Hello all, Our 4.5 month old puppy has become particularly bad at lead behaviour recently, he pulls like crazy and the teaching methods don't seem to be doing much to improve things. We stand still every time he pulls and click and treat chicken on those rare times he walks nicely. The excitement just takes over and he ignores the promise of treats. The biggest issue is his lunging into roads and at cars, we have always encouraged him to sit before crossing a road, but he randomly jumps up and lunges. If we have to wait a while to cross the busy road near the house he starts barking and yowling at the cars (which is strange for him as he is generally not a noisy dog). We are putting it down to sheer excitement to get on with the walk, he even pulls on the way back. Because our usual walk route involves crossing the main road it is causing quite an issue as he is only getting bigger and stronger, so walking him by such a busy road is a stressful and scary task. What is the best way to go forward from here? Back to absolute basic training? How do we get past this busy road issue? Is it just a phase? Advice and reassurance needed.
Back to basics, I don't think it's just a phase. You don't want him lunging into a busy road. Can you drive him to a more quiet road? Somewhere he can sit quite far back and observe traffic? I know how you feel. Coco is fine with roads and traffic, but if he sees a dog (or cat) on the other side, he will lunge into the road. I try and avoid busy times, for safety. He once lunged at a dog over the road and we both got hit by a passing van ! I was shaken, we were both bruised, but we were very, very lucky. And it nearly happened again this morning - many months later Can you start with roads with little traffic, or arrange your own traffic and an unused road?
Xena did this the first time she was 4 paws on the pavement (10.5 weeks). I just did lots of standing on the footpath in front of our house, rewarding calm every time a car drove past. We're in the suburbs, a couple of streets off the main road, so it's not a busy road, but not quiet either. The lunging stopped very quickly, but I did get on to it immediately, so it might take you a little longer.
Lots and lots of practice and no moving forward at all if he's pulling. Try to keep away from busy roads and slowly build up his tolerance to traffic - firstly by just sitting and watching it from a distance, then doing the same closer. ...
Hi Georgie, You have had some great advice here. In addition you might find the following articles helpful: Clicker Heel For Puppies How To Stop Your Lab Pulling On The Lead Walking Your Lab On A Loose Leash
