This process will take about six minutes to transform how your dog responds to you, once you step outside with the three items listed below.    Enjoy.

~ A collar

~ A very thin and light, 6 foot leash.

~ A dog.

Hold the leash by the loop at the end, giving the dog the entire 6 feet to chill out with. Plan on standing on the same spot you picked for at least the next six minutes or so. Do not move from the spot you picked. Stay put. And this next part will likely be the most challenging for you, do not make ANY sounds. That means, no "good dog", no "bad dog", no "hey!", no "stay", no "No", no hisses. No sounds.

(If all you have is a choker-type collar on your dog, hook the leash to it in a way that the collar does not slide tighter when you pull the leash.)

Pick an open space that is clear all around you and relax. If you look around you in six feet in every direction from the point on which you are standing, you can see how far the dog can reach from that point. It is a big circle and you are at the center of the circle.

Okay, now. There you are. Standing in an open area on one spot, holding the very end of a six foot leash, while you are standing at the center of a circle, letting a dog roam around you anywhere it wants in that big six foot circle. Give the dog the entire slack of the six foot leash. In other words, if the dog chooses to stand three feet away from you, it (and you) will not feel ANY tension on the leash, because it is not pulling at it, and you are not pulling at it. The only time you or the dog will feel tension on the leash, is when the dog walks to the edge of your six foot circle and then takes one extra step out of it.

From now on, every time the dog puts tension on the leash you are going to translate that in the same way for the rest of the dog's life with you..... the dog is asking YOU a question. It is the same question the dog has been asking you for as long as you have had it, and it is the only question that a dog will ever ask you.

That question is, "Are you paying attention?" That is what it has to know and is asking when you two are outside. "Are you paying attention, (because one of us has to watch out for the lions, tigers, and bears). It has to be you, or it has to be me, one of us does. If you're not going to, then I will (I really don't want that responsibility and would much prefer that you have it so I can just chill out in your six foot circle and relax, but so be it)."

During the last few minutes or so, the dog probably has indeed been putting tension on the leash and pulling this way or pulling that way. Naturally, you have been doing what you have always done, ignoring its "question" and simply pulling it back closer and closer to you or just resisting the pulling. (Make sure you stay on the same spot you picked when you started).

So the next logical thing you want to know is how to answer its "question". Well, if someone bumps into you ONCE as you are walking down the street on a nice sunny day with maybe one to three big white clouds in a blue open sky, your first response would be, "Oh, excuse me" as you brushed off the bump and just kept on walking getting right back to your day. But if that same someone comes up behind you and taps you TWICE on the shoulder, your response would be completely different. You would know someone is communicating with you and you naturally would respond and acknowledge that person.

That is how you are going to respond to the dog's next attempt to ask you "Are you paying attention?" You are going to tug twice on the leash and then give the dog about 4-6 inches of SLACK immediately after you give your two tugs. In essence saying "Yes~ I am paying attention, you can relax." Release the tension right after the two tugs. If the dog pulls right back again, tug twice and release the tension-again. IF the dog pulls right back AGAIN, tug twice and release the tension-again. As fast as the dog "asks" that one "question", you give your same answer- "Yes (two tugs), you can "relax" (give slack on the leash). It may seem to YOU, that the dog isn't really hearing/getting the signal you are sending down the leash to it (the two taps) but it does..... make sure the signal you are sending down the leash (the two tugs) are clear and crisp. You MUST give that slack immediately after your two tugs so the dog CAN relax. If you keep the tension on the lease, the dog will stay tense and won't 'hear' what you are telling it which is that it can trust you and relax now that you are paying attention. You might have to actually lean/reach forward to create some slack in the leash after you tug twice, because the dog is indeed at the edge of the circle to which the leash can reach. Remember to stay in that same spot and don't move your circle anywhere. Allow the dog to roam anywhere it wants around you in that six foot circle. When it puts tension on the lease, and only when it puts tension on the lease to ask you, "Are you paying attention?", you are going to tug twice on the lease and then give the dog a few inches of slack in the leash, all the while you are standing in the same spot in the circle you started.

So, now you will see that the dog is asking you "Are you paying attention?"... in the spot to your left on the edge of the circle, over to your right on the edge of the circle, behind you on the edge of the circle. Each time you are responding, "Yes, you can relax."- By giving (1.)TWO TUGS ON THE LEASH~and (2.)RELEASING THE TENSION by GIVING A FEW INCHES OF SLACK back to the dog.

After several times of you responding to that one question (asked over and over again), the dog will begin to trust what you are saying. It will have asked you at enough points around the circle to now know where the edge of the circle all around you and it will want to stay in that six foot zone of yours because it will begin to believe that you are really paying attention to the lions, tigers, and bears for the first time, and it is so relieved that you have taken over that responsibility because it never wanted it.

The great thing is that you will realize that you haven't had any tension on the leash at all during the whole time that the dog has been hanging out within your six foot zone. The dog is actually choosing to stay near you. You know this because you haven't been 'holding it back with any tension' and it also realizes that you are now paying attention.

When you choose to walk and move from your original spot, you are now going to 'move' your entire six foot circle with you. The dog will "see/feel" the six foot zone in which it has no responsibility (because you have relieved all of it), begin to move away, so it will automatically follow you and stay in the space of yours that feels so calm now. If the dog fades past the edge of your circle while you are walking and asks you that one question, simply give two tugs and then release the tension, always maintaining your pace and keeping the circle around you moving. You will now notice that the dog is CHOOSING to stay within your zone.

That's all there is to it. This method will challenge the usual methodogy of dog behavior in that it is not about "PHYSICAL control". The only time you have a "physical" connection is when your dog "asks" you if you are paying attention and wants to know where the edge of YOUR current six foot safety zone is by putting tension on its leash, and then you just send the two-tug signal back down the leash. So, you won't be 'feeling' the dog by constantly keeping tension on the leash like you're used to doing. It doesn't matter what age, or how big or small your dog is, it will understand what you are doing immediately. The challenging part will be you relaxing, "letting go", and sharing your newly created six foot zone all around you freely with your friend.