Our boy is 5 month and act totally crazy when we trying to put his leash on. It is a struggle when I take him for his walks which I do 3 times a day. I thought it would get him used to the leash, once he is on leash and out the front door he is doing well. He walks well on loose leash with a for slight attempts to pull. I also have been working with him sit next to me before we cross the road. We leave in an area where we can practice with not a lot traffic. I called two stores in Home Depot and Lowes they all dogs as long as they have their Rabies tag . So far I took him twice and he did well. I make him sit and hold his collar when people ask if they can pet him. My response is only when he sits, he loves the attention. I am very proud of him any ideas or help how to make putting his leash wouldn't be such a nightmare.
Train him to get used to you grabbing his collar. Give him a treat with one hand while the other hand grabs his collar. Give the treat once you have the collar in your hand and give it a little wiggle so he can associate what you are doing to the treat.
Hi there, My dog has always been ok ,not sure if that is because I started practising a calm routine pre walks after having nutty spaniels as family dogs when we were younger....they went Straospheric when they saw their leads,I really didn't want that . Dexter sits to have his collar put on,this took patience as he would stand up but if I moved towards him and he did ,I would lower the collar and step back .....lots of treats for sitting in position. I've always done the same with the lead , train a sit ,clip the lead on and reward staying in place ,again if he got up I'd step back and wait for him to sit down again ,reward and try again.The trainer at a class I attended advised holding a treat in one hand and the lead the other and clip and treat simultaneously ....at the very least the treat distracts while you pop the lead on x
Libby used to do all the mad jumping about you describe but I've done the same as Dexter's mum - she has to sit calmly to have the lead put on. Train this with treat in hand. We're now working on the next bit as Libby then grabs the lead in her mouth and rushes to the door but I won't go anywhere unless she drops it out of her mouth. We're getting there and you will too.
Coco will still grab the lead with OH while they're fiddle-faddling about in the porch. He says "we don't play with leads" and drops it. Coco drops it then. He rarely does it with me - in the beginning I had a terrible time with him grabbing the lead. Like OH, I'd drop it and wait for him to, then he'd get a treat and we'd try again. I've conveniently forgotten how awful this period was.
I've done the same as Angela from the start. Sometimes they're still ruled up enough to play the fool (like this evening because their "dad" had just come home after a week away), but I always just wait until they're sat before collars and leads go on. Every time without fail. It takes x but if standing around to start off with (I only cue them to sit if they're particularly crazy like tonight), but it makes for a far more pleasant experience in the end.
I have been working with him on that and we doing better, it is a work in progress but we will get there lol. He has to sit when we come in the house, and i take his lead off and give him a treat, praise him and put the lead away until our next walk.
Oban was like this too and at the same age. We had just started walks around the village and I guess he thought all those kids were waiting at the end of their driveways just to pet him. Really they were waiting for the school bus. So, one morning I was completely fed up, could not get the collar on him at all. Instead I put the collar on my rubber boot, which was sitting right there, clipped the leash to it, carried it out the front door and took it for a walk. Just around the house and back. Oban looked shocked, dismayed, bewildered when I did this and he stayed sitting on the mat by the back door and when I got back he was still on the mat by the back door. I put the boot down, unclipped the leash, took the collar off, hung both up and went upstairs for 10 minutes. I think those 10 minutes were as long for me as they were for poor little puppy Oban. Then I tried again, he sat quietly and politely and he never ever fussed and acted up again.
His walk he did walk well loose leash with me. I decided to walk a different route with lots to explore and he enjoyed it. When we were on our way back my husband met us with our new baby Bella. He told me she was looking for him and crying so he put her leash on and walked her. I am so glad they get along so well even gets a little over excited at times, but a short time out in his crate seems to settle him down. We still have to work on getting his leash on. He will sit but then get excited and acts like a hooligan lol.
My dogs have their leads on in the house for lots of reasons - mainly because I'm training something they would normally do on lead, or various leave it exercises that start on lead, or just for heel work (I walk round the footstools and coffee tables with Charlie on his hunting lead - if he can't do it in the front room, he sure won't do it on the Common). I take Betsy out on lead to bring in the wheelie bin or go to the post box. Neither of them get excited when they see a lead, they do nothing. I don't think they associate any one thing in particular with a lead.
Whenever we are getting ready to go out Bailey jumps up onto the settee and lays down with the biggest hangdog expression on his face you will ever see...he seems to be saying "are you leaving me behind?"...he will not move until his lead is clipped on - then he jumps down and goes and stands by the door. This is not something we have trained, he just started doing it - around the time he stopped grabbing the leg of my jeans as I was trying to pull them on! He also puts his front legs into the car, but won't jump in until his lead is unclipped, then he jumps in and we clip his seat belt clip onto his harness. When we undo his seatbelt to get out, again he won't move until his lead is clipped back on. Again this is something Bailey started doing rather than us specifically training, but once he started doing this we did reinforce it by treats and praise.
