Lead training

CinnamonChristmasCookie

CinnamonChristmasCookie

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6 July 2010
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I cave! The demons are not getting any better on the lead. I know they're only 4 months and walks are kept short and undemanding other than we would like them to heel. I have used a slip lead (don't shoot me, I know some people don't like them) and a normal collar. Even they are choking themselves, they'd rather pull than walk to heel. They get massively excited at other dogs and lose all hearing ability. I'm going to try separate walks with treats as they're v food motivated but time sometimes dictates that they have to go out together.

They've only been going out for a couple of weeks-am I expecting too much too soon? Because they're such little demons, I'm paranoid about letting them off the lead in the woods, although their recall at home is excellent. Any tips welcome from the resident experts!
 
What are you doing to engage them, ie, look up at you and make them want to walk beside you? You need to incentivise walking beside you, for a lot of dogs it does not come naturally.

Lots of directional changes, stopping dead and walking in a circle/backwards can help.

Remember, they have four legs and often want to go somewhere quicker than you can, also, dogs can often naturally pull against a restrictive force, they don't get the whole 'if I walk loose, it doesn't hurt or restrict me' thing, so you have to teach them that slack line = good, tight line = going nowhere.

PS I don't know anyone who doesn't like slip leads, used correctly. Just make sure they are on the right way around, there is a right way and a wrong way.
 
I used the slip leads correctly, according to the video-how sad am I! I think I'd rather use a normal collar for now, though as I hear you're not supposed to use slipleads on young puppies. We've done a lot of circling, stopping dead. I use their names to make them look up and then ask for heel verbally and with a little tug on the lead.
 
Personally I like puppies off the lead as soon as they're old enough to go out on walks, that way they are still young enough to fear being away from you, although in your case for that to work you would need to have them walking seperately. Otherwise they will egg each other on. With them being litter mates, to get the best results I do think you need to do everything seperate.

If they are pulling you've already lost the battle, even now Otto will start pulling if he is allowed to get to that point. The best way I found for Otto was to step in front of him, so that he was heeling behind me, everytime his nose went an inch further than I wanted I'd step in front of him. I also found he learnt heel better off the lead, so we did it backwards to what most people do! But then he had spent 4/5 months on the long line learning recall, so a lead and pressure on his neck didn't mean anything.
We did lots of practising in the house and garden, where I could always ensure is full attention. You'd need to do this with your boys seperately so they don't start playing and you lose their attention!

He was always walked in a slip lead, all our dogs have been, including my Mum's current 5 month old pup. None of them have any neck problems, but then they don't pull either! :D
 
Yes, that's another one, the old lead swinging or tapping a stick on their chest if they pass a certain point!

Also agree, used slips and checks/chokes on pups from pups and as long as they are used correctly, they are fine.

I wouldn't use their names *too* much as it can deaden the impact, 'heel' or 'watch' or 'close' would be fine. Silly squeaky noises will also suffice :p

I do agree (again) with KH, for the best results you'll need one-to-one with each of them. B is my 'left' dog and his sister is my 'right' dog if that makes sense, that was the way they were taught to walk with me, seperately and then together.
 
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