Puppy's first walk!

[Aphria]

Hi, I'm a newbie dog owner just looking for some pointers/advice from you experienced people. Our pup is 12wks old and I was able to take him out for his first walk today since his vaccinations. He's used to the harness in the back garden so that's all good. I set off round the block with the treats in my pocket thinking I was going to reward him for walking beside me and not pulling etc etc. In reality, he was like a kid in a toy shop and was just hopping around the place at every sound/smell and I didn't feel it was fair to restrict him from his first experience of all these new things. He was barking at other dogs and I have memories of my childhood dog who would go crazy at every dog in the street so I don't want the same thing to develop here. My question is would you advise to be fairly strict with the leash training from early on before bad habits set in or should I just let him explore the new world a bit before expecting him to be able to control himself! Any advice would be very much appreciated!

 

[windand rain]

Two things
1 dont walk him for more than 5 minutes per month of age per day so now only 15 minutes
2 Start as you mean to go on and dont confuse him by changing the rules

Enjoy him but keep everything short to start with

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I would try to simply leave room for lots of stopping during your walks. Stop to allow your puppy some time to be excited/confused over all the new stuff, but then work on getting his attention back on you (by turning in circles/walk in the opposite direction of whatever direction he happens to be focusing on at that moment/make a funny sound/just stand still and think about how ant colonies works/etc/try to variate what you do so that it isn't always the same), before you continue the walk.

I think there is a golden mean between allowing a puppy to be a puppy excited over the new world around them, and what Windand Rain mentioned, "Start as you mean to go on".

If he gets scared or hesitate, then try to just walk on as if nothing has happened. If you're mostly calm, and doesn't allow yourself to be dragged into his excitement, then your calmness usually eventually rubs off on your dog.

Currently I have one 15 years old, and two 12 years old. One of the 12 years old, Blomma, still occasionally becomes a bit bouncy out on walks, but since my bitches usually walks on slack leashes, she can do that without pulling on her leash. Besides, I'm quite happy over that she's still so happy, and bouncy, at her age.
So personally, I think that it is possible to combine a bit of bounciness with walking nicely on the leash.

 

[twiggy2]

By used to the harness in the back garden do you mean just wearing the harness or walking on a lead where you want at your speed with the harness on?

 

[CorvusCorax]

My pup is a similar age and she won't be going for walks for a good while yet. You've basically gone from Monday to Friday forgetting all the days in between

At the minute, mine is getting 2/4 of her kibble meals from my pockets, which will increase to most of her meals when she grows bigger. Any time she pays me attention, comes away from a distraction or follows me/pesters me for attention, click and feed.
Anything scary or daunting, when she relaxes, click and feed.

She has a collar and a light long line that she is allowed to trail around the garden and at training club to get her used to it. If I pick it up and put pressure on it, click and feed.

I also give lots of verbal and physical praise. Not too much as she is a Happy Widdler lol.

But basically being with me/paying attention to me = good things happen.
This is developing into sending the dog to a 'place' and following my hand with a high head, which I'll develop into formal heelwork, but can be easily manipulated into whatever behaviour you want.

Unless your dog is showing you engagement and knows it's a good thing to be with you, it's not going to understand loose leash walking.
I appreciate that it may sound a bit technical/regimented but it's really only ten minutes twice or three times a day to build the relationship.

If you don't use a clicker just use a verbal marker.
Feeding treats on top of normal food when a dog isn't hungry, in the face of huge distractions, isn't going to work either.

 

[Aphria]

Thanks very much for the replies ?. I'll take things a bit slower and start with shorter outings! I like your suggestion that there's a happy medium, FinnishLaphund, as I still want him to do what dogs do and I do want to enjoy him being a puppy! I'll still bring him out as most things I've read suggests that there's a small enough window for natural socialisation. Thanks again!

 

[CorvusCorax]

Not saying don't socialise, but a lot of environmental sensitivities are genetic. What breed is your pup?
I'd just say....it's a lot easier to build focus on you with a young pup than it is to let him be interested in absolutely everything else apart from you now, and then have to get his attention back later when he's bigger and it's a learned behavior.

 

[windand rain]

We did a lot of socialising. Riding in the car, meeting people, A short walk along a busy road, Free play and recall in the garden meeting the cat etc. All done slow time. Recall and drop on command could save your pups life so very important. Puppy classes are excellent way for pup owners to socialise and learn the best way forward. Choose a good well recommended trainer though as carefully as you woud choose a nursery for a toddler

 

[CorvusCorax]

We did a lot of socialising. Riding in the car, meeting people, A short walk along a busy road, Free play and recall in the garden meeting the cat etc. All done slow time. Recall and drop on command could save your pups life so very important. Puppy classes are excellent way for pup owners to socialise and learn the best way forward. Choose a good well recommended trainer though as carefully as you woud choose a nursery for a toddler

And sorry for dinging on and on and on and on lol.....socialisation means ignoring things/dealing with distractions and getting over them, not a free for all where they get to play with anything and everyone.

You need to be the most important and exciting and fun thing in your dog's life, not the wallpaper/a food and ball dispenser...once that is established, everything else will come so much more easily.
My pup is still a pup with a big personality and steals my slippers and chews things and digs holes and does a Braveheart Bark at people walking past the gate and then runs away, but that doesn't mean I don't put in the groundwork.
A stitch in time saves nine and all that.
I let her father 'be a puppy' and it's really unfair, confusing and frustrating to tell a grown dog that all the things you said it was OK to do for a year and a half because they were cute and fluffy, aren't cool anymore.

ETA the reason I am dinging on is because I've spent weeks if not months getting owners to work on pure engagement with dogs, variously 6-12 months old, with which they had no real 'relationship' and am finally seeing really good results in terms of recall, basic sits and downs, heeling and ignoring things.
Get that engagement in early!!

 

[{97702}]

Having read all this, either Colin was incredibly easy or I’m better with puppies than I’d realised ?

 

[Aphria]

He's a Lurcher cross (looking up at me in pic below ?), possibly with a Jack Russell. We've had him 2.5wks and he came to us with no training whatsoever...he's now house trained and has basic sit/down commands. I don't intend for him to run riot like it's a free for all...it was his first outing on four legs (I've carried him round the block to see what's out there ?) so I'm sure it was OK to cut him some slack today. We will work on shorter walks with more control though!

 

[windand rain]

The way I see it socialising is ignoring the normal everyday occurances in life to learn to do that they have to experience them. Of course you should make sure you are your pups world and it is always you they turn to if worried or for instruction. Letting them run riot and ignore you because they are "babies" is as unacceptable as letting a foal plonk its feet on your shoulders. Consistant boundaries and a firm but fair approach makes for well mannered pups and ponies. More emphasis on fair

 

[{97702}]

He is so adorable

 

[Goldenstar]

He’s a lovely lovely puppy .

 

[Errin Paddywack]

My current youngest collie, 3 now, is the first I have had which has had problems with recall. Thinking about it I suspect it because she is the first I have had since I finished working. All the others had my husband all day but were with me only before and after work so did more training with me and less just being around me. I think she became blase about me because I was always there and because I hadn't realised that might be a problem it has taken a long while to resolve. If I had her over again I would change how I trained her.

 

[misst]

He's lovely I saw the pictures on your first thread. Every pup is a little different and what you want from him will be different. Mine have all come to me at differents points in my life. I no longer have horses so I have had to work hard at getting my new one to ignore them on walks ie. no barking on lead and definitely no running around their fields or when they are hacking outside our door. My previous 2 dogs came to the yard with me from an early age so were brought up with horses and learnt the rules early.
My dogs are horribly spoilt but the basics still apply, don't pull on the lead, don't snatch food. come back when called, don't chase bikes cars or horses, don't jump up at people (working on that one!) and generally be nice to have around, and give back items when asked. Also for us ignore livestock in fields on the lead and come straight back if cows or sheep suddenly appear in a previously empty field. Stop at kerbs and wait. After that I think you can choose what is important to you. I don't do anything else with mine but these are the things that might save them and you a lot of hassle. My one year old is pretty good at all the above now but I am vigilant around livestock and she is on the lead if I know or think any are around.
Also playing with another dog on walks is fine if it works for both dogs but don't assume because yours is a cute pup everyone else wants their dog to play - so recall away from other dogs is very important. I allow mine to be "told off" if she gets too much for my older dog or anyone elses dog, but you still need to be responsible about sizes playing together and the body language of other dogs.
JRTs are super clever and trainable so if yours is a JRT x then he will learn fast

 

[{97702}]

I had to smile MissT - Mille lurcher is used to horses as I had horses when I had her, the others are not. On our walk today we met 3 extremely fresh TBs from a local NH yard out for exercise (yes, I may have offered to take the chestnut home!) - I was absolutely delighted when little Colin puppy, who has never seen a horse in his life, trotted quietly past them without batting an eyelid. So did George and the greyhound boys

Millie lurcher on the other hand wanted to lunge towards them in excitement if I’d let her ..... ???

 

[misst]

Well Lev no one is perfect all the time! Millie was demonstrating to Colin what can happen if you haven't learned your manners ;-). Colin has the exemplary George to follow of course.