Hi, This is probably in the wrong place - but just wondering about how these two go together. My pup is 10 weeks old and almost ready to go out into the wide world He seems happy enough in his harness - just been getting him used to it and playing / eating in it etc. He hasn't been introduced to the lead yet. So I'm planning on starting the Loose Lead training plan from the main site - just on our concrete drive for now. But - once he can go out, any tips on how to carry on the socialisation now I haven't got to carry him without risking him pulling on the harness. I don't plan on doing any proper lead walks. But I'll have to walk him around / near whatever I'm socialising! E.g. from the car to the pub, car to the childrens nursery etc etc Am I over thinking this?!!! I can just see bad habits could easily creep in cause I'll be trying to get him to experience as much as possible in the next few weeks and he's bound to jump at people while on the lead / pull at times. Or do I just chill out about it and worry about correcting those once the socialiation window shuts? Any thoughts / tips would be wonderful. Thanks a lot.
Loose lead walking needs to become a habit from day one of being on the lead. Socialisation isn’t about saying hello to people or dogs or horses or anything else. It’s about experiencing and being comfortable around them. I don’t let the pups say hello to anyone or any dog when they are on lead, or when I’m carrying them. But they experience every type of person/traffic/animal/etc that I can think of. If we meet people or dogs I get them to sit and focus on me while they pass. When they are a bit older (about 16 weeks) we practice walking past with focus on me (tasty treats needed) Keir is 20 weeks now and good generally, except with litter on the ground - he wants to pick everything up - so really tasty treats are needed to keep his nose up.
This explains it better than I can - https://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-stop-your-labrador-pulling-on-the-lead/ My best tip is to be sure you are not going anywhere, just train good walking when on lead - don’t have a destination or you will be tempted to allow pulling.
Oh no - I've been letting him say hello to people when carrying him around. Good point though - I'll try and get 'look only' experiences going now. Although how on earth do you manage that?! People just come and say hello I do remember finding that really annoying when my last dog was a pup - especially when he was bouncing all over the place and I was trying to work on stopping it. I did consider buying a 'pup in training' vest or something this time round - maybe I'll look into that again It makes sense that training mustn't be done on things like the school run when you do need to get there - so I will really try that. But say you need to get somewhere - how do you physically get him there?! E.g. say we're going to the pub and getting from the carpark into the pub. Would you just treat, treat, treat until we're in the door???
It’s not so crucial when being carried. It’s about expectations - if the pup expects to say hello to every person/dog that will last into adulthood. I always say ‘don’t do with an eight week puppy what you don’t want to do with a 30Kg dog!’
Introduce the lead now - don't delay any longer. Start training loose lead walking indoors, in the lounge, the kitchen ,the hall mastering at least 5 or 6 steps between rewards ( starting with 1 step in position = a reward). How many steps you build to depends upon space available . Then you can transfer to outside in the garden, on the drive starting with 1 step = 1 reward at each change of environment - dogs learn in context so we have to start at the beginning each time but with practice they quickly start transferring their knowledge to other situations. Socialising your puppy with lots of people is one of the most important tasks we have, but it doesn't mean puppy gets to run, or jump on every person they see. It means they get to calmly meet lots of people of different ages, sizes, wearing different types of clothes etc. but are stroked and petted by the human.
Yes - this is the hardest bit with Keir, when we get out of the car and he knows where we are. He’s just desperate to go in the door. It took me ten minutes to get 30 yards into Church on Sunday lol. But it’s worth it, when your eight month old pup walks beautifully everywhere
I concentrate on the pup and his behaviour, I don’t worry about what the person is saying, I don’t have time when the pup is in the early stages and needs all my concentration - we just get on with it - rude? not really, I wouldn’t dream of saying hello to a dog without asking. If a dog is pulling towards a person you can see why the person is saying hello, if you see what I mean. But if the pup is obviously being trained folk are usually really good.
Boogie - I do get what you mean with the focus. Very different a stranger saying hello when it looks like you are just having a stroll up the road as opposed to some active focused training with pup. So training face on and no eye contact with people making a bee-line for me I think it's the day to day life I'm worrying about. So I need to lower my expectations about involving him in it all just yet. We've been doing ok with the socialising so far cause I have the baby in the sling, the pup in a shoulder bag and the 4 year old holding my hand! We've done things like the train station, looking at traffic, going into pre-school and meeting all different people etc etc . But yep, you've made me realise that's not going to be any good for him for the next stage. He needs my full-on focus so we'll have to save all that for weekends when I can escape with just pup JoJo83 - many thanks for the details there - really useful. We won't delay any longer and will get cracking on a few steps in the sitting room today!!
Well I popped his lead on and he trotted along beside my leg around the house. I think he was very aware I had a pocket full of treats but a good start Thanks both for your help!
That's a good start to your loose lead walking adventure just try not to have treats in your hand but keep reaching into that pocket
