Puppies arrive knowing very little. If you want your pup to have good habits, you’ll have to teach them what to do. The easiest way to do this is to start training your puppy as soon as she comes home. One of the earliest lessons (it feels like there are so many early lessons!) we teach our puppies (service dog or pets) is to walk on a loose leash. The bigger the dog, the bigger the problem. Your chihuahua probably won’t pull you down, but your Great Dane surely will — unless you start teaching polite leash manners early. Here’s how you can teach your puppy to walk with a loose leash.
Put your puppy’s breakfast in a fanny pack or treat pouch. Get your clicker ready. When you go on your morning walk, click and treat every time you take a step and your pup’s leash is slack. You’ll be clicking a lot, and that’s good! That’s why you brought your pup’s entire breakfast with you. They need to eat anyway, you might as well get some mileage out of all those treats.
You’re clicking (and treating) every single time you take a step and your pup’s leash is slack. It doesn’t matter which side they are on, if they’re switching sides, or if they’re behind you. As long as there’s a little dip in that leash, you’re clicking and treating.
If your pup gets excited about another dog or a squirrel and pulls ahead, simply stop. Mouth closed, arms at your sides, just wait. Pretty soon, your smart puppy will figure out that she’s not going anywhere. She’ll probably turn to look at you quizically. Yay! You’ll click and then hold the treat down by your side. You want the pup to come back to you to get the treat. Click and treat again. And again.
You’re making it obvious to the pup that being with you is really rewarding! Pulling isn’t.
We inadvertantly teach our pup to pull when we follow along behind them when the leash is tight. Your pup doesn’t know that pulling means you’ll follow — until it actually happens! So unfortunately, when you follow your pulling puppy, you’re actually telling your puppy that that’s how to move forward — just lean into the collar, little buddy, and I’ll follow along.
That isn’t the message we mean to send, but it’s what’s received by the pup. Puppies do what works. If pulling gets them from Point A to Point B, why on earth would they try something different? So you, the smart trainer, are going to start your pup out with the realization that pulling = no movement.
And, in addition, staying closer to you, so the leash stays slack, gets the puppy two things: (1) treats and (2) moving forward! It’s a double win for your puppy! And it’s definitely a win for you! This is how we start loose leash walking — there are more advanced steps as the pup gets older, but we’ll get into that in another post. For now, all you have to worry about is teaching your puppy that pulling doesn’t work and having a loose leash gets that puppy lots more fun and freedom!
When did you start teaching your puppy leash manners? Share your dog-friendly loose leash walking tips in a comment below! I’d love to hear what’s worked for you!
You make it sounds so easy. 🙂
I wish I had read this when Honey was a puppy. It’s definitely easier to start loose leash training when a puppy is young. For some reason, I didn’t tackle this particular training issue until Honey was much older. And that made it harder.
It’s a good reminder that puppies are learning every day. And its up to us to make sure they’re learning what we want them to.
I think it’s more “simple,” than “easy.” It’s a simple concept, but it’s not very easy to put into place consistently! :0 It’s definitely something I’m working on from the very beginning — or at least aware of. So that I’m not contributing to the problem by following the dog if there’s pulling. Thanks for the comment!
I have a small 12 month old Chihuahua/Terrier mix that I have been trying to train to walk on a loose leash since she was about 4 months old. I made the rookie mistake of letting her pull during our early walks and even though I click, treat, stop on pulls, change directions, etc., nothing seems to work especially if she is the least little excited. She does good while practicing in the house and okay in the yard or drive way but any place else, she pulls. She is excellent with the other 9 requirements for Canine Good Citizen (which is what we are working towards) but pulls on her leash. Any suggestions are appreciated.
I have a 10 week old Shorkie that sits down when the lead is attached to his collar. Am going to use this tomorrow morning before I feed him breakfast. Thanks for the tips!
I think I waited to late to teach my dog how to walk politely on a lease. I have tried stopping, treating, changing directions but no success. Do the Easy Walk harnesses work?
Yep, I’d definitely try the Easy Walk Harness. Or the Freedom Harness by Wiggles, Wags & Whiskers. Neither of these actually teach the dog not to pull, rather they give the dog much less leverage than the regular collar or harness. You’ll still need to teach loose leash manners.
If you have really delicious treats (think chicken, salmon, cheese) and you keep clicking and treating *every step*, you’ll have a dog that pays more attention to you than to the outdoors. It does take time, of course, as most skill acquisition does, but it’s worth it!