How to teach my dog to walk beside me on his leash

How to teach my dog to walk beside me on his leash?

Smash loves to try to lead me down the trail. Many of our hiking trails here are really too narrow for him to walk be side me. So I have had a bit of complication training him to walk beside me on his leash.

I have begun using the length of the free leash as his cue to walk beside me or in front. When I want him beside me, I pull up the leash short and hold him in the standard heel position for a few steps. He soon gets the idea. I reinforce the leash signal with the verbal "Heel" command accompanied by a visual image in my head of him walking calmly and happily beside me.

When the trail gets narrow, I let out the leash and slow my pace enough to allow him to go in front. He quickly takes to this! If he tries to pull on the leash, I give it a quick tug to remind him not to pull.

For more info on how to train a dog to walk on a leash click here.