Tug Of War With Lead

[Ellie1]

I fetched my lab puppy yesterday and I am trying to get him to walk on his lead, I am trying to clicker train him. The problem is whenever the lead is attached he just grabs it in his mouth and tries to play tug of war. I have tried telling him no, tried ignoring him, but nothing seems to work really.

Any help appreciated!

[Erny]

At this stage, you just want to be getting puppy used to having a lead and collar on. Use a combo of toys and treats to distract. If he grabs the lead in his mouth a gentle "uh uh" and remove the lead from his mouth. Then resume the distraction therapy. Walk along with your puppy at this point. You can also do little recalls using encouraging movements and voice tone. Don't try to use the lead to guide or steer puppy in these very early first few days. Of course, reward (in your case, click and treat) your puppy for any move in the right direction to your end goal which will be in this instance, to walk on the lead.

After two or three days of this, you can begin to use the lead as a restraint, but the major part of your focus will be on distracting puppy away from its own focus on the restraint element.

A lead and a collar is a new and novel thing for new pups, who have not yet learnt the meaning of restraint.

I didn't do much in the way of leash training for the first week of my pup coming home. Most of the work was in the back yard, rewarding my puppy for voluntarily returning/checking in on me as I walked around. I then moved up to teaching him to do the same but on lead. He did do the grabbing hold of the lead thing (I think that's a natural occurrence at some stage), but I used my voice tone to send the message of what was advantageous and what wasn't and kept working on it consistently until we'd come through that phase.

Edited June 7, 2009 by Erny

[Ellie1]

At this stage, you just want to be getting puppy used to having a lead and collar on. Use a combo of toys and treats to distract. If he grabs the lead in his mouth a gentle "uh uh" and remove the lead from his mouth. Then resume the distraction therapy. Walk along with your puppy at this point. You can also do little recalls using encouraging movements and voice tone. Don't try to use the lead to guide or steer puppy in these very early first few days. Of course, reward (in your case, click and treat) your puppy for any move in the right direction to your end goal which will be in this instance, to walk on the lead.

After two or three days of this, you can begin to use the lead as a restraint, but the major part of your focus will be on distracting puppy away from its own focus on the restraint element.

A lead and a collar is a new and novel thing for new pups, who have not yet learnt the meaning of restraint.

I didn't do much in the way of leash training for the first week of my pup coming home. Most of the work was in the back yard, rewarding my puppy for voluntarily returning/checking in on me as I walked around. I then moved up to teaching him to do the same but on lead. He did do the grabbing hold of the lead thing (I think that's a natural occurrence at some stage), but I used my voice tone to send the message of what was advantageous and what wasn't and kept working on it consistently until we'd come through that phase.

Thank you for your reply, I am only using the lead when I take him out to the toilet at night, just to keep him in check so he doesnt run off and think its play time.

[kezzzza]

When I have a new baby to lead train I use an older experienced dog to walk beside the pup, the pup generally follows the older dog not realising it's on a lead. A friend of mine got a new GSP and we did this with my Sibs only after one day she was walking without tugging on the lead.

[Nekhbet]

rub something horrible tasting on the leash and let him learn on his own - bitter apple spray, a bit or chilli sauce or hot mustard (not too hot but hot enough for him to spit it out)

they learn in no time and if he tries again ... repeat the process.

[Rusky]

use a thin metal lead he can't play tug with.Don't pull him but reward for walking with his lead on, wait and let him walk on, call him back, reward...not too much at once. I like the older dog by the side and it works very well with a young pup.

[Guest Willow]

I am only using the lead when I take him out to the toilet at night, just to keep him in check so he doesnt run off and think its play time.

Slightly Off Topic, but well done! That's somehting alot of new puppy owners overlook, and this will make your toilet training easier.

[corvus]

In all honesty, I never made the slightest effort to break my pup of this habit and he grew out of it fairly quickly. I just made sure I didn't particularly encourage him to do it. I'd rather he was hanging off the leash than my shoe, and with pups they find it hard to walk very far without turning it into a game. They grow out of that, too. For a while I made sure I had a tug toy on me when we walked and if Kivi felt the tugging urge at least he could go tug on something appropriate. He grew out of needing that at around 6 months, I think.

[Erny]

Some dogs are worse than others though Corvus. The point being that one doesn't really know when their pup is a pup, whether this is likely to grow into a bigger problem later or not. Some dogs use it as an avoidance method, where they seem to be able to remove the control of the owner. So yes - you definitely do not encourage it, but you also work to discourage it. What you do and how depends on the age of the dog and the dog itself.

Edited June 14, 2009 by Erny

[corvus]

I met a 4 year old Berner today that was never taught to walk on leash properly and still thinks it's okay to grab the leash and tug on it. Obviously a problem for the current owner (who was not the one that let him grow up thinking the leash was a tug toy). And this is why I used to carry tug toys. At least then they are tugging on the right thing (in Kivi's case, not my leg rather than not the leash) and provided you don't establish a habit of playing tug on walks, eventually you can phase out the tug toy. Although I seriously did establish a habit of playing tug on walks and Kivi still managed to grow out of it. Kivi is not wild about tug, though.

But it depends on what you like. I like playing tug with puppies on walks and I have no problem dealing with possible consequences later on (God forbid my dog should think of walks as a time to play tug with me - I would love that!). They are just babies, though, and every puppy surely goes through a tug phase and until I met this Berner today, I thought they all grew out of it on their own. He's possibly got other problems from neglect, though.