and it’s still a game of bribing her to drop the trash she picked up every day… But the fact that she acknowledges my existence during walks is a huge improvement to me 😭

I’m so proud of her, and I finally have hope that we can continue to improve and enjoy out walks together even more.

I just wanted to share this story in case anyone is feeling as hopeless as I was for months. Don’t give up!!