How to stop my Akita from pulling on the leash?

It is possible to take 30 to 40 minutes to correct the Akita on the leash. The engagement with the Akita allows him to have confidence in the owner to choose where he is going. With basics, exercises you can build engagement that translates to better behaviors on the leash. In extreme cases, use the prong collar as long as used in the right way.

The right way to use the leash

The extendable leash will be a problem for the training. During the process, you will need to make clear to your Akita that you are the leader at all-time. What this type of leash offer you is the opposite. With this leash, your dog could understand that he can go where whenever he wants to.

Creating Engagement

The base for training in the right direction is engagement. It can be easier and faster than you think. When you get the attention needed from the dog, you are more than halfway to achieve your objective.

Start changing direction with the leash, walk a few steps and change direction, a few steps, and change, do it again and again. While changing direction, use verbal correction helps a lot. If there is no engagement, put a little pressure on the leash, and keep the exercise.

In the beginning, you should look for trust, build good behavior without rewards, engaging is something between you and your Akita this is why there is no food yet. But once there is trust between you and your friend and you see that the good behavior is natural, you can start giving him rewards. Not make him drive by food is a better way to train. He will follow because of the engagement.

Give him a Chance

At this point, you need to make sure that you already have some results with the first exercise. The next task is required a longer leash. Usually, a regular leash is around 5 FT. You will need a leash double the size.

Because there is more space between you and the Akita, there is more chance for him to change direction naturally. Using a little pressure on the leash, you can correct the few moments that he gets distracted, making the dog usual to his new way of acting on the leash.

This exercise is very similar to the first, but this time the long leash will give more space between you and the Akita. Look for putting the minimum pressure required on the leash to change the direction, so you train the dog, with the purpose to make the good behaviors more and more natural. Don't forget when you are changing the direction while walking, get his attention by calling your friend by name. Little by little, he will understand that he must follow you because you are leading the way. There is no need for him to think where he is going because with the engagement, he can now trust you to show the way he should go.

Improving Engagement

Engagement is a tool that allows your dog to have more confidence in you. With a higher level of trust, you can make the decisions for the Akita, but without the engagement, to stop your Akita from pulling, the exercises would need to be much more extreme.

Back to the exercise, in the third step, switch back the short leash. This time with distant walks, then change your direction. If the Akita is trying to go forward or going in another direction without you, put pressure on the leash and use verbal correction to correct his behavior.

One trick to build confidence is to get the Akita looking at you. You will make it by calling his name or make any noise that you usually use. After your friend looks at you, repeat the exercise until he is sure of what you want. The verbal correction is a simple but efficient tool. In places full of distraction is an opportunity to go to the next level and test the level of engagement. Suppose something is calling the attention of the Akita, you will go in a different direction away from the distraction. If he follows you and forgets that distraction, the engagement is going great.

What if it does not work well?

In case those exercises did not work, you need to use a prong collar. Before continue, after your first look at it, the first thing that comes to mind is that it will hurt the dog. But wait, it is one of the safest collars because its designs protect your dog's trachea. The prong collar distributes any physical pressure from the leash away from the front of the neck and pushes it around the muscle tissue, protecting the trachea and the larynx.

Most people use the collar very loosely and in the wrong position. The collar has to be fit up high, behind the ears and the jawline. Another benefit because the collar is up high, you have more control over the dog's head, which results in less force to have the same result as the traditional way.

Here are more details about the right way to fit and the correct type of collar, which will be better for your Akita explained in a video. And here, you can check some good deals for the prong collar.

Back to the training, using the prong collar, go back with the steps mention before using the minimum of pressure necessary. Because the dog does not want to feel the pressure, the Akita will change the direction easily. During the process, call verbally by his name or any sound, which will allow him to follow without the pressure and improve the level of engagement.

Always use the leash loose when necessary put the right amount of pressure required. The idea of this tool is not to go back and forward fighting against the dog. With that right amount of pressure and verbal correction, you remind the dog that it is time to change the direction or stop some undesired behaviors.

You do not want the dog to make his own decisions like run away, pull the leash, go towards other dogs while he is on the leash. With a tool like that, you have more effect on your commands, making it easier to get good results on the leash. The prong collar used in the right way benefits you and your Akita.