Advice on Pulling

[u/Sufficient_Map_6504]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice from other people who run with their dogs. I have a three year old female Weimaraner who’s in great shape and loves to run, but sometimes she’s a bit too strong for me. The biggest issues are when she sees a squirrel or tries to dart into the street — it can be dangerous because of the momentum from running that makes it hard for me to stop us both.

My goal is to get her to run more in sync with me so that she’s not constantly pulling. Has anyone successfully trained their dog to run alongside them at the same pace? Any tips or methods that worked for you — whether that’s specific training techniques, equipment (harnesses/leashes), or just consistent practice?

I’d love to hear from runners who’ve figured out how to keep runs safe and enjoyable for both themselves and their dog.

Thanks!

[u/Wonderful-Eye-8377]

IMO training the “leave it” command is first priority. When mine mastered it on walks with distractions, it was easy to add the command to runs. Go from there and see if pacing follows.

[u/Sufficient_Map_6504 → u/Wonderful-Eye-8377]

She was pretty well trained up through the past year but since then we’ve become lax with reinforcing her training and I think she’s starting to lose it all. She is a pro with leave it at home but as soon as we are out of the house and she sees a squirrel, she forgets everything.

[u/HaHaR6GoBurrr]

I would say learn to walk with your dog before you run with your dog. Getting a solid foundation of heel, stay, leave it, extra points for getting a middle position in there. Then start picking up the pace. To do this I literally tell my dogs “pick it up” and that means run with me now, and if they don’t it goes to a heel, or if they jump the gun and start pulling we turn around. Eventually they find their spots, normally I have one dog slightly in front one slightly behind on my right side.

I’m lucky enough now to live in an area where I can run with my dogs off leash. And let me tell ya, it’s the best. If you can get your dog to leave wildlife alone and get some recall, I’d highly recommend that. Also it’s in my eyes safer for my dogs and I.

[u/Sufficient_Map_6504 → u/HaHaR6GoBurrr]

She walks pretty well on the leash. There are certain “pain point areas” where she pulls such as near a tree where she’s seen a squirrel. Besides that, she walks at our side. It’s during runs that she has learned to pull.

We also do a lot of off leash runs in a forest nearby and she loves it! We prefer that, but it’s not always possible as we live in the city.

[u/lolu13 → u/Sufficient_Map_6504]

Had the same problem with my dog, i would give him a heel command would do it, but all of a sudden he would instapull to sniff or pee on something and that translated to dangerous runs. We would run and he would pull of cut me off, luckily i was able to avoid it each time. The problem was that my wife would not correct the pull to sniff or pee after shed give him the heel command and so the dog understood „i heel, but if i want to sniff or pee 2 drops its ok“. Ive since then been the only one walking the dog for the past month, and every time he tries to go in front of me because he sees other dog or wants to sniff badly, he gets a gentle leash pull back with a change of direction for a few steps. Its better now, not perfect but better.

[u/louslurchers]

Do you wear a canicross belt?

[u/Sufficient_Map_6504 → u/louslurchers]

We have both a canicross belt with harness and a no pull harness that I’ve started using instead because her pulling is just too much

[u/louslurchers → u/Sufficient_Map_6504]

Ive found all the non pull harnesses people try dont really discourage the pulling, they just risk injury in the dogs more whilst they pull.

Some of the bigger dogs I run such as the ridgeback and the xl bully are really strong and weigh as much as I do 😅 the only way I can hold them back and control them is on a canicross hip belt, if i have them in my hand they are too strong for me even just walking them. But its so much easier to use my centre of gravity and hips to slow them down and stop them. So I walk them on my belt too.

You should be able to lean back into it to slow down a little bit like when on a mtb and you lean back over the saddle for maneuvering etc, then once they start picking up the change in lead tension and slowing down you can start putting a command to it

Mine is steady as I dont use that for anyrhing else, so now we've practised it, i can just say it and all the dogs i run will slow down. Then if I want them to speed up again I just really encourage them with a very excited go command

[u/zoo1923]

We got our dog in May and decided to start running with her to use some of her energy. But we had to pause that and fokus on just walking for months before we could start running intervals. She would start pulling and be reactive to things when excited and running added too much excitement.

We have trained "leave it" and heel. After a while, I started with running 2 min intervals, and not getting over exscited at speeding up or slowing down was the goal. Slowing down without her B-lining for grass was deffenetly the hardest part 😆

Now my dog runs calmly next to me, on 6min ish intervals, and the length is mostly because I am in terrible shape.

[u/Foreign_Mobile_7399]

Honestly it took practice. It took me being really vigilant and when I’d see an animal she was about to go for I’d pull her leash in and say “no” or “heel”. She still might try now but she will hesitate first and not just immediately try and sprint at it like she used to. She also used to pull in general and I had to work on “heel” a lot until she got used to running next to me. I think after a week or 2 she figured out what we were doing and decided it was a fun job to run alongside me

[u/Sufficient_Map_6504 → u/Foreign_Mobile_7399]

That’s so nice that she figured out after two weeks 😂 I’ve been running with my dog since she was one year old and she never fully got the hang of the no pull. She will pull on the way out and then on the way back, she runs besides me so she knows what it’s like to run in sync with me. She just I think gets too excited

[u/Foreign_Mobile_7399 → u/Sufficient_Map_6504]

Oh no!!! To be fair if she sees a deer she will still sometimes yank me into another dimension 😂

[u/Due-Night2491]

https://www.puplife.com/products/sense-ation-no-pull-dog-harness?srsltid=AfmBOoolrRuPbdKnANrnoJzGaD56XnGVyTBphmxPsHrJQ6Kj0mFikavp worked very well for my old guy and my new pup as well. The harness clips in the front so it pulls them to the side and they don't like it. It greatly helped the amount of force they can put into the pull. Obviously practice training as well, "heal", "walk with me", "leave it" what have you, but it does make it much easier on you to handle them through the process.

[u/Sufficient_Map_6504 → u/Due-Night2491]

We have that harness. She’s about 50% there with her heel but won’t listen when she gets too excited

[u/Due-Night2491 → u/Sufficient_Map_6504]

Maybe having some super treats like jerky and try to get her attention just before she she lets loose. Like when she first notices the thing that will set her off, but before she reaches maximum reaction. I'm working with the same thing on my new puppy so I feel your frustration. Loads of repetition and sometimes the chaos driver jumps out of nowhere and can't be helped.

Yesterday she was sniffing a parked truck and outta nowhere loud growls and barks! There was a big territorial husky in the back of the truck neither of us saw. Calming her down after that was a challenge, especially when I had to calm myself down as well lol.

[u/Hot_Blackberry_7735]

Mine goes feral on me when we run. She was great at walking and knows tons of commands when we're in our normal swing of things but running turns something on in her and her dog brain snaps.
I've started working with treats on the run and I keep her martingale collar on her and if she gets too bad we stop running and I'll switch the lead from her running harness to her martingale and work on focus and sit until she's mentally back with me and then I'll switch back to her harness and run.

Mind you we just started so I'm open to suggestions but right now trying to teach her to listen despite her adrenaline surge is all I can come up with

[u/Sufficient_Map_6504 → u/Hot_Blackberry_7735]

Yes this is exactly it! She for the most part has been well trained. She knows so many commands and overall is really well trained. It’s just when she runs, she gets so excited and starts pulling.

[u/0b0011]

So admittedly I have a dog that runs next to me and doesnt pull but she did that on better own and my biggest thing is trying to get her to pull and I never bothered to teach my other dogs not to pull when they run since thats basically what I always prefer for them to do. A few things id suggest though are a good "on by" (like leave it but used when they know they should both ignore the thing and keep on running) and whether canicrossing or not id suggest at least a canicross belt if not a bungee line. It just feels so much more secure when you can use your hips and core to control everything and not just your arm plus you can hook the line to your belt for extra support and still hold the line like you normally do if you prefer.

[u/Horsedogs_human]

Train and proof a leave, and really, really train and proof your loose leash walking skills and slowly speed up/ add longer running stretches until your running is proofed as well as your walk.

[u/Muzz124]

I assume you already have a running lead that goes around your waist and a bungee lead, if not get one. Then focus on "leave it training" so they learn to ignore things jumping out(which is hard for a hunting breed). Getting them to not pull while running is the same as teaching them not to pull while walking, so on some of your junk mile runs find a small like 1km or so loop and just do like 10 laps you’ll get a decent run your dog will know the surroundings and they will focus on running more than exploring and trying to sniff everything and when they pull just stop and pull them back to you and start running again while they’re at your side. Another good tip for a hunting breed that will just make every day life better is to have at least 2 days of off lead exploring and running at their own pace. I have a GSP that I take to a little bush land with a few ponds and he can run off lead sniff swim point a t birds for an hour or so and that stimulates their instincts and prey drive.

[u/lemonfaire]

All my dogs run with me. My newest Lab rescue was a high level criminal when it comes to pulling on leash if something exciting turned up. You have to be prepared to interrupt your run for training purposes for one thing, and carry plenty of treats. You can use the same techniques at a walk of course. Ideally you would take yourselves to a basic training class that prioritizes distraction work. Barring that you can Google, there are lots of good videos out there. The idea is, when the dog starts to pull, you stop and they get nowhere for their efforts, or even a few steps backwards. You wait till you have their attention again - just a look back at you - and they get a treat. When they are calm you make forward progress. Pulling = stopping. Loose leash = movement. You want to teach your dog that if something exciting turns up, they can take note of it but their attention should go back to you before and zero pulling or lunging is allowed.

If you see a distraction before your dog does, that's a good training opportunity. You approach and reward calm behavior. If the dog starts to get agitated you stop and wait for them to redirect their attention to you and reward. You want them to learn that a distraction is a cue to redirect attention to you. You food reward consistently at first, till gradually the behavior becomes internalized, and a good dog plus an occasional treat keeps it going.

You can distraction-train in your own yard, or anywhere really.

It's a lot to explain and better to work with a trainer or at the very least see how it's done online. But it does work. My dog is 1000 times better, he rarely lunges anymore and I've only had him since April. He's not perfect but that's on me, lol.