Leash Training

T

Torney907

Forums Regular
Hello,

So our puppy is scheduled for his last round of vaccinations this Sunday. We started leash training two days ago but he just does not like to be on a leash. Since he couldn't go for walks or walk on the floor outside of our apartment, he was just limited to our apartment for a whole month. I think he's kind of afraid of anything outside the apartment. We tried with treats but he does not move! Are there any tips that we can use to make him get comfortable walking on a leash?
 
I bad this with some if my shelties. The traffic and noise was too much". So I put on the leash and just sat on the front lawn. And fed treats. Then we went down the driveway, with treats. Then onto the road. Every few steps the pup would balk.....treat to get him to move forward and treat to keep him going. Rep,ace with verbal price once he starts to get it. But intermittent treats as well. It will click, and soon you will have the opposite problem.....dog pulling on the leash.
 
I discovered my boy can't stand being on anything on the neck. I got him into a Ruffwear Webmaster (virtually unslippable) harness and he was happy as a clam. We walked around the house, the deck, the driveway, and then started going very quiet and controlled places. With age we did more and more. I always made sure he never had a walking goal. You walk back and forth, stop, go, turn around, etc. The pup learned that walking was an activity not a way to go anyplace so he never learned to pull.
 
Start by putting the leash on him and just letting him walk around with it on ( watch him though or else he'll chew it ) then, after he's used to having it on put the leash on him (just hanging loose, don't hold it) and run away from him while calling him, make it a game. Eventually he'll be used to it. I had the same problem with my guy when he was a pup and it worked. Good luck!
 
Thank you all. He's now doing great on his leash and with walking. However, he gets way too excited when he sees other dogs or people while walking. He tries to run right at them and barks. Some dog walkers were getting worried that my puppy has sharp teeth. Any suggestions or tips to get him under control?
 
We used to live in an apartment, so walking on a leash was the only way Oberon went out. We trained him (with lots of cookies) that when he saw another dog or a person walking along the same walkway to sit as opposed to barking and jumping. This also allowed us to evaluate the other dog, usually just by asking if s/he was friendly, and then either letting them greet each other or not. If they didn't greet each other, Oberon got an extra cookie for letting the other dog walk by. Another advantage to having him already in a sit position was that if a small child wanted to pet him, and the parent was open to it and I judged that it was a safe situation for all, he was already in the right position -- again, an extra cookie helped. With school-aged children I showed then how to give him a cookie from a flat palm so there was no chance of getting their fingers nibbled (we used very small training treats). One of the big advantages of a food-driven breed is they can be trained to do just about anything with cookies!
 
Being over excited is pretty normal, you'll find a lot of threads on this in the behaviour section. Never let him get to what he wants when he's in that excited state. If he starts jumping around or carrying on, stop and get him to focus on you. If he's too excited and won't focus turn around and walk in the other direction. If someone wants to meet him then just tell that person you want to get his focus first - then walk a distance away, have him sit and focus on you and then try to approach again. You may need to do this several times each greeting before he gets the message.

Another thing you can do is just stand somewhere and watch people go past and work on his focus at a distance.
 
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