Why it works and why it’s different
Most dog training starts from control: stop pulling, walk nicely, keep pace. At Shepherd School, we start from something older. Long before “heelwork” or “lead manners,” people and dogs already knew how to move together. Across fields, through flocks, along tracks worn by generations. The rhythm between human and dog was fluent. It was a shared language of purpose and direction. When we (Dogtaggs) help people rediscover that rhythm, their dogs recognise it immediately. The lead softens, the tension disappears, and walking becomes what it once was. A quiet, coordinated conversation between travelling companions.
The Conventional approach
The conventional “loose lead walking” methods most dog trainers use are built almost entirely on operant conditioning, which is a behaviourist, monosyllabic model of interaction. In operant control the trainer focuses on:
Stimulus → Response → Consequence.
The dog learns to offer or withhold a behaviour based on reinforcement (treats, praise, or removal of pressure). What this means is that when the lead is loose → treat or praise (positive reinforcement), And, when the dog pulls → stop walking, remove reward, or apply pressure (negative punishment or negative reinforcement).
It’s an if–then model. Very linear. Very linguistic. It treats movement as a sequence of discrete actions, not a continuous, co-regulated flow.
What the conventional approach misses
Behaviourism isolates the visible behaviour (e.g., “walk beside”) and ignores the sensorimotor dialogue that underlies natural comovement, the timing, rhythm, and shared directionality between species, and the affective tone (calm, curiosity, purpose) that informs a dog’s willingness to coordinate.
It’s a single-channel form of communication, what I call monosyllabic. It’s like trying to dance with someone by giving them step-by-step verbal instructions instead of feeling the rhythm together.
The Shepherd walk by contrast
What we’re teaching at Shepherd School draws from ecological and embodied systems thinking. The dog’s coordination arises from perception–action coupling (they sense and join movement). In this mode the human becomes part of the environment the dog moves with, rather than a source of commands. Learning happens through entrainment and feedback, not through external reinforcement cycles alone.
This approach to walking with dogs and dogs walking with humans is multisyllabic, or, in our experience dialogic. It is validated by it’s reciprocal, dynamic, sensory, and rhythmic nature and identity. As opposed to the flat, rule-based monologue of operant behaviourism.
Comparative table
Below is a comparative table that shows the deep difference between operant-control walking (the usual “loose lead” teaching) and our relational co-movement approach as practiced at Shepherd School.
I’ve taken three lenses: what’s happening scientifically, how it’s expressed linguistically, and what it feels like in practice. These are the three that my writing usually connects.
Summary
Operant walking teaches control.
Co-movement walking restores coordination.
The first is about managing behaviour. The second is about restoring a relationship that already exists between species that evolved to travel together.
Aspect | Operant-Control Walking | Relational Co-Movement (Shepherd School) |
Scientific foundation | Behaviourism: stimulus–response–consequence loops (Skinnerian conditioning). | Ecological psychology and embodied cognition: perception–action coupling and sensorimotor entrainment. |
Primary communication channel | External cues and reinforcements (verbal markers, treats, tension on the lead). | Kinesthetic and rhythmic signals exchanged through movement, posture, and intention.
|
Learning focus | The dog learns to modify behaviour to earn or avoid outcomes. | The human re-learns coordinated, purposeful movement; the dog joins that movement naturally. |
Structure of interaction
| Sequential and rule-based (“If X, then Y”). | Continuous and reciprocal (co-regulation through flow and feedback). |
Role of the lead | Control tool to create or remove pressure; constant point of communication. | Safety connection; rarely active, slack most of the time. |
Human mindset | Instructor or controller: monitoring compliance. | Partner or guide: providing direction, rhythm, and emotional stability. |
Dog’s cognitive load | High — must decode intermittent signals and suppress instincts. | Low — movement and intention are readable, so coordination feels easy and instinctive. |
Typical emotional tone | Frustration, tension, intermittent relief. | Calm, purposeful, quietly joyful. (optimistic)
|
Learning mechanism | Extrinsic reinforcement (food, pressure relief, verbal praise). | Intrinsic feedback from synchrony and mutual understanding. |
Resulting gait pattern | Stop–start, slightly hesitant or watchful. | Smooth, rhythmic, matched pace — “dropping in beside.” |
Analogy | Like being told how to dance, step by step. | Like remembering how to dance with someone you trust. |
Dogtaggs -The relationship model with two commercial entry points
At Dogtaggs, we don’t train dogs.
We teach people how to use the whole range of their sensory, physical and emotional communication to work alongside another being. This isn’t reawakening instinct — it’s expanding awareness. It’s learning to divide cognitive attention between inner self and outer purpose until communication flows without command.
I’ve lived and worked this way with animals for more than forty years, and as a qualified clinical behaviourist I know when an issue sits in the dog and needs direct intervention. But most of the time, the change happens when the human stops narrowing their signals and starts listening with their whole body.
That’s when dogs stop coping and start collaborating.
That’s when the work begins to live in you.
The two vehicles through which people enter this world are Dogtaggs Tracking and Dogtaggs Shepherd School. Find out more about what we have available here and email hello@dogtaggs.co.uk if you have any questions.