This is why it is important to begin the process of teaching your dog to walk on a leash at a very young age of 10 weeks. It is vital to remember to stay patient during this training. Some owners have ruined their dogs ability to be comfortable and obedient while on a leash simply by rushing it.
Here are some simple tips to help get you started.
Start leash training after your dog has mastered the "sit" and "stay" commands. Have the dog sit and stay while you put on the leash and collar or harness.
Consider associating the leash and collar with meal time. Put them on the dog or puppy while he eats. This will make your dog associate the leash with one of his favorite events--meal time.
Walk around the house with your dog while he is on the collar. Just simply follow him, as this will get him accustomed to having you walk beside him while he is on the leash. The first step to dog leash training is to introduce the collar without the leash. You can do this while you are feeding it or playing with it. This serves as a distraction from the collar. Most puppies will resist the collar at first and will later on roll around trying to dislodge or scratch it off.
Do not ake the collar off while your puppy is acting like this. With patience and some rewards, your dog may surprise you by accepting his collar with ease. While the collar is still new to your puppy, you may want to try and distract him from it by playing with him or having him focus upon something other than the collar.Once the puppy has calmed down and is focused on something other than the collar, it can be removed for a short period of time.
This indicates to the dog that scratching at the collar and other behaviors like that will not get the collar removed.Once your puppy is comfortable with the collar introduce the leash. The leash should not be to long about 4 to 6 feet is ideal. Get your puppy use to the leash and show him that the leash is not to be feared. Use a light weight leash and clip it to the collar and let him drag it around the house until he tires of it. This should be done under supervision to prevent the leash from getting stuck onto something.
Start your dog leash training indoors.
The best place to start leash training a dog is inside. That’s because indoors is a relatively low-distraction environment. You won’t be competing with as many things for your dog’s attention. He’ll be more likely to notice the rewards you’re offering for good leash behaviors.
When you attach the leash to your puppy's collar stand in one spot and let the puppy move around you. Let him pull on the leash and see that it will be let loose. While your puppy is doing this, call it repeatedly on its name. When the puppy stops fighting the leash and comes to you, praise it with a lot of enthusiasm, and reward it with treats.
Do this a number of times. Wait until there is some loose tension in the leash before moving away a couple of paces wile encouraging your puppy to follow.
Reward him when he does; increasing the distance that you walk each time between praise or treats. Repeat this with patience every day for several weeks, and conversely, if your puppy ever puts pressure on the leash-if he ever makes the leash taut-then stop.
Wait for him to look at you. Wait for him to take a step back toward you so that the leash goes slack again.
When he does that, start walking again.If you do this consistently, your dog will learn that he makes you go
by keeping the leash loose.
If your puppy doesn’t mind the leash, but pulls excessively as you walk, you can easily correct this by using a head collar or Halti® which is a type of head-control harness.This unique collar attached to a lead keeps your dog under gentle control with a loop around the mouth as well as a collar around the neck.In time, this system can be discontinued, but your puppy will continue to walk straight because of the behavioural conditioning that was created.
or Halti Head Collar.
Tips & Warnings
Be patient. Leash training a dog or puppy is not going to happen overnight. Give your dog some time to adjust to the change and soon you will be enjoying walks every day. If your dog is too excited to walk on the leash, consider playing with him to tire him out before you go for your walk.
A dog that has had some activity before a walk is more able to follow through with a leash training routine. Never scold or hit your dog while leash training. Remember, this is new to him and it will take him some time
to adjust. Never allow your dog to pull on the leash. Always turn the other way and force him to follow next to you with your body movement.
Avoid bad habits
If you let your dog pull his leash in all directions, you’re dog leash training routine is teaching your dog to pull. If your dog hasn’t mastered loose leash walking, find other ways to give it exercise, such as romps in a
in a fenced-in yard.
Outdoor training
As your dog progresses with indoor leash training he will eventually be ready to move outside and be exposed to a higher-distraction environment.
When you do go outside, pick a boring spot with virtually no distractions in order to make the transition from low- to high distraction environment gradually. The sidewalk closest to your home or apartment is probably more boring than the park, and is more befitting certainly when starting leash training your dog.
If you have a fenced-in yard, you might try letting your dog out loose first, so he has a chance to check all the new smells or sights that weren’t there the last time he was out.Then snap on the leash for some walking practice.
Remember that outdoor activities are more challenging because when a dog is outside his senses are being pricked by a multitude of sounds, smells and sights which are extremely distracting to the dog.We sometimes forget that when leash training dogs (or any other dog training routines for that matter) we’re asking a lot when we expect our dogs to notice what we want when there is so much more, interesting stuff going on!
Of course, every dog is different. While some dogs are naturally calmer, some will be more fiery. The trick is to match your training program to your dog. If you regularly "failing" in your attempts to get your dog to walk nicely on a leash, you’ve been trying to progress too quickly. Go back to the beginning and start over – and this time, make sure your dog has mastered the baby steps before moving on.
Read more: For addional information on dog leash training
http://www.DogTrainingA-Z.com
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