Following: Off the Leash
Teach your puppy to walk with you — both off the leash and on a loose leash — instead of pulling you along. It can make all the difference between a walk that is enjoyable and one that feels like an unpleasant chore.
Begin without a leash and get your puppy to follow you around the house and yard. His reward for staying close to you and keeping at your pace is to get tidbits and praise. Use plenty of encouraging words and practice regularly. Once your pup is following you without a leash, try walking him around the house and yard, but this time on a leash. Don’t get into the habit of pulling on his leash to get him to follow you. With time and patience, the puppy will learn to follow you, regardless of whether or not he is on the leash.
The secret to mastering leash work is really to practice as much as you can, in as many different situations as possible.
Be careful to have only your puppy off the leash in safe areas—it can be very easy for a curious puppy to get into a sticky situation.
Time your clicks
When the puppy is walking beside you on a loose leash, reward him by clicking, treating, and praising. This way the puppy will come to understand that he is being rewarded for walking with you, with the lease loose. Practice this frequently—around four or five times a day, if you have time—first around the house and yard, and then up and down the sidewalk outside.
Always bear in mind that the main purpose of the leash is to act as an additional security measure when you are walking your puppy in public, especially near traffic or when there are other dogs around. Its purpose is not to slow the puppy down if he is walking too fast, nor to pull the puppy along if he is trailing behind. In fact, that would be counterproductive. Puppies (and older dogs) automatically lean forward whenever they feel pressure against their neck or chest. Owners inadvertently reinforce this reflex response if they continue to move forward while pulling back on the leash, or if they jerk the leash to get the puppy to follow when he has stopped.
PUPPY TIP: DRIVE, DON’T WALK
If you are going to a place, such as the park, where your puppy is going to be let off the leash, try to go there in your car rather than on foot, at least until he has mastered following on the leash. This way the puppy won’t associate walking on the leash with being released and allowed to play. Otherwise, he may get into the habit of pulling on the leash in his excitement to get there quickly.
Back to "Basic Training"WHY DO DOGS PULL?
Dogs pull mainly out of excitement. If your puppy thinks he is going to the park to be let off the leash again and allowed to play, he will be eager to get there. By pulling he thinks he will get there even more quickly, so if you let the puppy pull you along at a faster rate than you intend, you are rewarding him—giving your puppy what he wants—by letting him reach the park sooner. If the puppy pulls on the leash, simply stand still and remain standing still, without saying anything, until the puppy stops pulling. If you stand still, the puppy learns there is no reward to be gained by pulling: not only is he delaying the fun time in the park that he is looking forward to, but he gets no treats or praise from his owner. In this way, the puppy soon learns that it is more rewarding to walk at the owner’s pace and go where the owner wants to go rather than trying to set his own pace or change direction.
Naturally inquisitive and energetic, your puppy will pull on the leash more out of eagerness to go somewhere interesting than from bad behavior.