Reactive Dog Training Success: Quill’s Breakthrough in Leash Walking Skills

You’ve likely heard the saying, “There are no bad dogs, only bad dog owners.” While I wouldn’t label myself a bad dog owner, I acknowledge that I dropped the ball when it came to Quill’s leash walking skills. In this article, I’ll share what I believe I did wrong and what I’m doing to improve, in hopes that other dog owners can learn from our last 90 days of daily walks—especially those navigating reactive dog training, leash frustration, and life after loss.

How We Missed the Sweet Spot of Leash Training

If you’ve read Quill’s story, you know that we pushed back his Gotcha Date by a month due to my husband’s emergency appendectomy and two full weeks in the hospital. Instead of coming home at 8 weeks, Quill joined us on December 6, at just over 11 weeks old. Our breeder, a professional dog trainer, used that extra time to work with him on early leash exposure and collar acclimation.

 

When Quill arrived home, our focus shifted to house training, bite inhibition, and helping him bond with our other dog, Tinkerbell. We worked on basic cues in the yard, but leash training wasn’t consistent. And in Chicagoland winters—with early sunsets and icy sidewalks—loose leash walking wasn’t exactly top of mind.

 

Add in my unplanned hysterectomy, Tink’s liver issues, and Quill’s eventual diagnosis of Myasthenia Gravis, and we had a perfect storm of missed opportunities. Before I knew it, I had a two-year-old Labrador with a strong prey drive and zero leash manners.

Reactive Dog Training: Our Chaotic Walks and Finding Help

Walking my dogs has always been my favorite outdoor activity. My late dog, Babe and I would walk multiple times a day for at least half an hour each time, as we lived in a downtown area without a fenced yard. Our weekends were spent hiking in local forest preserves, parks, and at the Indiana Dunes when we lived in Northwest Indiana.

 

Jax and Tink didn’t need twice daily walks, because we have a nice big yard and they played with each other all day, every day. But I still loved taking them to local forest preserves. They had a tendency to pull me for the first part of our walks when we all went out together but each of them individually had pretty nice leash manners from our obedience classes at a local training facility. 

 

With Tink slowing down and wanting to ensure that Quill had a full life with fun activities and engaging experiences, Quill and I attempted a few walks that turned out to be chaotic and unpleasant. He pulled hard toward every scent, barked at anyone and anything he saw, and lunged at every bird and squirrel in sight.

 

During those moments, I couldn’t help but feel I had failed him. My breeder (who is a professional dog trainer) had started him on leash training during the extra weeks she spent with him, but I neglected to continue those lessons. After berating myself, I got my act together and  reminded myself that there were extenuating circumstances since Quill’s Gotcha Day, and I deserved to give myself some grace. To improve our situation, I purchased three private training sessions with a well-regarded local trainer.

Desensitization and Counterconditioning for Dogs: Our First Training Session

On the day of our first training session, we arrived at the facility a few minutes early, so Quill and I waited outside the training building. Quill “eagerly” tried to explore all the scents around him…i.e. he tried to pull with all of his considerable strength toward the hundreds of new scents left by other dogs and local wildlife. He peed on the “please no peeing” signs, pooped a few times, and when the dog and owner before us finished and walked past us to their car, he lost his mind, barking, leaping, and lunging.

 

“Well, this is why we’re here!” I told the trainer.

 

Once inside the building, he greeted her with his usual happy, loving, over-the-top Labrador joy. His reaction to someone one-on-one was night and day compared to just randomly seeing someone walk by him. When he spotted a life-sized stuffed dog used for training in the center of the room, he went wild, barking and growling at it.

 

During that session, I learned that before we could even think about loose-leash training, we had to address Quill’s reactivity. I was surprised to hear that term applied to him, as I had always assumed “reactive” meant aggressive.

 

Although Quill looked and sounded intimidating, he had never growled or had any negative interactions with people or dogs at vet appointments or in our home. I have since learned that reactivity does not necessarily imply aggression; however, it can lead to aggression if not adequately addressed.

 

According to Cornell University, a reactive dog “overreacts to normal situations that other dogs would take in stride.” The Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine explains, “Reactive dogs are not necessarily aggressive, but reactivity can turn into aggression, making your attention to training extremely important. Reactive dogs become overly aroused by common stimuli. They may lunge, bark, and growl, becoming so preoccupied with whatever is triggering their emotions that they can be difficult to control and move away from the situation. A reactive dog is usually a fearful dog.”

 

Our homework for the week involved practicing desensitization and counter-conditioning exercises, along with engage-disengage practice. I received a worksheet explaining trigger stacking, which describes how multiple stimuli can significantly escalate a dog’s reactivity. For instance, kids on bikes, squirrels running past, and people trying to pet a cute Labrador.

 

Reflecting on our walks and the various stimuli Quill faced, it made sense why he was pulling, lunging, and not listening to me. He was overwhelmed, with all his senses on high alert, including his extremely sensitive nose.

 

In the first few days, we ventured into the front yard with treats, some kibble, and a long spoon with Easy Cheese on it. We stood on the sidewalk, and when Quill calmly stared at something, he received a treat. We then added a marker word (a way to confirm that he did something correctly, which we used instead of a clicker) when he turned away from the stimulus to look at me. After a few days, we moved around the corner and then added another block. Eventually, we ventured into the park.

 

For a while, I wondered if any of this was making sense to Quill. Whenever someone with or without a dog was on the walking path, we immediately moved to the center of the park to give them a wide berth. I thought about the reactivity chart the trainer had given me and how far away we needed to be for him to remain calm. It seemed like we might never be able to go out in public without him acting like a crazed beast instead of my sweet boy.

Loose Leash Walking Tips and the Premack Principle Dog Training

During our second training session, I wanted to learn how to incorporate loose-leash walking. With my dogs, Jax and Tink, I had always stopped walking every time they pulled, which taught them that pulling meant they weren’t going anywhere. However, Quill wasn’t catching on to this and just pulled harder.

 

One of the challenges with Quill is his Myasthenia Gravis and the megaesophagus that developed when he first became ill. Because of this, I cannot use any collar or British slip lead on him. His stocky build and large chest have made it difficult to find no-pull harnesses that fit snugly enough for me to use the front hook.

 

As a result, when he pulls, it’s tough to get his attention, as he tends to lead me along, making it difficult for all of us to focus on each other. Consequently, no learning is happening, and I struggle to capture his attention. Currently, I’m considering a head collar that its inventor claims is safe for dogs with throat issues. For now, we are using the Freedom harness, which isn’t ideal because it crosses over his front shoulders. I am on a continual search for the best harness for reactive dogs as well as training a dog with Myasthenia Gravis. 

 

Our trainer introduced me to the Premack Principle, which involves encouraging someone to do something they don’t want to do by offering them something they do want. The AKC website provides a good example: telling kids they can have dessert if they eat all their vegetables. For Quill, this meant we wouldn’t move toward whatever he wanted to sniff unless he stopped pulling and made eye contact with me.

 

Once again, our homework was to practice this in our yard and on our cul-de-sac. Quill seemed to catch on incredibly quickly, but I soon realized that his rapid progress was not because he understood what I wanted. Instead, he was just getting bored with the scents in our area. Once we encountered new and more interesting smells, he pulled as if he were the lead dog in the Iditarod.

 

Feeling frustrated, I reached out to a friend who is a professional dog breeder and trainer to ask for loose leash walking tips. The only reason I wasn’t at her training facility was that she lives six hours away. 

 

She referred me to some additional online resources, including the Method K9 Institute, and I watched many of their videos about reactive dog training and how to stop dog from pulling on leash. Between those videos, advice from my friend, and my homework from our training sessions, we started to make progress. 

Dog Training Requires Patience, Repetition, and Emotional Connection

I have always known that training dogs is a lesson in patience and repetition for both dog and human. Every dog is different, even when they are the same breed, with shared ancestry, like mine. Training Jax was different than training Tink, and both were different than training Quill. 

 

What has really made our training resonate is the focus on deepening our relationship rather than just teaching Quill something new. Our walks are not merely about teaching him to walk nicely on a leash or to stay calm when he sees a squirrel or an elderly woman; they are about helping him understand that I’m at the end of the leash with him, and that we are exploring the world together.

 

When I try to see the world through his eyes and nose—an exciting place filled with scents, people, and other animals—I find it much easier to be patient and concentrate on rewarding him for being calm. The whole point of the Engage and Disengage homework that our trainer gave us is that it’s not realistic to avoid external stimuli, the goal is to have our dogs feel confident and chill when they encounter things in the world. 

 

Since the day he came home, we have been practicing training cues regularly. During our walks, I’ve introduced some basic obedience training. We go to the center of the rectangular-shaped park where we like to walk and practice commands like “sit,” “stand,” “touch” (having him touch his nose to my hand), and even his little tricks like “shake.”

 

As far as the loose leash part of our training is concerned, at first, it took us 30 minutes to walk just half a mile. Every time Quill pulled, I would stop and wait. Once he stopped pulling, turned around, and made eye contact with me, we would resume walking. For several days, we practiced this one step at a time.

 

Some days are better than others. Yesterday we had a lot of loose leash moments where we walked along together in perfect harmony. Today, he tried to pull me basically the entire walk, and we had to stop every few feet to sort of recalibrate. I wish I could see what he was smelling and what was so interesting today versus yesterday. 

Progress Over Perfection: One Step and Sniff at a Time

Today marks almost three months since Tinkerbell passed away. Since then, we have gone on some form of a walk every day—whether it’s training in the front yard or a full-fledged walk. That amounts to about 90 days of reactivity training, loose-leash training, and time spent enjoying the world together.

 

This morning, we walked past a mother with her toddler and an off-leash long-haired Chihuahua. They were about 20 feet away, and Quill trotted past with just a glance or two in their direction. The biggest win? The Chihuahua was barking loudly at us while prancing around with its fluffy tail wagging like a squirrel. Closer to home, Quill did try to bolt after an actual squirrel that suddenly appeared right in front of us, but he is a dog with a strong prey drive after all.

 

Dog training is not just about patience and repetition; it’s also about progress over perfection. As I told my trainer, I don’t need military precision or a strict heel at all times. I want to enjoy fun walks without risking shoulder surgery or looking like I’m walking the Hound of the Baskervilles. My main goal is to give my boy a fulfilling life filled with enjoyable adventures, and to achieve that connection I’ve experienced while walking my other Labradors.

 

Although it often feels like we haven’t quite reached that point, our walks become more enjoyable with each passing day. I’m even considering getting snow boots with ice-stabilizing cleats to ensure we maintain our progress over the winter. After all of the work we’ve put into our daily excursions, I am excited to keep bonding on the other side of our fence the same way we have on our own little piece of the world.