Getting the Most Out of Your Walks with Your Dog: A Guide from a Professional Dog Trainer

Walking your dog is more than just a way to burn off energy. It’s an opportunity to build a deeper bond with your dog, reinforce positive behaviors, and enhance your dog’s overall well-being. As a professional dog trainer, I always emphasize that walks are an essential part of a balanced training routine and should be approached with intention, patience, and positive reinforcement.

 In this blog, we’ll explore how to make the most of your walks with your dog by focusing on training, engagement, and ethical ownership principles. Whether you’re teaching loose-leash walking, improving focus, or simply making the walk more enjoyable for both you and your dog, these tips will help you strengthen your partnership and create a more fulfilling experience.

 1. Set a Positive Tone from the Start

Before you even step out the door, it's important to set the right tone for the walk. Dogs are highly attuned to their owners’ energy and body language. If you’re stressed, rushed, or distracted, your dog will pick up on that and may mirror those emotions. Start your walk with a calm and positive mindset, as this will help your dog stay focused and relaxed.

 2. Use Positive Reinforcement to Shape Behavior

Positive reinforcement training is one of the most effective ways to encourage desirable behaviors in your dog. Instead of punishing unwanted behaviors (such as pulling on the leash or barking at other dogs), reward your dog for doing the right thing.

Here are a few tips for using positive reinforcement during walks:

 Reward Calmness: If your dog remains calm and attentive while walking, reward them with praise or treats. This helps your dog understand that calm behavior is what you’re seeking.

 Loose Leash Walking: One of the most common training goals is teaching your dog to walk on a loose leash. When your dog walks calmly beside you without pulling, give them a treat or praise. If they pull ahead, stop walking, and wait until they return to your side. Reward them for walking at your pace. Consistency is key!

 Use Treats Wisely: Carry high-value treats that your dog loves, but don’t just reward for behavior you already expect. Occasionally throw in a surprise reward when they’re doing something particularly good (like ignoring a distraction) to reinforce the idea that good things happen when they focus on you.

 3. Incorporate Training Exercises

A walk doesn’t have to be purely about exercise; it can also be a valuable training opportunity. You can incorporate basic obedience commands and mental enrichment exercises into your walk to keep your dog engaged and learning.

 Sit/Stay at Intersections: Stop at every intersection and have your dog sit and stay before crossing the street. This teaches impulse control and reinforces focus.

 Focus/Look at Me: If your dog is distracted by other people, dogs, or squirrels, ask them to “look at me” or “focus” and reward them for making eye contact. This helps your dog learn to refocus when there are distractions.

 Heel Work: If your dog is already proficient with loose-leash walking, you can challenge them by practicing “heel” work. This is a more advanced skill where the dog walks with their shoulder aligned to your leg, maintaining a close position while moving.

 Reward for Relaxing: If your dog shows calm behavior around a distraction (like another dog or a bicycle), reward them with treats and praise. This helps them associate the presence of distractions with positive outcomes, reducing reactive behavior.

 4. Make Walks Enjoyable for Both of You

A successful walk isn’t just about training—it’s also about creating a pleasant experience for both you and your dog. A walk is a shared time of exploration and connection, so it should be enjoyable!

 Vary Your Routes: Dogs love variety, and exploring new environments keeps their mind sharp. Try walking in different neighborhoods, parks, or trails. New smells and sights provide excellent mental stimulation.

 Incorporate Play: Allow time for play during your walk. A quick game of fetch, tug, or letting your dog explore an area off-leash (in a safe and enclosed space) can provide a fun break and help burn off extra energy.

 Respect Your Dog’s Pace: While it’s important to encourage your dog to follow your lead, remember that not all dogs have the same stamina or interest level. If your dog needs to slow down or take a break, allow them to do so. Watch for signs of fatigue or discomfort, especially in extreme weather conditions.

 5. Manage Distractions with Grace

Many dogs struggle with distractions during walks, whether it's other dogs, people, cars, or wildlife. Instead of becoming frustrated, use these opportunities to train your dog to stay calm and focused.

 Desensitization: If your dog reacts to other dogs, people, or noisy cars, work on desensitizing them by rewarding calm behavior when these distractions occur. Start with a safe distance, where your dog can observe the distraction without reacting, and gradually decrease the distance over time.

 Redirect Focus: If your dog gets overly excited or reactive, redirect their attention back to you with a treat, a toy, or a command they know well. The goal is to make it clear that focusing on you is more rewarding than reacting to distractions.

 Create a Calm Environment: If you know your dog tends to get reactive in certain situations, such as walking past a dog park or busy street, choose quieter routes or times of day when the distractions are minimal.

 6. Be Consistent and Patient

Training your dog during walks takes time and consistency. Don’t expect instant results—especially with behaviors like loose-leash walking or addressing reactivity. Patience is key, and small, gradual improvements will eventually add up to lasting results.

 If you’re consistent with your expectations and rewards, your dog will begin to understand that good behavior on walks is always worth the effort. Remember, each walk is an opportunity to reinforce positive behaviors and further strengthen the bond you share with your dog.

 7. Be Ethical in Your Training Approach

As a professional dog trainer, I advocate for positive, force-free methods that prioritize the well-being and mental health of the dog. Training should be fun and empowering for both you and your dog. Avoid punishment-based techniques, such as choke chains or prong collars, which can cause fear and anxiety in your dog and damage your relationship with them. Instead, use rewards, clear communication, and patience to guide your dog’s behavior in a compassionate way.

 Conclusion

Walking your dog should be a joyful and enriching experience for both of you. By incorporating positive reinforcement training, engaging your dog’s mind, and ensuring the walk is fun and stress-free, you can make every outing a productive and enjoyable time. Remember, walks are not just a way to exercise your dog—they are an opportunity to build trust, strengthen your relationship, and create a harmonious partnership based on respect and mutual understanding.

 Whether you’re working on loose-leash walking, improving focus, or simply enjoying the outdoors together, always approach walks with patience and positivity. Your dog will not only become a more well-behaved companion, but you’ll also both have a lot more fun along the way!

About the Author:

David Shade is a professional dog trainer who has worked in the field of dog training for 10 years. He is a leader in modern dog training with multiple publications, TV appearances, podcast appearances, a keynote speaker, and has completed a Tedx talk.

Dogs and Babies

At Attention Dog Training COO, Lesley Shade, sat down with Nicole Didizian, RN-BSN, CBE, CCE, founder of Main Line Family Education, to answer her clients’ most pressing questions about dogs and babies. Often, our dogs are our first new member of the family and when it’s time to welcome home a new baby, our dogs are in for a big adjustment just like everyone in the home. With some extra thought you can help prepare your dog to be successful when you bring your new baby home!

MLFED: “I’m pregnant and we’ve recently adopted a puppy. What’s the best way to prepare my “fur baby” ahead of time?”

AADT: Having a new puppy before growing your family presents a unique opportunity! Puppies go through developmental stages during puppyhood that influence their behavior for the rest of their lives. In particular, the “Critical Period of Socialization” generally occurs during the first 16 weeks of life. During this developmental stage, puppies are very sensitive to the world around them.  The interactions and experiences they have (positive or negative) will have long-lasting effects on their behaviors and ability to adapt.  The good news is that you have an amazing opportunity to influence those interactions for the better! 

AADT refers to this influential process as Crafting Positive Experiences© (CPE). You can prepare your own puppy for your baby by orchestrating planned meetings with a friend’s infant or toddler and offering your pup high value food rewards during those interactions to provide a positive association for your puppy. The experience should be short and sweet and your puppy’s body language should be loose and relaxed. Reading your dog’s body language takes time to interpret, but it’s so important that dog owners learn the subtle signs that a dog exhibits when uncomfortable or stressed.  

If having your puppy meet babies/children isn’t an option, use YouTube videos of infants crying or children talking/playing set initially on low volume while your puppy enjoys a yummy food enrichment toy like a Toppl ® or KONG ® stuffed with soft food rewards. Once the food is gone, stop playing the sounds. 

MLFED: “My husband and I are expecting a baby, but our older dog is used to being an “only child”. How can we make it easier on him when we bring the new baby home?”

AADT: Ideally, training your dog starts before the baby comes home. New habits such as polite manners as well as more lengthy behavior modification changes can take time for a dog to learn. A baby often disrupts the routine of everyone in the house, including your dog. Added stress can make learning more difficult, just like with humans! Behaviors that haven’t been a priority before easily become magnified when a new baby is present. Poor leash manners, dog reactivity, overall manners, and more can be much harder to deal with when everyone is just trying to survive life with a newborn.

It is important to offer dogs an opportunity to practice situations they may experience when a new baby comes home. For example, walking next to a stroller may be new and scary – it changes the position of their normal walking spot, can be loud, and unpredictable in movement. Start acclimating your dog to the stroller when it’s locked/stationary inside your home while simultaneously giving your dog high value treats. Once your dog is comfortable, move to the next step – making the stroller roll back and forth and giving your dog those treats.  Baby steps are key for our dogs! 

We also encourage families to consider their sleeping arrangements. While we know our pups make excellent snuggle mates, when a new baby arrives, families may prefer to have their dog elsewhere due to late-night feedings or because the baby’s bassinet is in the bedroom. Any sudden changes in a dog’s routine can cause stress and stress can lead to behavioral issues! Plan ahead and help your dog love new sleeping arrangements that don’t interfere with a newborn’s schedule.

MLFED: “My dog is acting out now that we’ve brought our newborn home. What do you suggest we do to help her? It seems like she is anxious all the time.”

AADT: There is an old adage shared on social media that suggests dogs will “know your baby is part of their pack” and will be, “just fine” when you bring your baby home. This narrative is dangerous, false, and creates unrealistic expectations for both dogs and owners. Many dogs struggle with the new noises infants make and get stressed at disruptions to their own routines. This can all escalate even further once the baby learns how to crawl/walk, because now the noises have teamed up with wildly unpredictable movements and actions. Management solutions will play a large part in your everyday life as you work to keep your baby safe and your dog comfortable! 

First, you should immediately offer your dog space away from your child to rest. The successful resolution of undesirable behaviors is to get to the root cause of the fear/anxiety/stress and work on changing your dog’s emotional response to potential triggers. If your dog is experiencing increased stress and anxiety, adding fear won’t help them feel better.  The use of bark collars, e-stim, spray or shock collars, spray bottles, hitting, kicking, prong collars, choke chains etc. will not make your dog feel better about your new addition, but instead can contribute to making your dog act aggressively towards your baby.

Consider reaching out to a Certified Professional Dog Trainer committed to modern, humane and ethical methods. These trainers will never resort to adding pain, fear or intimidation in an effort to suppress undesirable behaviors. They will be able to make immediate recommendations and help you implement an appropriate training program. Depending on your dog’s anxiety levels, it may be necessary to work in tandem with a Veterinary Behaviorist as part of the training plan.  Working with the right skilled team of professionals can remove added stress for new families; don’t delay!

MLFED: “Help! My baby is mobile! Any suggestions on how to baby-proof to ensure that my pet is comfortable too, since parts of our home are now gated off?”

AADT: As infants grow, the strategies for helping dogs be successful must also change. Jennifer Shyrock, CDBC, owner of Family Paws™ LLC has outlined the different milestones that infants go through and offers suggested strategies to help dogs so that everyone can live together happily! From the newborn phase, rolling over, grasping, sitting, to crawling and beyond – adjusting the strategies we employ to keep dogs and children safe is key.   

The use of management tools such as crates, gates, playpens, and tethering aim to increase safety and reduce incidents from happening as both children and dogs require supervision to ensure everyone is comfortable.  In her “5 Types of Supervision”, Jennifer outlines the following levels of supervision:  Absent, Passive, Reactive, Proactive and Active. Proactive and Active supervision of both children and dogs should be prioritized daily.  Some dogs may require training to help them feel comfortable with being behind a gate or separated from their family within the home and it’s important to take time to help them cope with this change. 

Source: https://www.familypaws.com/services/for-parents-and-families/

MLFED: “Both my dog and my baby want to be with me 24/7. Separating the dog stresses her out. Being together means my baby has access to the dog’s toys and bed (we keep food and water in a separate location) and tries to crawl all over her. I’m feeling overwhelmed.”

AADT: Meeting the needs of everyone and taking care of your own needs can be quite the balancing act! Offering daily walks and mental enrichment games can increase the likelihood that your dog will feel more relaxed throughout the day. Enrichment offers dogs a way to exercise their mind and engage their natural seeker system in a fun manner. This can be as simple as using a puzzle bowl or snuffle mat as a feeder for their daily meal(s). 

New families often benefit from hiring an excellent dog walker to help ensure their dog gets the physical exercise they need and chances to sniff outside. Using proper management strategies to keep interested toddlers away from a dog’s feeding station and toys is paramount so that dogs never feel their resources are threatened – great job in separating those!

Remember – it’s important to realize the cognition levels of both your baby and your dog. A baby doesn’t understand what appropriate interaction is and neither does your dog!  It’s our role as parents to set up successful management techniques to keep everyone safe.

______

Learn more about Nicole and Main Line Family Education:

Nicole Didizian, RN-BSN, CBE, CCE

A Labor and Delivery, Newborn and Postpartum nurse with over a decade of experience, Nicole found a need in the community for a more family-focused approach to welcoming a new baby into the world. She is thrilled to concentrate on education as the founder of Main Line Family Education. Her warm personality coupled with a deep understanding of pregnancy, delivery, and infant care, will provide families with the tools and knowledge they need to manage the journey through parenthood in the most positive way.

Main Line Family Education provides both virtual and in-person classes for parents-to-be and young families. Instructors are licensed professionals and experts in their field of study. Offering Childbirth Preparation, Infant & Child CPR, Newborn Basics, Postpartum Resiliency, Newborn and Child Sleep, Baby Milestones, social Mom Meetups and more. MLFEd strives to provide you with the most personalized educational experience because they recognize that every pregnancy, birth and family is unique!