walking on the lead...

asparagus1968

JRT puppy now 15 weeks old, best decision I ever made ,he's just great.

He is still too small for a small dog harness,so is still collar and lead.

Any tips on teaching him to walk on the lead please?
a) without pulling
b) in a straight line,he walks all over and in front of me,tripping me up!

thankyou

Jaynne

We've got our first puppy though we are puppy walking for the guide dogs but our puppy walking supervisor who gives us tips on training says to take them on very short walks to start. A couple of minutes each way, walk slowly and keep talking to them - we have a couple of words, steady for slow down and hup hup for faster. Praise them when they are doing it right and a squeaky toy is great for getting their attention when they go off sniffing. When they are pulling use the steady word and you can give them a gentle tug then relax on the lead so they know when they are doing it right.

Just remember this is a form of training for them so keep it short to start with and you'll set yourself up a lovely walking dog for years.

Jaynne

Oh and Honey (our puppy) did the wondering everywhere tripping you up to start with, just give it time this is a whole new exciting world for them and they frankly just don't know where they want to go!

krlyr

Kikopup does a series of videos on training which are fav, including several on loose lead walking
https://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup/videos?query=loose

zaksmum

My son's dog pulls like a tank. He's a 10 month old labrador and even O/H struggles to walk him.

I'd love to hear any tips to stop him!

Raksha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oqnu1nclUs&list=SPDB26A1A8B967DAD4&index=2&feature=plpp_video

Fire_Fox

Watch some episodes of 'It's Me or the Dog' on 4 OnDemand.

loopyanna

Walking on a loose lead was one of the regular things taught in our puppy class. My first suggestion would be, find a puppy class and as start as soon as you can, invaluable not only for training but also socialisation.

The way we were taught was as follows, you need (as well as your lead) a handful of small pieces of chicken or cheese, hot dog sausages work well too. Anything soft that puppy can eat fast and that he enjoys really.

Start by guiding puppy (holding the treat infront of his nose - he will follow it!) around to stand next to you (on the lead), left or right wherever you want him to be walking. Left is the traditional heel position but you might prefer the right. This will take a while to get right but eventually puppy will get the idea. Make sure you give him the treat quickly and as soon as he gets into the right position.

Once you've got 1 sorted you can start moving. Use the treat to guide puppy into place next to you and take a step forward, still using the treat (infront of his nose) to encourage him to walk a step forward with you. Once he moves one step with you he gets the treat. Do the same thing again but this time take 2 steps before a treat... then three... then four etc.

The second that puppy doesn't do what he is meant to be doing (i.e. doesn't walk, walks the wrong way, pulls, stops etc.) go right back to the start. Get him back into place with a treat and give him the treat for getting there. Then a treat after 1 step, then 2, then 3 etc.

We learned this in a big warehouse type environment walking back and two between small cones but it helps to practice in as many places as you can otherwise puppy will associate the learnt behaviour only with the place that you taught him. i.e. if you only ever teach and practice this method in your garden, he will think he only has to do it in the garden.

Yuo can eventually build this up to a couple of hundred yards between treats and then phase the treats out.

Hope that helps!

Anna & Woofer (I did not pick his name!)