Easiest Way To Leash Train Your Puppy
20 Sep 2009
Do you have a brand new puppy that you want to become a well behaved adult dog? Get an early start on that by starting to leash train your puppy at a very young age. By six weeks of age my young puppy could already walk on a loose leash. He was already heeling at eight weeks old like an old pro.
You can leash train your puppy by using this very simple method and get great results without any resistance from the puppy. Some puppies and dogs hate the very sight of the leash. If their first experiences with the leash were negative they won’t be happy to see the leash come out.
You only want your puppy to have positive results with leash training, so use this simple tip. Here’s how I start leash training my puppies now- and never have any problems with the puppy being scared to be put on their leash. As a matter of fact, they get happy at the sight of the leash, since that means they are about to take a walk with me.
- Begin with placing the puppy’s flat collar around his neck (the choke collar shouldn’t be used at this time). That in itself is no big deal and the puppy shouldn’t even react. Go ahead and put the leash on the collar, but just let it lay on the ground. Don’t hold on to the leash at this time. Let the puppy walk around the area you have chosen for the leash training without any restraints. Try to walk close by and make sure his leash doesn’t get caught up on anything. By keeping the leash from entangling, your puppy will cruise around stress free, hardly noticing he is trailing a leash.
- The next step to leash training your puppy begins once he’s become used to walking around with his leash dragging along behind him. Pick up the leash end, but be sure to not let it tighten up-you still want to keep it slack. Without trying to control the pup, walk along with him as he checks out the yard. Begin the next step in leash training after your puppy is very used to walking along with you on his loose leash.
- It is time to teach your pup to walk along with you and not to be pulling you with his leash. Use treats as a reward to encourage your puppy to learn a loose heel while you walk together. If you hold the treat in your left hand it will get the puppy used to the idea of staying by your left side. The heel position asks your puppy to walk at your left side. Call your puppy over to your side and when he comes over give him lots of praise, affection and a tasty treat as a reward for paying attention. Each time the correct behavior happens, be sure to reward the puppy to positively reinforce that behavior.
- If the puppy isn’t paying attention when you call him over, just give a gentle tug on his leash to get his attention, and let him see you have a treat for him.
- Always call him with a friendly upbeat tone of voice, and give him his praise and treat. It won’t be long before he gets the idea. Puppies at only six weeks old are capable of learning the basics. Stay calm and don’t get frustrated as you begin leash training your puppy. Don’t make it an unpleasant experience for him to learn. Only use positive reinforcement techniques when leash training your puppy, or with any other training you will be doing later. Dogs will learn a lot faster if you make it fun and rewarding for them while they are in training. I know that always works for me, too.
- Continue repeating this training frequently on a daily basis until your puppy walks comfortably at your side with a loose leash. By the time your pup is comfortable walking on a loose leash, he is halfway there to learning how to “heel”. It should be as easy as that. You won’t have any problems taking your puppy for a nice walk it you just follow this simple method.
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