How to Stop a Large Dog From Breaking Into Sprints on Walks
“How do I get my newly rescued 9-to-14-month-old medium/large dog to stop breaking into sprints and leaps while I, a 4'9" small-framed woman, am walking her? She is generally good and eager to please, but even with a harness I wind up having to let go of the leash out of desperation, and it is terribly dangerous and in a busy suburban-metro area.” —Tracy
Hi Tracy,
I hear you! This problem is not at all uncommon, and I can empathize with how unsettling it can feel. One moment, you’re holding onto the leash, thinking you have the situation totally under control; the next, you’re holding on for dear life as you’re catapulted forward with great force.
While often exhilarating or entertaining for the dog, you are right to be concerned about potential dangers. Such sprinting can cause falls, and the dog may dart into a busy street, approach an unfamiliar dog, or end up in some other unsafe situation. Further, we must consider that the more a dog performs this behavior, the more the behavior is established due to its reinforcing nature.
Walks can also be deeply impacted—frequent incidents like this can turn walks into a stressful situation, leading to anxiety, frustration, and a reluctance to take your dog out. This can result in a negative feedback loop where both you and your dog are stuck in a cycle of stress.
Let’s take a closer look at how this cycle develops and what can be done to break it.
Related: Why Is My Dog Jumping and Biting Me During Walks?
Photo by owner
Why Do Dogs Sprint During Walks?
Dogs may engage in sudden sprints and leaps while on a walk for various reasons. By identifying the potential reason, we can address the problem behavior more effectively.
The Adolescent Stage
Most dogs I encounter who engage in sprinting and leaping behaviors during walks are juvenile dogs in their teenage stage. At the age of 9 to 14 months, your new dog is in her prime adolescent stage, which generally takes place between the ages of 6 months and 2 years. This is often a challenging time, as the brain undergoes reorganization and several neurological and hormonal changes take place.
Not coincidentally, the adolescent stage is when most dogs are surrendered to shelters. Various studies have found that dogs aged under 2 are the most likely to be relinquished. During this time, dogs manifest a weakened ability to regulate their emotions and behaviors, leading to an increase in impulsivity, reactivity to stressors, and risk-taking behavior.
These juveniles are still learning how to regulate their emotions and impulses, which can lead to unpredictable behaviors and difficulty handling frustration. This may cause them to act out in inappropriate ways.
High Energy Levels
Young dogs are often bursting with energy, and their exuberance can manifest through jumping and pulling forcefully on walks. Their sudden sprint forward may be a way of releasing pent-up energy accumulated during the day or expressing their excitement about something in their environment.
Prey Drive
When your dog is sprinting forward, is she chasing a bird or squirrel? If so, then your dog most likely has a strong prey drive. We may not always spot the critter, however, as dogs have superior senses. Sometimes, we may just see our dog lunge forward toward a bush or tall grass, as the dog has smelled or heard some critter scurrying around.
Fear/Reactivity
Sometimes, dogs sprint forward when they feel overwhelmed or are scared of something, such as a sudden noise or the appearance of a bike. Dogs with reactivity may lunge forward toward other dogs or people either out of excitement or fear.
Lack of Training
Recently rescued dogs may have received little to no training. According to a 2000 study by Wells and Hepper, when surveyed, 68.3% of owners of dogs adopted from a shelter revealed that their newly rescued dogs exhibited at least one behavior problem within the first month.
Commonly reported problems included poor manners such as jumping up, pulling on the leash (46%), destructive behavior (30%), and excessively high energy (28%).
Perhaps your dog has never walked on a leash or only walked very sporadically. Perhaps she has a history of freely rushing up to dogs, people, or things that attract her without any limitations.
Related: Is Your Dog Afraid of the Car? Here's an Expert Trainer's Solution
Reinforcement History
Why do dogs pull on the leash? In most cases, the goal is to get closer to or farther from something they are drawn to or trying to avoid. Regardless of what motivates them, the mere act of getting closer or farther is perceived as reinforcing, and behaviors that are reinforced tend to strengthen and repeat over time.
If we let go of the leash out of desperation or surprise, granting the dog temporary freedom, these inadvertent reinforcements further strengthen the behavior, making it more challenging to manage without proper training.
How Can I Stop My Dog From Breaking Into Sprints on Walks?
Because the sprinting behavior may have various causes, the underlying “treatment” plan may vary. A multi-pronged approach may be needed. Following are several tips on how to address this behavior.
1. Change the Dog’s Walking Gear
Although not a substitute for training, using the right equipment can make a difference. Avoid choke collars, prong collars, and shock collars, as these can cause pain and discomfort. Avoid retractable leashes as well, as these teach a dog to pull.
Collars
While collars are the most common piece of dog walking equipment, they can actually make it difficult to control a dog’s movement. This is because the leash attachment at the neck provides dogs with a mechanical advantage, allowing them to use their powerful chest and shoulder muscles to pull in a forward-leaning posture against the collar.
Dogs may, therefore, learn how to lean into it much like a draft horse leans into the collar to pull its load, explains board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Bonnie V. G. Beaver in the book Canine Behavior: Insights and Answers.
Furthermore, Townsend et al. reported in 2020 that when collars are used to walk dogs, they can potentially damage the dog’s throat area when pulling against it.
Back Ring Harnesses
Not all harnesses are created equal. Nowadays, there are different makes and models of harnesses for dogs on the market, and they may all be built differently.
As the name implies, a back ring harness consists of a harness with a ring on the back part where the leash can be attached. This setting can actually encourage the dog to pull more.
What happens here is that an untrained dog may learn to leverage its chest and shoulders to generate more pulling force, which is why sled dogs are equipped with harnesses sharing this design.
Front Clip Harnesses
Similarly, a front clip harness is a harness that boasts a ring in the front of the dog’s chest area. When the leash is attached to this ring and the dog happens to pull, his forward movement is redirected to the side.
While a front clip harness doesn't strain the dog’s neck like a collar does, something important to consider is whether it fits correctly. An improperly fitted harness can impact a dog’s gait, potentially causing discomfort and physical harm down the road.
Head Halters
A head halter can help walk large, powerful dogs because it works like the halter used on horses. The beauty of using a head halter is that, by controlling the direction of the dog’s (or horse’s) head, it is possible to control the direction of their movement.
In a 2003 study conducted by Duxbury et al., puppies that were adopted from a shelter and wore head halters were more likely to remain in their new homes compared to dogs who wore other types of collars. While this sounds like good news, in the case of a dog that tends to forcefully sprint forward, this may cause injury to the dog’s neck or cervical spine.
For dogs prone to sprinting forward, a head halter may therefore not be the ideal solution. However, when paired with additional safety measures (like a double-leash system) and training, we can minimize the risk of injury.
Although a head halter may be a game changer, it requires a conditioning process to allow the dog to habituate to it. I like to aim for a positive conditioned emotional response, as seen in the video below:
Shock Absorbers
There are several types of shock absorbers specifically designed for leashes. A bungee leash extender can, to some degree, help diffuse force and absorb shock when your dog darts at the end of the leash.
2. Train Polite Leash Walking
Your dog has learned that pulling hard equals progress toward the goal, which may lead to more intense pulling and sprinting in the future. In polite leash walking training, we teach the dog that a loose leash gets her closer to whatever she wants to reach.
It’s important to start this training in low-distraction environments before gradually introducing more challenging situations.
I like to start in a long hallway without using a leash. I will walk back and forth and reward the dog with tasty treats for walking next to me.
Once the dog has aced this, I will progress to having her walk calmly next to me as we walk together in the direction of the door.
Once out, we will practice in a fenced yard, always without the leash on. As the dog is exposed to more distracting environments, I will use higher-value treats.
Once the dog does well in securely fenced settings, I introduce the leash and practice in front of the home, walking back and forth. If the dog manages to pull, I will stop in my tracks, and if she persists, I turn and walk in the opposite direction. In a nutshell, the goal is to make it clear to the dog that a loose leash is our accelerator and a tense leash is our brake.
When the dog is walking calmly without pulling or sprinting, and the leash is nice and loose, I will reward with praise, treats, and forward movement.
Something else that might be helpful is to train your dog to make eye contact with you on walks. This form of attention heeling can be a helpful cue for those times you need to walk past distractions, as it encourages engagement with you.
A dog trainer can help you out by providing structured guidance and organizing training sessions tailored to you and your dog's specific needs.
3. Control Exposure
Avoid situations where your dog’s sprinting behavior can be self-rewarded. For example, avoid open areas with enticing stimuli until your dog is at least more attentive to you and better trained.
4. Reduce the Prey Drive
If your dog is prone to sprinting ahead when she detects some critter, you will need to conduct some training under controlled settings.
For example, you can practice getting your dog used to resisting the urge to chase things at home, like a ball being bounced, a remote-controlled car, or a flirt pole, and rewarding her for ignoring these distractions. You can then bring this training out to the yard and have a helper walk past her at a distance while dragging a stuffed animal attached to a string.
You can practice doing some steps of attention heeling past this distraction or cueing your dog to “leave it.” This training can then be gradually transferred outdoors among bushes and grassy areas where critters often abound.
Remember to increase the value of the treats you use to reinforce desired behaviors as more challenges and distractions are added.
5. Implement Impulse Control Training
Adolescent dogs benefit from impulse control training. This training helps dogs practice managing their impulses rather than acting on instinct, such as scratching a door to ask to be let out or jumping up on you as you carry the food bowl.
Examples of impulse control training involve having the dog sit before opening the door to let them outside, feeding a meal, clipping the leash on, petting the dog, and throwing the ball.
6. Use Behavior Modification Techniques
If your dog’s sprinting is triggered by fear, you’ll need to take steps to reduce your dog’s sensitivity to triggers by creating positive associations with them. For example, if your dog sprints ahead when bikes pass by, use systematic desensitization techniques by exposing her to bikes at a distance from where she can remain calm.
Pair the bike’s presence with tasty treats (counterconditioning) so as to change your dog’s emotional response. Gradually decrease the distance over time, rewarding her for staying calm. This can help her learn to tolerate distractions without reacting impulsively.
7. Add Exercise/Mental Stimulation
If your dog has loads of energy, you may find it helpful to engage your dog in some pre-walk activities that may drain excess energy. For example, you can organize a game of fetch or tug 10 to 15 minutes prior to the walk.
Organizing some brain games can be helpful too. You can have your dog use her nose to search for kibble or treats hidden around the yard, or you can do a game of hide-and-seek.
On walks, it may help to give your dog some “sniff breaks” where she gets to sniff around, which can be a tiring activity. You can also incorporate some training by asking her to respond to cues like “sit,” “heel” or “target” during the walk to keep her busy.
8. Work Along With a Dog Trainer
While tools like front-clip harnesses and head halters can provide better control, they need to be paired with training to teach your dog the desired behavior. As you make progress using these tools, you may be instructed to eventually wean your dog off of them. This is because the tools are more like management aids rather than long-term fixes.
If your dog sprints forward on walks, a certified professional dog trainer who uses gentle training methods is recommended for safety and for the correct implementation of training/behavior modification.
A dog trainer can not only ensure the proper fit of harnesses and head halters but can also help determine the most appropriate training or behavior modification strategy that suits the needs of the individual dog.
I hope this helps. Happy training!
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References
Asher L, England GCW, Sommerville R, Harvey ND. Teenage dogs? Evidence for adolescent-phase conflict behaviour and an association between attachment to humans and pubertal timing in the domestic dog. Biol Lett. 2020
Weiss E, Slater M, Garrison L, Drain N, Dolan E, Scarlett JM, Zawistowski SL. 2014. Large dog relinquishment to two municipal facilities in New York City and Washington, D.C.: identifying targets for intervention. Animals.
New JC, Salman MD, King M, Scarlett JM, Kass PH, Hutchison JM. 2000. Characteristics of shelter-relinquished animals and their owners compared with animals and their owners in U.S. pet-owning households. J. Appl. Anim. Welf. Sci.
Sisk CL, Zehr JL. 2005. Pubertal hormones organize the adolescent brain and behavior. Front. Neuroendocrinol.
Wells D.L., Hepper P.G. Prevalence of behaviour problems reported by owners of dogs purchased from an animal rescue shelter. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 2000.
Gates MC, Zito S, Thomas J, Dale A. Post-Adoption Problem Behaviours in Adolescent and Adult Dogs Rehomed through a New Zealand Animal Shelter. Animals (Basel). 2018.
Dowdeswell, Lauren & Churchill, Lucianna. (2024). The Influence of Harness Design on Forelimb Biomechanics in Pet Dogs. Reinvention: an International Journal of Undergraduate Research.
Townsend, L., L. Dixon and L. Buckley (2022). Lead pulling as a welfare concern in pet dogs: What can veterinary professionals learn from current research? Veterinary Record.
Canine Behavior Insights and Answers by Bonnie V. G. Beaver, Elsevier Health Sciences, Jan 1, 2009
Duxbury, Margaret & Jackson, Julie & Line, Scott & Anderson, Robert. (2003). Evaluation of association between retention in the home and attendance at puppy socialization classes. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Disclaimer: Dog training and behavior modification, particularly for challenges involving potential aggression (e.g., lunging, barking, growling, snapping, or biting), require in-person guidance from a qualified behavior professional. Online articles are for educational purposes only and do not replace personalized, professional intervention.
By using this information, you accept full responsibility for your dog’s actions and waive any liability claims related to their behavior. If your dog shows concerning behaviors, seek professional help immediately to ensure safety and proper care.
