Fluent First: A Movement-Based Approach to Leash Walking with Laura Gaitan
Your Webinar Description:
Most loose leash walking methods ask dogs to learn something new — a position, a cue, a pattern built on repetition and reward. Fluent First takes the opposite approach. Rather than teaching dogs to conform to our expectations, it teaches handlers to communicate through the system dogs are already fluent in: body language, spatial awareness, and movement. At its core, loose leash walking isn’t a leash skill — it’s a communication skill. Dogs pull because something in the environment is compelling and the leash acts as a barrier to reaching it. If the person on the other end does not know how to effectively communicate with their dog, undesirable habits occur as the dog seeks way to achieve their objective. Fluent First gives handlers the tools to speak to their dog using movement, position, and gentle leash pressure to make coming back to their person feel natural, easy, and conflict-free. This method is particularly powerful when paired with reactivity work, as the same body-language principles that create a loose leash are the ones that allow handlers to interrupt a reactive response before it escalates.
Learning Objectives:
- Use body position and direction of travel as primary communication tools — before the leash ever becomes taut
- Read early body language signals that indicate a dog is approaching threshold, and intervene before a reaction occurs
- Apply gentle leash pressure as a directional cue rather than a corrective one
- Understand why dogs pull — and why movement-based responses are more effective than food lures or positional cues alone
- Recognize self-soothing and decompression behaviors after arousal, and know when (and when not) to intervene
- See how Fluent First principles connect directly to reactive dog work, making it a foundational skill for handlers across experience levels
Your Presenters- Laura Gaitan
Laura Gaitan is a force-free dog behavior specialist and the founder of Vándor Paws, where she combines a scientific background—BSc and MSc in biology—with evidence-based, empowerment-focused training methods. Her movement-based approach to leash walking, Fluent First, grew out of years of working with dogs whose bodies were telling a story their guardians didn’t know how to read while trying to help their dogs overcome behavior concerns on and off leash. The recognition that these challenges rarely exist in isolation was transformative. Leash skills, body language literacy, and emotional support on the walk are not separate subjects; they are one conversation, and Laura’s work lives at the center of all three. She believes that when guardians learn to read their dog and respond in ways that build trust, training stops being a battleground and starts being a bridge. She is committed to force-free, collaborative training that puts the relationship between dog and guardian at the center of every interaction
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