If your dog walks in a zigzag pattern, no worries, you are not alone. A common dog training problem many dog owners encounter is dogs walking in a zigzag pattern or a yo-yo pattern. The dog basically, forges ahead and then goes back to the owner, walks side to side and sometimes even lags behind. This zigzag pattern can be caused by various reasons. In some dogs, it may an emotional behavior, in other dogs, the zigzag or yo-yo walking pattern may be due to inadvertent human error, basically a training mistake many dog owners do. Sometimes, I even see dog trainers guilty of training dogs this way, and it may be difficult to eradicate once this habit becomes established. Following are some tips if your dog walks in zigzag pattern.
A Matter of Emotions
If your dog walks in a zigzag pattern or yo-yo pattern, this may be due to his emotions taking control of the walk. A dog who is fearful may pull ahead, then lag behind as he’s overstimulated by all the sights and sounds.
The body language of the dog is often fearful with ears flattened back, tail between the legs accompanied by a hypervigilant look (the dog’s gaze is oriented to face all the surrounding triggers). This dog is confused and overwhelmed.
On a lighter note, if your dog walks in a zigzag pattern it may also be he is not fearful at all. The dog’s zigzag or yo-yo walking pattern is often triggered by the dog’s “joie de vivre.” The dog is walking this way because he is trying to enjoy all the perks that come along with going on a walk. He may pull ahead to try to greet some other dogs or people, then he may lag behind to sniff a candy wrapper, then he may move ahead to catch up with the owner, then again he is back a few steps to try to mark on a bush or track some scent.
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Tackling the walking style of these two dogs depicted above takes a different approach. The fearful dog, can be helped by walking in areas that are less overwhelming and by offering high-value treats every time something that concerns the dog pops up. These fellows thrive on a well planned desensitization and counterconditioning program.
The explorative pups, one the other hand, do better with some operant training. Teach them to heel for attention, and reward them when they make eye contact. When they pull, teach them that a slack leash is your accelerator (which makes you walk) and a tight leash is your break (which makes you stop), but be careful though not to fall in the common yo-yo walking trap as described below.
Yo-Yo Training
Behavior chains are a series of behaviors performed in a sequence. Dogs, as the smart beings they are, may learn to yo-yo walk if you are not careful due to this phenomenon.
In other words, by walking when the leash is slack and stopping to walk when the leash is tense, you may think your dog is learning to walk more on a slack leash, when in reality he’s learning to pull and then come back to your side to get you walking. Congratulations, your dog has learned a behavior chain!
Here’s how you can remedy this situation. Add a “slowing down” option in the middle of the two behaviors. In other words, your dog is pulling and therefore you stop in your tracks and put roots “becoming a tree.” The only way for your dog to get you out of this “spell” is by the leash becoming slack again. So you resume walking, but now be very, very careful. The moment you notice your dog is about to pull again, start slowing down and eventually come to an abrupt halt if you predict he’s about to get that leash tense again.
You want to anticipate your dog in this. If you do this enough times, your dog will come to learn that “When I pull, my owner stops, when I don’t pull my owner walks, and when I am about to pull, my owner slows down. Pulling or trying to pull is not good if I want to keep walking!”
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You can even issuing a warning that you are about to slow down by saying a split second prior to slowing down something like oh, no!” and then “sticky feet!” or “tree spell!” once you put roots and stop walking. This pre- warning will help your dog succeed as he will learn to adjust his pace to yours upon hearing you pronounce that, while the “sticky feet’ or “tree spell” works to get your dog’s attention and understand what is happening.
Alternatively, if this doesn’t work, you can apply an even more undesirable outcome when your dog is walking ahead and about to pull: stop in your tracks and if your dog ignores that and manages to pull, make an about face and walk in the opposite direction. This penalty is annoying to pulling dogs because it puts them at a further distance from the objective they were pulling towards.
Tip: before resuming walking when the leash is slack you can also feed your dog a tasty treat when he is in heel position right next to you. This will provide twice the luck as your dog gets rewarded for being next to you and you resume the walk.
A Matter of Inconsistency
Sometimes, if your dog walks in a zigzag pattern or yo-yo pattern it may because he may have been allowed to do that. You may have rewarded this behavior inadvertently.
OK, this warrants a disclaimer. It’s not like the owners are allowing it because they want their dogs to pull, it’s just that they are not always capable of preventing the pulling behavior or they are simply not aware of it.
Owners of large dogs for instance, may have trouble controlling their dogs at times. The dog may walk nicely at some times, but then others he’s actively pulling. This puts the pulling behavior on an intermittent schedule and this lack of consistency makes dogs more eager to try to pull because of the “sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t” effect which rewards persistence and makes it worthy of trying.
If your dog is very strong, or you get distracted or lack impeccable timing to apply the methods above, it might help you to invest in a no-pull harness or a head halter. This latter in particular can be quite effective in helping you control your dog. Have a dog trainer help you out in fitting one and getting your dog used to wearing one.
Dogs thrive on consistency. It helps to make sure you always keep the leash at a certain length and don’t stretch your arm out turning your arm into a virtual “retractable leash.” Dogs learn fast how much they can get away with. If pulling makes your arm move forward and your dog gains just a few inches this way, granted he’ll keep pulling to gain that.
Tip: I like to advise dog owners to keep their arms always down, and if they tend to forget, they can hold on to little piece of their pants or keep their hand with the leash in their pocket so to prevent from stretching their arms.
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