PET ARTICLES BLOG

If you have a new puppy, wouldn't you like to know the easiest way to start his leash training?  Get an early start on that by starting to leash train your puppy at a very young age. My new puppy learned how to walk on his leash at only 6 weeks old.  By 8 weeks of age, he was already walking in the "heel" position like a champ.

Try this simple and easy technique to quickly get your puppy used to the leash.  I have seen other puppies and dogs that hate the leash, and get scared just at the sight of it.  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). The puppy should have no problems with the flat collar being put on. Go ahead and put the leash on the collar, but just let it lay on the ground.  You won't need to keep ahold of the leash at this point. Just let him cruise around the house or yard checking everything out and going about his puppy business. Stay close behind the puppy so you can free his leash if it gets caught up in anything.  By keeping the leash from entangling, your puppy will cruise around stress free, hardly noticing he is trailing a leash.

• The following leash training step starts after the puppy is accustomed to cruising around dragging his leash along. Now you should pick the end of the pup's leash up, but still keep it completely slack.  Walk along with your puppy, letting him explore what he wants to-don't try to control his position at this point.  After he is used to walking about loosely on his leash,  you can start the next step in leash training your puppy.

• It is time to teach your pup to walk along with you and not to be pulling you with his leash.  It is a good idea to give your puppy rewards of a treat for walking close to you. If you hold the treat in your left hand it will get the puppy used to the idea of staying by your left side. this is because your pup will walk at your left side when it's time to heel. Try calling your puppy to come to your side offering a treat and lots of praise and affection. 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.

• Once you have his attention  using a happy tone of voice he'll come over and you can reward him for  listening. He'll soon get 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. For leash training your puppy, or for future obedience training also, be sure to train your puppy using positive reinforcement training techniques. By making the training a positive experience the puppy and you will have more fun and get better results. This seems to apply to people too.

• Continue the training several times a day until the pup is comfortable walking alongside you with his leash loose. After learning this loose leash walking, he is well on his way to learning how to heel. That's all there is to it. Follow this simple lesson, starting with a very young puppy and you will never have a problem putting your dog on his leash for a fun walk.

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