Walking your dog can be a calming and easy way to exercise your dog, but it’s different for dog owners with leash reactive, fearful, or anxious dogs. There’s gear that can ease some of the anxiety on the human end of the leash, helping to make walks easier again!
Now this isn’t a training post, but before we get into my favorite walking gear for walking fearful, anxious, or leash reactive dogs, I do want to say that training leash skills is an important puzzle piece to getting out with your dog. Starting inside in a distraction free environment and then bringing those skills out into the world is important to any successful walk! Working with a certified dog trainer or behavior consultant is a great place to start for this. (And yes, I LOVE working on leash skills!) Once you have those skills in place, then it’s time to get out and when my favorite gear comes in handy!
The first thing I like to use is a harness. And no, it does not encourage pulling. For many dogs, it’s a safer option than a collar around their necks, chocking them every time they pull or have a reaction. For others, it makes it easier to have control of their bodies. It can be a personal preference for the handler, but for me personally, I like to use a Y-Shaped harness. They allow for free movement of the shoulders and legs, which is important to me for my dog. My personal favorite is the Blue-9 balance harness, which was designed to help with pulling and leash training while also fitting the dog in a way that’s more beneficial to them. It has 6 points of adjustment for a perfect fit, no matter your dog’s body structure and has 2 leash attachment points! We’ve had our for almost 4 years and it’s still in perfect condition (and yes it’s used daily, including trips to the lake and snow!). We even bought a 2nd one to have as a back-up and for training in the house.
Leashes can be a personal preference. I personally use a 6ft leash when walking my neighborhood (and need to make sure he stays closer) and a long line (usually 20ft) whenever we are out at a Sniff Spot, empty park, HipCamp, or Airbnb. We have a variety of leashes (more leashes than we probably need) and have used many different ones over the years, but I’ll just mention my current set up!
All of my leashes are biothane, which is great for any environment and super easy to clean! We use a 6ft leash from Gray+Hound (which is also where we get a majority of Brodie’s collars). Unfortunately they don’t make biothane leashes anymore, but the material they use is awesome and mildew resistant! Recently I upgraded to a hands-free leash from High Tail Hikes and am IN LOVE with it! I was always anxious about the possibility of Brodie pulling the leash from my hand or my arthritic hand dropping the leash on accident (which you do NOT want to do with your reactive dog), so the hands-free leash provides me some peace of mind, but also gives me a spare hand. High Tail Hikes customizes their leashes as made to order and you can choose the clasp type, length of the leash, handle type, traffic handle placement, and colors! For my new hands-free leash, I chose a 10ft hands-free sports leash with a locking carabiner. The 10ft hands-free leash still gives Brodie about 6ft feet of leash (which was important to me) so Brodie is still able to sniff and explore safely.
Out and about, a long line gives us the ability for Brodie to have more freedom, while still having a connection to me for safety reasons. We initially used one from Amazon, but quickly upgraded to a higher quality one from High Tail Hikes. (If you can’t tell, I’m a big fan of their products!) Both long lines we have are 20ft, but I have a feeling that I may end up with a 30ft at some point in my life. My first longline from them is a sports leash (with a locking carabiner) and I decided on a traffic handle 18″ from the base and its definitely gotten its use! Its been on every trip with us. I love the traffic handle for when we have been near others or when I need more control getting in and out of the car from a spot, but because of the placement of it, it does occasionally get stuck on Brodie’s foot. So for my next long line, I decided to change it up! I still got a sports leash (again with the locking caribeaner, because, ya know, safety is important when you are walking (especially a dog like Brodie) and I chose the convertible hands-free option, 20ft, 2 colors, and no traffic handle and after using it at our favorite Sniff Spot I’m so happy with my choice! I tried both as a cross body and around my waist and it was nice to have that option as well as the safety of not being anxious about him getting away (as there were people and dogs nearby). I think I’ve mentioned this, but the customization that High Tail Hikes gives is what makes me love their leashes so much.
Now that we’ve been though the basics, let’s talk about the additions/extras I have and use specifically for walking Brodie and that I recommend considering if you have any worries or concerns about walking your dog. Safety first! I use a safety strap to ensure that if Brodie’s harness fails or he backs out of his harness (my worst nightmare), I’m still attached to him. The strap goes from the base of my leash and attaches to his collar. There’s a ton of options for where to get one. I currently use one from Amazon, but am looking at upgrading to a matching one from High Tail Hikes. Be sure to measure the distance you need before you order though! I ordered and returned quite a few from Amazon before finding one that was the right length. Measuring would have saved me that trouble.
Speaking of collars, while I use (and have probably too many) flat collars, out on walks I use a martingale collar. Not for any sort of correction purposes (I would never use it that way), but for the purpose of him not being able to slip it over his head if he tired to back out. The only thing I attach to it is the safety strap, so the collar is there more as a backup than anything else. The specific one I use is a quick release martingale collar for easy on easy off reasons.
This one is a bit more optional and more so dependent on your dog, your needs, and your situation-walking with a Muzzle. We don’t often (almost ever) walk Brodie in his muzzle, but we have trained him to do so if we ever need to walking him in an area where space isn’t a possibility and safety becomes a big factor. Most recently we used it when taking him to the Emergency Vet for entering and exiting the building and for his exam. We’ve also used it when walking from the car to the boat when the Club House lawn we need to walk through is crowded. For many dogs, it also provides a way of showing that your dog needs space (see below how else we also do that for Brodie). Personally, I think this is almost essential for dogs like Brodie who live in cities or apartment complexes. We LOVE our custom Muzzle from Trust Your Dog, but there are so many options out there. Just be sure they have enough pant room, epecially if you’re going out for a walk!
And the last few things I use out on walks are for the humans (both myself and those around us). My biggest essential is my treat pouch. Having treats to reward Brodie throughout our walks is essential to helping him succeed and improve out on walks. Plus it carries so much more! I have a few different ones, a wet treat (silicone) treat pouch, a regular more traditional treat pouch, and a fanny pack style treat pouch. I typically will use the silicone treat pouch attached to my traditional styled one or attached to the fanny pack. What I love about treat pouches (or my fanny pack) are the spaces for treats, space for my phone/keys, and somewhere to hold poop bags.
As for my newer favorites for helping those around us are our leash wrap and reflective vest. Both of which alert those around that we are training and to please give us space. Now not everyone read them or cares and some find them pointless, but I find that they both give me peace of mind and help to inform those around us. For where we live, I think about 80-90% of people see the leash wrap and/or vest and understand when we either turn around and walk away from them or when we have no choice but to pass and Brodie does less than perfect (or honestly rocks it and sometimes gets a kudos that he’s a good boy!). Our leash wrap states “Anxious Dog, Give Us Space” and my new vest says “Anxious Dog, In Training, Give Us Space”.
There are so many ways to walk your reactive, fearful, anxious dog with a bit of a peace of mind, these are just some of the ways I chose to make our walks more enjoyable! What do you use to walk your dog? Anything different? Anything you’d recommend I add? Let me know in the comments below!