Jacob MorganYorkshire Canine Academy Brain

CLICK ABOVE FOR FULL VIDEO: Why I STOPPED Walking My Dogs on a Lead in 2025 (Do This Instead)

27 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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Jacob Morgan explains why loose-lead walking shouldn't mean dogs pick up random objects. He uses markers like "go" and "get it" to teach controlled retrieval instead, giving dogs specific windows for sniffing while keeping ground-picking prohibited on leash. Playing with a ball doesn't mean permission to chase any ball.

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Of course, people argue, oh yeah, you're just teaching your dog to find things, pick things up off the floor. That's if you do it without any cues. That's if you do it kind of without instructing your dog, giving the marker of go and get it. If you need those markers, it's in the Behaviour Bible. But whilst my dog is on leash and he's walking on a loose lead, he's not allowed to pick things up from the floor, and he knows that, right? And that's because that's been taught to him. And so I give my dog windows of opportunities because of saying, oh, this is teaching him to pick things up off the floor. Well, isn't playing with a ball teaching him he's allowed to pick up any ball and go and chase any kids' balls over the park, other dogs' balls? Well, of course it's not. And so this is exactly the same thing. If I give a window of opportunity, now it's time to go and sniff, now it's time to fill your boots, really express that desire to scavenge, essentially, because our dogs are opportunistic hunter-scavengers, more so scavengers nowadays, then I'm going to be playing fair with the dog. So nice windows.