I have 5 month old lab. My problem is not that he pulls ahead on the lead but that he drags behind. He's not really distracted just seems to walk with the lead pulled but behind if I stop, he catches up but as soon as we move, he does the same again. Any ideas?
Sometimes your pace just doesn't match theirs. You could try walking faster, which I find somehow makes a walk more exciting. Treating for him being in heel position or even ahead is usually pretty encouraging. Changing direction randomly can help too, reverse turn, opposite reverse turn, sideways etc but I found with this too, my speeding up really helped. Mind you, I don't expect proper heel position for an exercise walk, only for training for obedience and at five months that wouldn't be training for very long.
Hello and welcome to the forum. My puppy is just over 4 months and she's not the speediest walker in the world. It's a bit of a revelation compared to my last puppies! I adjust my pace, as @Snowshoe suggests and make it a bit more fun, and C&T for a good position. She's getting the hang of it well
Another thing is working on a heel position off lead. I do this by clicking for a good position and then tossing the treat away so she has to trot off to get it. Over time, I'll extend the number of paces I expect her to walk alongside before I C&T. Doing this means she gets to adjust her pace to what's comfortable, reinforces the right position, keeps focus on me and makes learning to walk to heel fun.
Thank you for your advice. I spent a couple of days going right back to basics, walking round the house and garden treating every couple of steps in the right place then increasing. Today he kept up much better and interestingly hardly tried to bite his lead which he had started to do. I think maybe I had decreased the rewards too quickly, still all good learning!
