Many owners believe that their puppies are too young for serious obedience training and that work on things like leash training should not begin before the dog is six months old. This is false. At eight weeks any healthy puppy is ready for any training you might give to an adult dog. Here's a brief guide to puppy leash training:
Be Gentle with the Dog Leash
Take care to hold your puppy's leash loosely and avoid tugging and dragging the puppy on the leash. Your puppy's bones and neck muscles are not yet matured and you could injure her.
Introducing Your Puppy to the Collar and Leash
Your puppy will struggle to get the collar off her neck the first time you put it on. Don't be alarmed or worry about the puppy scratching or rolling around. Don't take the collar off no matter how uncomfortable it makes you to watch this. Your puppy will stop fighting and move on to something else when she learns that she can't get the collar off, but you can take it off at any time.
After your puppy has adjusted to wearing the collar, introduce the leash using a similar strategy; just attach the leash to the collar and let the puppy drag it around. Monitor your puppy closely during this process in case the leash is snagged or caught on something. Stairs are particularly dangerous at this stage. After awhile the puppy will simply forget the leash is there. This is when you can move on to begin the real training.
Walking with the Leash
Now you can walk around the house with your puppy while holding the end of the leash. Always keep the leash loose between you and your puppy and walk so that the puppy is right beside you. When your puppy pulls at the leash; stop walking immediately and call the puppy to you. Do not start to walk again until the puppy is back at your side. Praise the puppy when she comes back to your side and stop walking whenever the puppy leaves your side. Repeat this process consistently, walking in and around the house until your puppy begins to understand how you want her to walk beside you. Be consistent and patient, and then graduate to walking outside.
Useful Tips
- A major goal here is to form the idea in your puppy's mind that walking beside you is fun. Take a pocket full of treats, favorite toys and other little surprises with you on walks for special rewards, and be enthusiastic when you praise your puppy.
- If your puppy is distracted by something like a passing bird or another dog; abruptly change direction to move away from the distraction.
- Your puppy might want to chew on the leash or play with it. You can discourage this by coating the leash with something that tastes bad (Various commercial products are available for this purpose). You can also use a light metal chain leash. Most puppies dislike the taste of metal.
- Choke chains are not recommended for use with puppies.