Puppy Leash Training

Puppy Leash Training

Leash training is an integral part of later training, and consequently should be learned early on in a puppy's life. If you obtained a puppy from our kennel, you can rest assured that leash and collar have at least been introduced at least a few times to your puppy. The other side benefit is that during leash training we can cement his name and the “come” command further in his mind.

This is what you’ll need to start:

A soft nylon collar

nice retractable lead (Preferred) or a long 10 foot or longer leash.
A nice large yard or area of safety for your pet - away from distractions.
15 minute practice sessions and no more.
2 or three times a day is good.

Before starting – always remember – don’t expect too much at once. Be patient, be kind and be happy with the smallest successes.

Step One

The first thing to do is to get your puppy used to a collar. At this early stage, a simple snap-on style nylon collar is fine. Place the collar on such that you can get a couple of fingers between collar and neck. Make your puppy feel like this is a good thing and praise him for it gently.

At first your puppy will feel that the collar is foreign and doesn’t belong there and will probably scratch at it and act a little off balance for a bit. Eventually he will come to accept it as though its part of his body. It’s good to do a few short sessions, increasing the length of time he wears his collar over 2 or 3 days.

Step Two

Once he appears to have accepted the collar, we’ll need to place a retractable lead on the puppy’s collar. Some people prefer to let the puppy drag around a lead for a few days, but we like to use a retractable lead because it’s safer for the puppy. With a retractable lead, we know we always have control in the event of an emergency. Both ways work fine.

Once you have your puppy “hooked up” we’re ready for our session.

Let the puppy sniff around and you follow him. That's right – You follow him. If he likes to follow you around, then go walking and just let him follow you happily, leash attached. At some point he might wonder, and that's OK, just let a little leash out and follow him around. The only thing you want the puppy to know at this point is that he is not being restricted in any way from the freedom of movement. The leash and collar are not his enemy. You will probably notice him shaking his head and sometimes trying to pull away because the lead might be slightly annoying – but there should be no resistance offered to him. Don’t pull back on the leash. Eventually he’ll accept this as a minor nuisance, and then he will just get used to it. Its OK if he plays with the leash by taking it into his mouth, or starts to roll around on the ground playing with it. Eventually he will stop that too. But remember – only force limited movement if the pup is headed somewhere unsafe. Do not pull the puppy with the leash, or put him in the position of wanting to fight it.

Step Three

We need to begin introducing a new concept to the puppy - that the lead on vary rare and subtle occasions, restricts his movement – but only for a moment. For instance, your puppy may be happily walking along when there is an instant where you stop allowing him to go wherever it is that he is going – a slight amount of resistance is applied to the leash forcing him to slow up. He will probably stop and look at you as if to say: What the heck is going on?

All you’re trying to do at this point is show him that there are occasions that he needs to stop – even for just a second. What we are doing is getting him to accept – but not to fight the restriction. Too much restriction too soon will result in him fighting the lead. Do this little exercise more and more frequently until he finally either just stops or turns and comes to you.

Again during this phase all we are after is to have him accept the fact that the lead restricts him occasionally.

Step Four

Once you get him to accept that he is restricted on occasion, Start coaxing him to just change directions saying “lets go” in an inviting manner, and then let him happily amble along again in this new direction that you have chosen. And don’t forget the praise – but don’t over do it. You will increase the frequency of changing directions until he realizes that a slight change in pressure on the lead means a new direction is being initiated.

The key throughout this training is to know how much to restrict him. If he is fighting with his head – that too much restriction. If he is distracted I call his name and slightly tug the lead – just enough to get his attention. Then I say “lets go” and coax him to move toward me, then I begin walking in a new direction. Hopefully he will follow me and if he does, I go only a few steps and then praise him. This is done over a couple of days – and do it as much as you can get away with it. The objective here is simply to restrict him from moving in one direction, to a new direction and have him happy to do so.

All of these techniques can be combined to achieve the desired objective.

Your puppy should begin to realize that when the leash is on, he is following you So, as your sessions progress, the lead should be slowly getting shorter. Slight tugs on the leash and “lets go” command joined together will eventually be a part of your dogs understanding. It is this foundation in leash training that we’ll use to get your dog to always “come”, without fail – whether on leash – or off.