Old Trainer: My dog won’t focus when we’re walking. What can I do?

Dear Old Trainer: Sam, my 4-year old Rottweiler, made big progress when I took your advice and got serious about training. He does a good job at sit-stay-come and finally stopped jumping on me when I come home. The problem I still have is that if something catches his interest when we’re walking he pulls so hard I can barely slow him down. What should I do?

Ann, Ft. Worth, Texas

A: All dogs do that if they can get away with it. Dogs prefer to walk at their own pace. Humans have the same preference, so you might say Sam is just being human.

You can’t hope to control a dog as powerful as Sam with strength, you have to do it through training.

The secret is to interrupt his thought process the instant he starts to pull, then praise him when he refocuses his attention.

Burn off some of Sam’s energy by playing with him for a few minutes before you begin the session, then let him get a drink, pet him, and calm him down.

Have a rolled-up newspaper in your hand, order him to sit and to look you in the eye. Move his head with your hand if you need to. He’s not allowed to even glance at anything else for five seconds.

If he peeks at anything else say “look at me” and whack your leg with the newspaper. Do it every time he looks away. Love on him when he does it right. Do five reps each session, five sessions a day.

Once he’s focused, add the leash—an expandable leash, never a short one—to the exercise. Start in your yard, lock your leash in place so it’s six feet long, and carry your newspaper. The command that controls excess pulling is “easy.”

When he pulls on the leash say, “easy,” whack your leg with the paper, and give a tug on the leash. When he looks back, repeat the command, and tug the leash again. If he stops pulling, even for a few seconds, pet him and brag on him.

The combination of the tug, the command, and the newspaper noise breaks his concentration on his own desires, the petting tells him he is doing what the leader wants him to do.

Dogs learn faster when they have fun so relax and make training a game. Rowdy with him as you pet him and brag on him.

Once he has it down, take him for a walk. Have your newspaper handy. At the first sign he’s losing concentration interrupt him with the sit command, bore him with a lecture, and go through the exercise. If he doesn’t focus on you, take him back to the training area and resume training, beginning with “sit” and “look at me.”

Sam wants to please you. He proved it by learning the other commands. All you have to do is help him understand what you want him to do and he’ll try his best to do it.

If you do your job Sam will relax and quit pulling in a few days. When he does, let the leash out all the way and keep working on the command. Walk Sam every day and make every walk a training session until he responds instantly.

And pet him every time he does it right. That’s the important part.

The Old Trainer has been a trainer for three decades and has rescued, trained, loved, and placed more than 4,000 dogs. Send questions to: theoldtrainer@gmail.com