Lead Training Puppies

[Stitch]

Every puppy is different but do you think it is possible to lead train a puppy so that it never learns to pull or need much correction to get it to walk at heal?

What do you think is the best age to start lead training?Could it be as early as 5 weeks?I have found that some dogs are almost naturals at lead training and others are hard work.

Do you think that this really is the dog or is it that my training methods have been slightly different?

My clubs methods are reward/entice with food on a continual basis but I am not sure that this method is the best way to go as when puppies have a lot of distractions, they tend to not want a food reward regardless of how high a value it is.  Toys work best but tend to make the pup too excited, not calm and responsive.

There just has to be a better way to train them but I just can't seem to get it!

Edited April 25, 2009 by STITCH

[Miss B]

I will be watching this thread with interest - I am currently in the process of lead training my 12 week old Jap Spitz puppy and he falls into the 'hard work' category He likes to chew the lead and do crocodile rolls - and isn't interested in food rewards when there is something far more interesting like a lead to play with!

[TerraNik]

I assume you're talking about just general lead walking and not formal heeling...

If that's the case, I would start inside the house. It's certainly not something that I would teach at an OB club - there's too much potential for the dog to pull and be distracted by all the other dogs.

So you're inside the house.. Remove all distractions and if you're using clicker training, click&treat when there is no tension on the lead. Once the pup is really confident walking inside the house, move to the backyard and start from the very beginning again. Once very confident there you can move to a very quiet area outside the house, say the front yard. Once alright there, try doing a very small walk up and down the street, etc.

The important thing is that the dog doesn't learn to pull. If you keep walking while the dog is pulling you are just reinforcing that pulling = more walking.

If the pup generally struggles with having a lead on, clip the lead onto the pup's collar during meal time. Don't hold onto it or anything, just let it sit there. As soon as the pup is finished its meal, take the lead off. Other ideas are that you can clip the lead on while it's in the house and just let it drag on the ground - just for short periods (a minute or two). You can always clicker train not to chew the lead, too.

Just a few ideas... Good luck!

[Stitch]

I think that I have somehow created a monster with my 5mth old pup.

I took her to puppy preschool at 12 weeks and she got so excited she instantly learnt to pull on the lead.

Unfortunately, due to illness, I didn't start her on the lead when I should have, which in hindsight should have been about 5-6 weeks.

Now, I have a pup that goes forward in surges. I stop when she pulls, she looks around at me and I start again, she pulls, I stop, etc.etc. and the penny never drops!! :p

How can I correct it and just have her walking quietly beside me?

She doesn't respond well to a correction with a check chain, she takes no notice at all at a correction with a martingale collar and it is way too far down for me to constantly have a treat under her nose whilst bending down walking along (which is what the OB club requires).

I am obviously not addressing this problem in a way that this pup will understand.

How can I rectify what I have done or not done previously?

[corvus]

Hmmm...

I never really had any troubles teaching Kivi, but he was a pretty easy puppy. He was never really much of a puller. I taught him the concept of heeling without a leash in the house and when we went out into the big scary world I leaned very heavily on his rock solid "sit". Every time he started to get ahead I'd tell him to sit before he go to the end of the leash. I'd catch up and we'd start again. Then I started taking him out on a long line. When he got close to the end I'd say "hold up" and stand still. With the long line at least it meant we got somewhere on a loose leash before he hit the end and we stopped. I think a lot of the problem with shorter leashes is that they barely get going before they hit the end, so where's the opportunity to learn what happens when the leash is taut? The leash is nearly always taut. So Kivi learnt that "hold up" means he needs to slow down or stop until the leash is slack again. It took a while, but he got the hang of it and I still use it a lot to remind him or in other situations. The reward was to keep going.

Kivi has lately learned a pretty good heel. I taught it to him a little at home, but mostly on the go. I'd call him and lure him along close to my leg with a treat and say "hang about". I think this is how I would proceed with your dog. If you can hold her, the long line might help as well. You could always try a no-pull harness to try to teach her to be aware of the tension in the leash.

[:ange:]

My Wei was a dreadful puller on the lead - I taught her how to do that from a very early age *bangs head on wall*

I still have issues with it now but to a much less degree.. qw did the old zig-zag method.

When the walk first starts I find her pulling much more so than when I have let her off lead and she does zoomies around the park. Once she's got a bit of her energy off she walks much more nicely..

[Nekhbet]

easy way to teach the dog what a leash means.

use a 6 foot leash (roughly for large breeds, littlies you can have a shorter one) and just start walking around. When the pup hits the end of the leash, turn around and give little sharp tugs on the leash and call nice and loudly and happily 'PUP PUP PUP COME ON PUP PUP!" Your voice will over ride whats happening and distracting your dog. Praise the dog and make fuss when it comes closer to you.

Move off again and as soon as the dog follows 'GOOD PUP GOOD PUP' and praise the dog as it does the right thing. If it shows interest in something STOP all communication and do a sharp turn, little tugs and as soon as it starts paying attention again "COME ON PUP PUP' and get it to follow again. With older dogs I sometimes use a check chain to provide a correction if they get to the end of the leash (especially those that have no concept of the leash and are stubborn or no boundries - one good correction when they bolt off then happily call them to me and encourage them with little tugs on the lead, massive praise etc), with pups just a little correction on a flat collar will do the trick. Just be conscious of your dogs size, no massive yanks are required here at all.

Usually have dogs understanding a lead and walking loosely in under half an hour. The trick is to never have a constant tension on the leash to give the dog a chance to learn the opposition response and put it into practice. Also short sharp constant tugs will be like someone poking you - you cant ignore it and it redirects the brain without making the whole exercise negative and frustrating. Its not - its about the dog learning to follow you, focus on what you're doing and following your lead.

The reason I dont use treats a lot (maybe as a jackpot if thats what floats the dogs boat) is that this is one of the non negotiables I have for dogs. They should understand that its part of life to walk along calmly with your handler, to be led and to focus - it also gets the owners involved with their dogs, to use verbal rewards and to make themselves as a person more interesting to their dog. Too much food tends to make it a bit of a trick for some dogs, a little like giving your child a lolly every time they say thank you.

Stitch dont worry I work with adult dogs that cant walk on leads.

[Natsu chan]

Yep what Nekhbet said. I've done the same thing for 25 years and none of mine have pulled. Being little myself I just can't have a dog pulling me about. Use your voice you always have it with you and most young dogs love excited happy voices.

Don't worry though you can teach a dog to walk nicely on a lead at any age.

[Stitch]

OK, I will try the happy voice a bit more.

I did the long lead thing a while back, the penny never dropped - this pup is a bit of an 'airhead' and much more patience is required.

I will try the long lead training again perhaps after it has had a bit of a run, to get rid of some of that energy first.

Thanks for your replies.