Several of my students, especially the ones with the really small puppies, struggle with loose leash walking. So after watching an episode of “It’s Me or the Dog,” I bought this target stick off amazon.
It’s pretty neat. You teach your dog to target the end of the stick with their nose. This is easily translatable if your dog already knows a hand target cue. For both the stick and hand target, when their nose touches it, you mark it (with a click or marker word), and reward. Do this until it becomes reliable.
The concept is that the dog will follow the target stick whether it’s into a sit or a down (see above) or where he is supposed to be walking. It’s really helpful with walking small dogs. Small dogs can have a hard time with knowing exactly where to walk because it’s hard for us to mark and treat as quickly as with a taller dog. There’s just such a long distance between us and takes longer to get the treat to them. By the time we get down there with the treat, they have moved out of the correct spot.
This can also be accomplished with a “chuck it” tennis ball thrower with peanut butter on it. Another toy that can be used is a Kong safestick, but that can be pretty bulky. The chuck it might be bulky as well. I’ve only used the target stick.
I’m no good at videoing, but you can check out some YouTube videos.