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Drinking From the Toilet: Real dogs, Real training

Can you use a leash and still be force free? | Hannah Branigan

Drinking From the Toilet: Real dogs, Real training

Drinking from the Toilet: Real Dogs, Real Training

How To, Education, Pets & Animals, Kids & Family

4.7 • 677 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Somewhere on the internet, someone is arguing that using a leash means you aren't really a force-free trainer. In this solo episode, Hannah unpacks the difference between impact and intent, explains why force-free training is a set of values rather than a guarantee of perfection, and gets into the mechanics of how a leash can function as a neutral tactile cue trained entirely through positive reinforcement. If you've ever felt defensive when someone questions your training tools, this one gives you a more grounded way to think it through.

Key Takeaways:

  • Force-free training is an aspirational value system, not a pass/fail test: Holding that value means you're always asking what you can do better, not claiming you're already perfect.

  • Impact and intent are both real, and both matter: The learner's experience of a leash always deserves your attention, and your intentions about how you use it shape what kind of trainer you're becoming.

  • A leash can be trained as a neutral tactile cue through positive reinforcement: Leash movement doesn't have to carry any aversive weight to be a functional signal your dog can learn to respond to.

  • What you do after a training error is the most important part: A force-free trainer's response to an unplanned correction is to figure out what needs to change, not to incorporate that correction into a training plan.

  • Where you are in your training journey is less important than the direction you're headed: A willingness to examine your methods and stay open to new strategies is what earns you a seat at the table.

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About the Host

Hannah Branigan is a teacher, trainer, podcaster, and author of Awesome Obedience and its companion field guide. She is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT) and a faculty member at the Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training and Behavior. Her work is grounded in applied behavioral science and focused on helping serious dog trainers build better skills through positive reinforcement.

Keep up with Hannah and find all her work and resources here:

 

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey there, fellow training nerds. You're listening to drinking from the toilet.

0:06.0

If you'd like to geek out about combining the science of behavior with positive reinforcement

0:09.7

philosophy in real life, you've come to the right place. You may remember me as Hannah

0:14.1

Brandigan, teacher, trainer, podcaster, and author of the book Awesome Obedience and its companion,

0:20.1

Awesome Obedience, the Field Guide.

0:22.3

If you're thinking you haven't heard from me in a while, I would like to remind you that time is a construct.

0:28.9

So there's that.

0:30.8

Okay, for this episode, I want to jump right in with something that's probably a little controversial.

0:36.3

And that is my thoughts on the use of a leash.

0:41.6

On dogs, I mean, what consenting adults do on their own time, that's their business.

0:45.9

But the question is, do leashes have a place in positive reinforcement dog training?

0:51.9

This is not about any one person or even one particular conversation

0:55.4

because I have seen and heard in a lot of different places, variations of the claim that,

1:00.8

quote, if you use a leash, you aren't force-free and therefore you are lying about what you do.

1:07.4

Now, because it is in my nature to absorb any criticism that I'm exposed to

1:12.2

and assume that it is about me, whether or not the conversation had anything to do with me in the

1:16.8

first place. And as far as I know, none of these conversations were about me, but still, I did have to

1:22.2

do some thinking about it. And I really thought long and hard because I think that it is important

1:25.9

to not assume, not take for granted

1:28.6

that just because you think of yourself as a positive reinforcement dog trainer, does that actually

1:34.6

mean that's what our learners are experiencing? So sometimes those can be uncomfortable reflections.

1:40.5

So I sat with this and I thought about it because I do use leashes on my dogs for a lot of different reasons in a lot of different situations, not the least of which being that in a lot of places where I take my dog, leashes are required by law.

...

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