One of the most frustrating behaviors for most dog owners is when their dog refuses to walk calmly by your side and instead constantly tries to pull you along on your walks, dictating where he wants to go, how fast he wants to get there, and pays little or no attention to you, his owner.

A dog pulling on leash is a definite signal that they think they are in control and that you’re only there to follow their lead. So what winds up happening is that they pay attention to distractions rather than you, the handler...essentially anything other than you, his owner and handler.

This is a very common issue, but it's also very easy to fix.

It's very useful if you have access to videos of professional trainers demonstrating proper dog walking techniques.

We'll get more into this in a bit.

First, we need to cover three extremely easy fixes for your dog pulling on leash issue.

1. The Pack Leader Harness. One of the problems with just about every dog collar on the market is that they actually encourage your dog to pull harder, rather than working with his natural instinct to keep him calm and by your side.

You might want to try using something like a Pack Leader harness, which makes it much more easier to correct a dog who pulls on his leash than a typical collar or choke chain. This device fits around your dog’s body and applies pressure when you tug on the leash exactly where it needs to be to refocus your dog’s attention back on you.

On the Internet, this type of harness is very easy to find. Simply do a Google search and you should easily find places where you can get it.

2. Learn about clicker training. Clickers are a great tool, kind of like the duct tape of dog training tools. It can often be helpful in correcting a wide range of unwanted behaviors in your dog, so I often recommend that my clients look into this training method.

In a nutshell, the way it works is that you train your dog to expect a reward whenever he hears the sound of a click. The great thing about this is that you can train your dog to instantly focus on you whenever he hears that clicker sound.

We don’t have a tremendous amount of space in this article to go through the ins and outs of clicker training, but there are plenty of resources where you can learn the basics.

When correcting leash pulling, a clicker is useful because you can use it to stop a dog who is focusing on something other than you, and redirect that energy back to you, his handler.

3. Food rewards. Any dog owner knows the power of the food treat to mould a dog’s behavior. When using treats to stop a dog’s leash pulling problem, what you basically want to do is introduce the food to your dog, and then let the dog use his naturally powerful sense of smell to direct his attention and his movements in the direction you want.

It's much easier to demonstrate this by using video, so here are some resources for that.

Stopping a dog from pulling on the leash is actually a very simple process. I’ve demonstrated some of the exact techniques mentioned above on numerous TV shows, and would like to share a step-by-step video with you that shows you exactly how to correct this behavior in around 30 minutes or less.

First, visit this dog pulling on leash post on my website, where you’ll find a complete tutorial that teaches you how to use a pack leader harness, a clicker, or food rewards (or all three) to teach your dog to walk calmly at your side and always listen to what you want him to do.