The Two-Step Game
Polite leash walking takes LOTS of practice, especially heeling, and the Two-Step Game is a great skill to add to your toolkit. This predictable game reinforces a dog for walking beside us- and with practice, it can also help a dog stay below threshold when they encounter a trigger that would otherwise elicit a big reaction. Practice the Two-Step Game away from distractions to keep it sharp, so your dog can remember this pattern and fall back into it when they are dysregulated.
It’s helpful to choose one side of your body that you’d prefer your dog to walk on, and then always feed them with that hand. For example, I’m right-handed, so I prefer to deliver treats with my right hand and therefore walk my dogs on my right side. It’s also smart to deliver your dog’s treats during this game by turning your hand back toward them, like a scoop, heading straight to their mouth. By making these minor adjustments on our end of the leash, we can minimize tripping and further reinforce the dog for being in this specific position beside us.
To start the Two-Step Game, scatter a few treats on the ground beside you. Drop a few treats to distract your dog for a moment with eating.
While your dog is busy eating their treats, take two steps ahead of them.
Now WAIT for your dog to finish eating, look up, and begin moving toward you.
I very intentionally keep the leash loose and wait for my dog to come to me. Leashes are a safety tool, not a steering wheel! Avoid pulling your dog around by their leash, especially if it’s attached to a collar.
By waiting for the dog to choose to move or look toward us, we encourage faster, longer-retained learning. If I physically move my dog into position, I’m sort of ‘doing the homework for them,’ and it will likely take them longer to understand.
Mark the moment your dog looks up and/or starts moving toward you.
In this clip, I use the marker word “yes” with Bertie, but you might be using a different word, like “good,” or a clicker. For a more thorough understanding, read How to Practice Clicker Mechanics. This article explains how to use markers in the clearest, most effective way. Note that everything you read here also applies to using a verbal marker like “yes”; the only difference is the sound made!
After you mark, scatter another small pile of treats at your side to restart the pattern.
Take two steps ahead → wait → mark as your dog lifts their head/moves toward you → deliver their treats in another small scatter beside your feet → and repeat.
Finish this game with an “All done!” cue or similar release cue. Doing this consistently will help your dog understand that the game is over and reinforcement is no longer available.
When teaching any new skill, practice inside where there are no distractions present at first. Next, practice in your backyard (or a familiar, quiet spot outdoors), then your front yard, then the sidewalk, etc., slowly adding distractions as you practice.
As you get better at this game, you can level it up a couple of ways:
Feed your dog directly from your hand, rather than pausing to set the treats on the ground.
Instead of pausing every two steps, continue moving fluidly alongside your dog, still marking and feeding every two steps.
Finally, you can turn this into a three- or four-step game when your dog knows and engages in this pattern well!
Adjust your rate of reinforcement as distractions come and go. The more distracting something is, the more often you should mark and treat. I’ll mark and treat every step when using this game to pass triggers. ‘Distractions’ are any new stimuli in the environment that pull your dog’s attention. Think of ‘triggers’ as the most challenging distractions for an individual dog.
For my dog Randall, a tractor in the field next door is a distraction, while a dog walking past our house is a trigger.
If your dog is short, you could consider using a large spoon or a rubber spatula smeared with something lickable as reinforcement. This way, you can avoid bending over every time you need to treat them! Lower the spatula to let your dog have a couple of licks when you want to treat them.
Some lickable treats to consider include peanut butter, whipped cream cheese, wet dog food (usually pâté-style works best), or even baby food (check that the ingredients are dog-safe).
Reusable baby food squeeze pouches can work well for simpler treat delivery!
Keep training sessions short and take breaks often to keep your dog engaged and motivated. If you get frustrated, finish early and try again later to keep training fun for your dog. Try the Two-Step game with your dog to see how it can help improve your dog’s polite leash-walking skills. As always, reach out for help if things aren’t going as planned!
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Hello, Lily of Spot On Dog Training here with my puppy, Bertie. In this video, she's helping me demonstrate the two step pattern game. I start the game by dropping a few treats on the ground next to my feet- and I specifically am dropping quite a few treats because I want it to take her a second to eat them, so that I can take my two steps to get ahead of her. And then what I'm doing is the moment that she looks up and starts moving towards me- that's what I'm using our marker. We use the word "yes" but you might use something different, but you're using your marker the moment your dog lifts their head and starts moving towards you. And so, that's how you introduce the two step pattern game. But as you get better, you can kind of level it up. In this next pass I'm showing, I'm feeding Bertie directly from my hand instead of dropping the treats on the ground. And so, I'm still taking two steps, marking when she's catching up to me, and then feeding from my hand. In these last few passes then, this is how we play the game when we're actually on the trail and using it where as I'm moving and not stopping to feed her the treat and I'm just feeding her a treat every two steps as we're walking, marking as she's staying in that position with me. Notice that I'm feeding her with my hand, my right hand, because she's walking on the right side of my body. Feeding on the same side that your dog is walking, instead of reaching across your body, will help them stay in that position on that side.
