Leash Training Puppies
From my own experiences raising and training my own dogs I have found that it is best to start leash training puppies (as well as basic obedience training) very early on. By 6 weeks of age, the puppies are already in a learning mode, so don’t delay getting started. When it is time to leash train my own puppies, this is the first step I take. It has worked really well, especially compared to waiting to leash train an older dog, who might already be more headstrong or even adverse to the leash itself. For example, my pup Rocky learned to walk beside me when he was only 6 weeks old. It was easy and basically stress-free for both of us.
To get started, I put Rocky III’s little collar on him and attached the leash , which he looked at for a moment and then merrily dragged it behind him while he cruised around the front yard. I was there to make sure it didn’t get snagged on anything. Snagging on something might have given him some stress as he wondered what the heck was going on. Remember, you want the first experiences with leash training your puppy to be stress free. After a few minutes, I would detach the leash. So, for Rocky, having the leash on was about the same as having it off. Nothing had changed, and he didn’t have any negative feelings towards the leash. After all, he still got to have his fun checking out the yard and all the cool smells there. After a few dragging the leash sessions, I would pick up my end of the leash and follow him around the yard, with the leash still totally loose. When he stopped to check out a particularly interesting bug or sniffed at something, I stopped to, so there would be no pulling on the leash just yet.
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Now that your puppy is used to the leash a little, it is time to leash train your puppy to walk along with you. Call your puppy over, and have a treat in your hand for his reward. It is easier leash training puppies when you get them to associate treats/ rewards and lots of praise and affection with the attaching of the leash. So, give him lots of praise and make him feel like it is going to be fun to be on the leash and get all your attention. This is how the positive reinforcement method makes the training much easier than with negative methods. You can get started with all the basic obedience training for your puppy at a very early age. Read more about puppy training using positive reinforcement and getting started early with group training sessions.
Before long, just attaching the leash to go for a walk seems like reward enough to your dog. He’ll be happy and excited at the prospect of going out for a walk with you, and as soon as he sees the leash, he’ll know some fun is coming. Most dogs just love going for a walk with you, whether on or off-leash, and this is how you should want it to be. This way they never perceive the leash as something negative or scary-just something they should only relate with having a good time.
When leash training your puppy have him sit down while you attach his leash. Now we’re ready for our first real leash training walk. To encourage Rocky to walk beside me now, rather than free-ranging-it, I would just stop when he’d get too far out in front. I’d call him back, and when he returned he got a nice treat and a whole lot of praise and affection. At this stage don’t correct the puppy, just let him get used to walking with you on a leash. Once he was again in position on my left side, we’d then re-start our little walk. Naturally, this stopping and starting has to be repeated many many times as you begin to leash train your puppy. So, be totally patient, and try to have fun on these first few leash sessions. As a matter of fact, try to have fun every time you walk or train your dog.
In this early stage of leash training, if Rocky was stopping to smell something, I wouldn’t drag him along. Instead I’d let him check it out for a moment or two, and then give just a slight tug o the leash-just enough to get his attention again. You don’t want to ever get the puppy stressed out over being on the leash. It is a good idea to keep some treats as rewards to reinforce your puppy to walk beside you rather than ahead or behind you. By keeping a treat in your left hand he will probably want to be near that hand to get more treats. Who wouldn’t? I would do this several times a day, and within just a few days, he would naturally walk besides me most of the time, with the leash in the correct loose position.
To reinforce this in his mind, I would use the command “Heel” as we began our walk and if he did walk beside me I would stop on my own and offer him a treat-before I had to make any corrections. That way he got a lot of positive reinforcement via praise and treats, and it really cut down on him trying to forge ahead of me. Once Rocky was comfortable walking on leash, and showed no fear of it, I could start to refine his heeling. If he wasn’t paying attention and was getting out in front I would turn around and head in the opposite direction, thus bringing him around too. After a few times of doing this, he’d start paying a lot closer attention, and not take it for granted we were going where he thought he was taking us. By teaching the leash training properly to your puppy, you will have avoid the frequent problem many dog owners have with dogs pulling on their leashes during walks. It is also a good idea to start leash training a puppy in a place where there aren’t a lot of distractions. His attention will be more likely to wander. Now, he could see he needed to pay more attention to where I was going instead of just heading off forward.
So, with this early leash training my puppy was already heeling on-leash within a week of first being introduced to the leash. He wasn’t perfect, but he was learning quickly. Learning this early on makes it easier when you begin regular obedience training. He is already used to following your lead, and loves getting those treats and praise when he does something right. Some puppies may take longer, given their natures and dispositions, but if you stick to these simple techniques, you shouldn’t have too hard a time leash training a puppy.
By the way, these same basic techniques also apply to a bigger dog. However, sometimes an older dog may have already built up a fear or the leash, perhaps due to previous abusive handling, or some inner neurosis.
To learn more about how to train a dog very resistant to the leash and learn many other dog training secrets on issues such as dogs who are overly aggressive, dogs who dig up your yard, dogs that are displaying other dog training problems, I recommend Daniel Stevens book Secrets to Dog Training. He gives a very comprehensive and detailed explanation of these dog problems, helps you understand these problems and even better, how to correct those problems. Click here to read my full review of Secrets to Dog Training.
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