A well-behaved puppy becomes a well-behaved dog. One of the most basic, but most important, puppy training techniques is leash training. When your puppy grows up and can walk on a leash without pulling your arm out of socket, you’ll be glad you trained your puppy at a young age.
Here are some helpful tips to teach your puppy how to walk on a leash without pulling or tugging:
- Find a comfortable collar or training harness. Do not choose a collar or harness that is too tight or too loose.
- Let your puppy wear the collar or harness around the house until he gets used to it. This may take a few minutes, a few hours, or a few days. But eventually, he will get used to it.
- Hook the leash up to your puppy and let him get used to it also. If he doesn’t seem to be bothered with the leash, he’s ready to go outside to be trained. If he’s afraid of it, try to comfort him, but keep the leash hooked up until he knows the leash is not a bad thing.
- When leash training your puppy, your goal is to keep slack in the leash. If your puppy keeps the leash tight by pulling and tugging, then he’s not properly trained yet.
- The easiest technique is to just start walking. If you puppy starts to tug or pull on the leash, give it a quick little tug, then turn and walk in a different direction.
- When you start to head in the opposite direction, don’t drag him along. Wait for him to catch up. As long as the leash is not tight (the leash is slack) then you can keep walking.
- As soon as the puppy starts to tug or pull at the leash again, give the leash a quick little jerk and turn around again.
- Repeat this process until your puppy understands that he is not taking you for a walk, but you are taking him for a walk.
Puppies and dogs love going for walks, and should be exercised frequently. Walking a dog who is constantly pulling you along is no fun. If you follow these simple tips when your puppy is still young, you and your dog will have countless enjoyable walks for years to come.