The Close Position
Category: Training Foundation • Loose Lead Walking • Level: All Dogs • Time: 3–5 minutes per session
Jump to: Why It Works • What You Need • How to Teach It • Building Reliability • Pro Tip • Troubleshooting • What’s Next
The Close Position is your dog standing or walking parallel to your left leg, their shoulder roughly in line with yours, on a relaxed leash. Not a formal heel. Not parade-ground precision. Just: alongside you, facing the same direction, leash slack.
This is the position that makes loose lead walking possible. Every step in the 10 Steps module starts from or returns to Close. It’s where you build from, where your dog returns when they’re unsure, and where the walk actually happens. Get this solid before moving to any of the 10 Steps.
Why It Works
Most loose lead walking problems start because the dog doesn’t have a rewarding default position. They drift, forge ahead, or pull — not because they’re being difficult, but because nobody clearly showed them where the good stuff happens.
The Close Position game fixes that by making one specific spot — alongside your left leg, shoulder to shoulder — consistently the most rewarding place to be. Every time your dog lands there and gets marked and rewarded, you’re building a magnet. Over time that spot becomes where they want to be, not because you’re correcting them elsewhere, but because Close consistently pays off.
The goal isn’t obedience. It’s that your dog discovers: being in this spot, next to your left leg, is the best place in the world.
What You Need
- High-value treats — something your dog genuinely loves
- A treat held between your thumb and two fingers in a beak grip
- A 2m / 6ft leash and well-fitting harness
- A marker word (“Yes!”) or clicker
- A quiet, low-distraction environment for the first sessions
- 3–5 minutes per session
How to Teach It
Use Train-Test-Train throughout: do 5 repetitions, then assess. 4–5 correct → Push to the next criterion. 3 correct → Stick and repeat. 1–2 correct → Drop back and make it easier.
Criterion 1 — Lure into Position
Final Step: Repeat 5 times (Train-Test-Train)
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Build Consistency: Repeat the entire sequence 5 times in a row to help your dog build muscle memory.
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Train-Test-Train: * Train: Guide them with the lure.
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Test: See if they will move into position with just your hand movement (no treat in hand).
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Train: Reward heavily when they get it right!
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Pro Tip: Keep your sessions short, fun, and highly rewarding. Always end on a success!
Criterion 2 — Fade the Lure
- If your dog doesn’t follow the empty hand: temporarily reintroduce the treat (two reps with treat, one without, two with, one without) until the empty hand is reliable.
- Repeat 5 times. Train-Test-Train.
Reward straight down your left side, every time. This is the single most important mechanical detail in teaching Close. A treat delivered across your body teaches your dog to swing in front of you, which is exactly what you don’t want.
Building Reliability: The 3 D’s
Once Close is solid in a calm environment, build it out gradually:
- Distance: Practice luring your dog into Close from increasing distances — one step away, two steps, across the room. A dog who can find Close from a distance has a real skill.
- Duration: Once in Close, wait a few seconds before marking. Build gradually to 10+ seconds of sustained Close before the mark.
- Distraction: Practice with mild distractions — a toy on the floor, another person nearby — before adding real-world environments. Always lower your duration expectation when you add a new distraction level.
The golden rule: never add a new D without first confirming the behavior is solid at the current level. If your dog is failing more than succeeding, back up one step.
Naming the Behavior
Once your dog reliably moves into Close following your empty hand signal:
- Say “Close” (or “Heel,” or any word you choose — just be consistent) just before your dog moves into position
- Repeat until the verbal cue alone reliably gets the behavior
- Generalize by practicing facing different directions — North, South, East, West — and in different locations so your dog understands Close means the same thing everywhere, not just in your kitchen
Pro Tip
Practice stepping into Close position yourself — rather than luring your dog — when they’re nearby. Stand next to them, mark, and reward. This teaches them that moving into that spot is rewarding even when you didn’t ask for it. That automatic orientation is what eventually becomes automatic loose lead walking.
Troubleshooting
My dog keeps swinging in front of me instead of staying parallel.
You’re delivering the treat too far forward. Drop it further back along your left leg — even as far back as your hip or thigh. This pulls your dog’s nose behind rather than ahead, which naturally straightens their position.
My dog knows Close at home but forgets it on walks.
This is a generalization issue, not a training failure. Go back to Criterion 1 with the lure in each new environment before adding forward movement. The behavior needs to be rebuilt at each new location before it’s reliable there.
My dog won’t follow the lure into position.
Increase treat value or move to a quieter space. Sometimes a dog is simply too stimulated to follow a lure — that’s information about the environment, not the dog. Back up a step.
My dog keeps sitting rather than standing in Close.
A sit in Close is fine — mark and reward it. As you begin adding forward movement in the 10 Steps, standing will become natural because walking requires it. Don’t try to fix the sit now; it will resolve itself once you’re moving.
What’s Next
All three prerequisites are now in place:
- Prerequisite 1: Stand on Leash — dog stands calmly on a slack leash
- Prerequisite 2: The Front Position — dog moves to stand opposite and facing you
- Prerequisite 3: The Close Position — dog moves to stand parallel to your left leg