Early Training

Beginning Leash Work!

Teaching your puppy to walk on leash

One of the first things a puppy needs to learn is to walk on leash. This is not the heel exercise. Heeling will be taught later as an obedience exercise. Right now we are only interested in getting the puppy to go where we go without pulling on the leash. An eight or nine week old puppy is too young to be taught any obedience exercise. Obedience must wait until the puppy is older or we risk over-stressing him and creating problems that will come back to haunt us further down the road.

Notice, I didn't say you shouldn't be teaching your puppy anything at eight weeks of age. I said you shouldn't teach any "obedience" at this age. Many people have the wrong idea of what obedience actually is. We'll get into that discussion soon enough, but right now, we need to get our puppy walking on the leash so we can take him out in the world and get him socialized.

Many, many, dogs have come to the kennels that are confirmed leash-pullers. They obviously take great pleasure in dragging their owners over the ground as far and as fast as they can. One customer brought a Malemute to be boarded that weighed well over a hundred pounds. He pleaded a bad back and asked me to walk him from his car to the kennels. This dog literally skidded me accross the yard. Luckily, he saw the other dogs and headed in the right direction or we might have ended up in the next county. After a couple of these episodes, I offered to teach the dog to walk on the leash, without pulling, for nothing. The owner declined my offer, saying, "Oh, no! He's a sled dog! He's supposed to pull!"

Now, I knew that this dog had never seen a sled in his life, and it would only have taken me ten or twenty minutes to show him that I was not a substitute for one, but the owner would have none of it. Some people are hard to convince, so I just handed him back the leash and told him there was no use both of us having sore backs. Even that didn't change his mind. Dogs that pull on the leash have been trained by their owners to pull on the leash. Maybe that's not what they intended to teach their dogs, but that's what they taught them.

Before you start, there is one habit that will help you, not just with this exercise, but in all your training. If you want to understand your dog, know what he's thinking and be able to predict what he's going to do next you must cultivate the habit of observing. Sure, we all see what's happening, but we mostly do it subconsciously, without attaching any particular importance to it. If you can remember to make a conscious effort to observe and understand your dog's reaction to anything new, you will soon find you can read him like a book.

This is how I first start small puppies on the leash.

Fit your puppy with a flat, nylon collar. No slip, or choker, collars. Use a flat, buckled, collar. It should be snug enough that he can't pull his head out of it, but be sure it is not too tight. You should be able to easily slip your fingers under the collar. Let him wear the collar a little while each day for two or three days until he gets used to it. The next step will require a light line, so you might as well trot off to the local builder's supply and get it now. Fifty feet of cotton awning-cord can be had for five or six dollars and is exellent for training. You could also use light cotton rope of the type used for indoor clothes-lines. Yellow poly rope is hard on the hands and too stiff. Leave that on the shelf.

The second or third day, attach about four feet of light line to the collar and let him trail it around. This will get him used to the feel of it under his feet and the tug on the collar when he steps on it. Resist the urge to pick up the end of the line and begin teaching the heel exercise. When he's accustomed to the four-foot line, swap it for a piece ten or fifteen feet long and we'll begin to teach him to walk on the leash.

The first thing to remember is that we want the dog to enjoy the leash when we're finished. Seeing you with the leash should conjure up visions of good things to come, like going for a walk, playtime, or whatever. It's really sad to see a dog that hides under the porch when he sees his master coming with a leash.

Short (really short) sessions followed by lots of praise, and perhaps playing with a ball, is the order of the day. If you were teaching a dog to stay in a sit, you wouldn't expect a five-minute stay the first time. You might try for ten seconds the first time and build it up, a few seconds at a time, until he was staying for five minutes. Do the same when you're introducing the leash and collar. Apply control for thirty seconds or so and build up from there.
Use only just enough force to get the job done. Be patient and don't get into a battle of wills with your puppy. You can easily win this battle but you might end up losing the war.

Let him trail the ten-foot-line for a few minutes and then pick up the end. Let him lead you around for a few seconds while you hold the line with just enough force to keep it off the ground. Then slow your pace so that he is forced to go a little slower and finally brought to a stop. Time for a break. Call him to you and play with him for a minute or two.

Now let him trail the line again and this time, when you pick up the end, call him and then stand still. If he pulls on the line, hold him, but do not pull him towards you. Instead let him learn to put slack in the line himself by moving in your direction. If he puts slack in the line, praise him and encourage him to come to you. If he stops, take the slack out of the line and apply just a tiny bit of strain to it. Immediately, call him to come again, and praise when he moves towards you. Two or three trials at successfully relieving the tension of the line should be enough to confirm in his mind that going to you is how he wins the game. You may now find him coming to you at full speed, with a smug expression that says he knows he's beat you.

Some independent puppies may fight the tension of the line, and, instead of coming towards you, put the brakes on and pull against the line. Turn your back on him and maintain the pressure. Give him time to realize that he cannot win by pulling. Do nothing to give him the idea that you are responsible for the unhappy circumstances of his present situation. Don't jerk the line, and, above all, don't drag him in hand over hand like a catfish on a trot-line. Neither must you relent, and put the slack into the line yourself. That would show him that the way to get slack is to pull harder.

When he has learned to come towards you to relieve the tension on the collar, begin backing up as he comes to see if you can keep him moving. Then turn and walk away and try to keep him following. If he tries to take the lead, just turn and go in a different direction and let him get into trouble again. He will soon learn to follow you.

Remember to be patient. Give him a chance to learn. No rough stuff with the line. Have fun.

Good luck with your training!

Neil

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