Pam Manke of East Bremerton walked her dog, Dillon, near Silverdale Dog Park last month and the pair appeared to be having a nice stroll on a sunny day.

But it hasn’t always been a walk in the park.

“It’s been a lot of work the past three years,” Manke said.

Her Jack Russell terrier came from a breeder and besides never having been on a leash, Manke said Dillon had also never been in a car. Because he was timid at the beginning, she said she was practically dragging him on the leash when they went on walks. Now he walks fairly well, with the exception of pulling on the leash when other dogs are around.

“I would probably be stricter if he was a 75-pound dog,” Manke said.

The Kitsap Humane Society is offering a leash workshop for owners and their canine companions Nov. 11. Owners with any breed of dog can learn how to reinforce good walking behavior through techniques to get their dog’s attention.

The workshop can help make dog walking easier for both the owner and dog as well as people passing by, said Dianne Canafax, director of behavior and training at the Kitsap Humane Society’s training center in Silverdale.

A dog’s natural instinct is to roam and move freely, so dogs will naturally pull on the leash, Canafax said, adding that the first rule of thumb is to not yank back on the leash. Instead, owners must get the dog to focus on them through a reward such as an ear scratch or treat, she said.

One technique to counter an over-eager dog is what Canafax referred to as the ‘stop and go.’

“When the dog pulls, you don’t want to reward the behavior, so you just stop,” she said. Once the dog returns to the owner, the two can proceed walking.

Certain types of dogs are also more interested in their environment rather than the person they are with because they are bred to smell and find things, said Canafax, giving the example of scent hounds such as beagles or bassets.

Mike Dominguez of Silverdale said he typically does not have trouble with his Rhodesian ridgeback.

“I keep him on a leash and he won’t chase things, but he’s known to,” Dominguez said of the hound dog.

Rhodesian ridgebacks are an African breed known for hunting. Dominguez sometimes lets his dog, Walker — as in “Walker, Texas Ranger” — roam freely when they are in an open area and he hides from the dog in the brushes. Walker sniffs him out and does not stray too far.

All dogs are required to be on a leash in Kitsap Parks unless in a leash-free dog area, said Jim Dunwiddie, director of Kitsap Parks and Recreation.

Training dogs to walk properly with a leash should start as soon as possible but not all is lost for older ones, said Canafax.

“(The dog) is like, ‘I’ve done this all my life, why can’t I continue?’ You’re just changing the rules of the game.”

Visit www.kitsap-humane.org for more information.