How do you walk your puppy?

[gsdemack]

It's very hard to get her to walk on the lead so I'm thinking I'll need to stop taking her out and just concentrate on training at home using Michael Ellis technique.

What do other people do when out walking? I let her off the leash as soon as I can but often it takes a while to get to a place where that can be done.

Thanks.

[AngelaA6]

I started out in the house with the leash (about two weeks), then to the backyard until he stopped pulling there (turning and changing directions whenever he pulled), then to the front yard using the same method, then a little down the road and eventually around the block it took me two months to get him not to pull (I also use a front hook harness) but it is definitely doable

[Annie's Mom]

i started out with the leash around the house too. i just let her drag it to get used to something hanging there. outside it was "walk along" with a treat in front of her nose. take a few steps and turn. over and over.

i have an invisible fence and do not walk my young dog off my property yet. i do not want to confuse her. i load up my dogs and drive to a greenway with lots of joggers and other dogs walking.

the flags for the invisible fence have been out there for about 3 months now and she has never broken thru. but she knows what it's all about. "bad flag" is all she has to hear and turns away. soon i can stop buying gasoline for walking and let her know that walking past the fence is allowed only when i say it is alright and the collars are changed.

[Bear GSD]

Along with AngelaA6, i used a front ring harness on my puppy and I used a very light leash. A lighter leash I felt made a difference. I also would practice with my puppy in the house and I also would put it on him in the house and let him drag it around so that he would get used to it (with supervision of course)

[Annie's Mom]

i should add, she was trained earlier to the invisible fence than i planned because i thoughtlessly went inside one day while she was outside. 5 minutes later i found her in the neighbor's pasture. that was the day the flags went out. i started walking along that flag line every day, several times a day for about 2 weeks. she was solid after that. a couple of times she tested it because i saw her bolt towards the house.

[Reflected]

When I first wanted to take my puppy out, I'm lucky cause he never hated his leash in any way, he hated his collar though. As for actual walking, I had to get a front pulling harness because he pulled so much that his neck was getting raw.
Dogs want to walk, it's part of their instincts and what not. They pull because they think they're doing something good, especially if they know where they're walking, they basically think "hey owner, look look I know where to go, come come let's go" kind of stuff, so I've been doing loose leash walking.
It's two parts, the first part is training him to stand beside you without running off and pulling. Keep some treats in your pocket, relax and keep your hand near your pocket, keeping the leash slack. Tell him to sit and give him a treat. If he stays for a few minutes reward him again, constantly saying good boy and giving a treat occasionally. If he pulls to the end of the leash then just stand wait for him to come back, like I said they want to walk and if they can't they'll be like WTF and come back to you, this is where a from pulling harness comes in handy because it changes their centre of gravity and forces them to look at you when they pull. If he doesn't come back, then you can call him and/or bribe him with a treat. Do this for a while so that they know to come back when you stop.
Step two is where you actually walk. You'll start by going "lets go" and you take a step. As soon as he pulls you stop and wait for them to come back, you can call them or bribe them if they don't seem to be coming back. Once they come back to your side you reward them by walking again. You may only be able to take one step at first, if your dog is a puller, but eventually you'll go from one step to two, to three, etc. this may not be enough exercise for your dog, so while I'm training my pup in this I take him to the dog park to run around off leash.

[doggiedad]

i got my pup when he was 9 weeks old. i use to put
his collar on and let him wear it for a short time and
then take it off. i did this many times throughout the day.
i would leash my pup and walk around the house (inside)
with him. sometimes i let him drag the leash around.
whenever my pup was leashed i kept him on my left side.
i didn't give him any commands at this point. by keeping him
on my left side i thought it be easier to teach him how to
heel in the future because he's use to being on my left side.
his walks were very short in the begining. sometimes we didn't
leave the yard. in the begining the only thing structured i did
was keeping him on my left side. everything was fun and playful.
lots of treats and praise. walking forward was done at a slow pace
any only for a few feet. i slowly built up distance.

[readmeli]

I can relate to this post! My pup is 18 weeks right now. We havent done too much loose leash walking up til now - a bit here and there, mostly keeping it fun and not worrying about too much pulling as she hasnt been to big (only 23lbs right now, Non-GSD). We also live on a lake, which is frozen over, and not many people around, so mostly we just walk around the lake with a 100ft line on and she runs around.

So now that the lake is thawing, we are walking on leash more and learning. Boy what a challenge. I admit that it probably has been easier with her than with other dogs, but still. About every 5 minutes she'll stop her sniffing/walking and start coming at me - jumping, biting me, grabbing her leash. It is VERY DIFFICULT to get her to stop. Ignore, disipline, treats... ugh.

Yesterday though I took some time to watch some Kikopup and Tab videos on leash walking and took those tips to heart.

Last night we headed out for our walk with a baggie FULL of high value treats mixed in with some food. We started off, and every 30 seconds or so, if she was starting to pull, I'd call her name really happy, and bring her back to me with a treat. Then I had her sit in heel position, and gave her a treat. And we headed off again.

Also, whenever she looked over at me and made eye contact, I praised ALOT!! GOOD PUPPY!! and brought her over for a treat.

It was amazing how well this worked!!!!!!! I was SO HAPPY walking with her!! What a change from frustrating ready to cry, puppy jumping and biting at me... WOW. She did SO WELL. And part of the time, she just was trotting next to me looking for treats.

Granted, I was exhausted from "GOOD GIRL!!!"-ing, and we went through all our treats, but it was worth it. She only had 2 small bouts of jumping/biting, which she quickly stopped when she realized if she sat, she'd get a treat and continue walking with treat in hand...

Best of luck, I hope our luck holds out!

[MichaelE]

Lisl has never had an issue with a collar or lead. She was eight weeks her first time out. I put the collar on leashed her up and we walked.

If she didn't walk she was dragged. She learned in five minutes to walk on a lead. She walks very well going away from home; loose lead all the way to wherever we are going, with no pulling or lagging.

Turning around towards home I should hitch her to a wagon and let her pull me home. I haven't been able to break her of this. She is only pulling a bit now, but the lead is almost always taut.

I've never seen a dog do this.

[doggiedad]

pulling on the way home happens. stop it. she can only pull
if you allow it. with training she'll stop.

Originally Posted by MichaelE

Lisl has never had an issue with a collar or lead. She was eight weeks her first time out. I put the collar on leashed her up and we walked.

If she didn't walk she was dragged. She learned in five minutes to walk on a lead. She walks very well going away from home; loose lead all the way to wherever we are going, with no pulling or lagging.

Turning around towards home I should hitch her to a wagon and let her pull me home. I haven't been able to break her of this. She is only pulling a bit now, but the lead is almost always taut.

I've never seen a dog do this.