My puppy is 8 months old and pulls terribly when walking on his lead. It is completely my fault, I know! I've let him get away with it too long and he is just too strong now. I've decided enough is enough. I'm going to start taking him for his main walk off lead and then taking him for a short 10 minutes lead walk in the evening when I concentrate solely on teaching him to walk correctly! My plan is- when he pulls, stop, turn in the other direct, reward him when he reaches my leg, keep rewarding him for being there if he gets infront I'll stop and if he pulls I'll turn round and start again. Does this sound okay? Has anyone got any tips that worked for them? I really appreciate your help! I'm determined to stick at it!
Sounds like a plan ! I found that if my lad had a good old run around off lead , he would then walk home beautifully , so he got rewarded and highly praised for it ! I also did all the stop ,turn round , even walking backwards to the amusement of my neighbours ! The main thing is to stick to the plan , repetition pays off , keep calm and carry on !
@Coa sounds good. This is was my approach too, I started with a 16 month old rescue who pulled like a train. He now walks OK-ish for me (he's 3 and a half!), but less well for my OH who definitely does NOT apply these rules. Stick at it, make it really exciting to be along side you. While you're doing the 10 minute training sessions, do not try to get anywhere. Just walk and turn as necessary. I'm sure my neighbours were very amused too. One other thing -if you don't already, I'd advise using a harness to avoid any stresses on his neck.
Yes it does and definitely use a harness as @edzbird says. I still do a lead training walk with my almost 14 month old every evening. I take the last part of her kibble food allowance (about 40g) and treat her as she walks alongside me. It has become such a routine and she walks beautifully (occasionally goes over threshold if an excitable dog goes by ). I use a lot of Look at That (LAT) when I see any possible distractions and taught Middle which is now her safe place. I no longer use the harness but a slip lead with a buckle on it to prevent it tightening on her neck - by the time I introduced this she was walking nicely to heel. Practice does make perfect .
I’d suggest not waiting for your dog to pull before you change direction, just keep moving randomly, changing speed, sudden turns and stops, with lots of praise and frequent food rewards. Try to make the direction changes a fun game rather than a consequence of pulling. (So don’t try to actually get anywhere.) Start by taking a couple of steps, calling your dog with you, reward and immediately turn in another direction. Also I found using a longer lead, say 6 feet, helps. I keep it looped up so it’s not dragging on the ground, but it gives me enough slack to pay out so if the dog moves away from me I have time to get his attention and call him back to my side before the lead goes tight. I’m aiming for the dog never to pull. I also think it might be better to intersperse the loose lead practice during your off-lead walk, so several very short sessions, with off-lead time as a reward. This was how I trained Molly as a puppy. I’ve recently been training an older dog and because his recall isn’t good, every so often I’ve tossed a treat away from me ( but still near enough for him not to need to pull) and said , ‘Go sniff’, then calling him back as I change direction.
I agree with Joy - I'm a real advocate of being proactive rather than reactive. Teach your dog that being by your side is a brilliant place to be. The stop-start method, while it can work, can be very frustrating for both your dog and for you, too. I used it for my first two and, whilst we got there in the end, I did find it hugely frustrating at times, as did they. With my latest, I realised early on that she didn't really make any association between pulling and me stopping, so I made it far more of a game with her and got far better, quicker results. Lots of off-lead proximity games make a huge difference, too, where you teach your dog that being close to you is fun - change of pace and direction games at heel, leg weaves, rewarding for "checking in", ping-pong recall, middle, magic hand (where you hold treats in your hand and let one drop through occasionally for him to catch).... there are loads of games like this which really reinforce that being with you is wonderful and make both loose-lead walking and recall far easier.
I'm working on this with my 5 month old at the moment and I absolutely agree with everyone else about a proactive approach. I do use the pulling = stop and correct position = treats / rewards but I find if I drift off and my mind wanders away from him (normally when he's being walking nicely) - he disengages and the pulling starts. A quick burst of running, walking slowly, running again - works absolute wonders for getting his focus again (and mine!) and he's brilliant again. I also do a bit of hand-touch in different directions, spinning around with him, telling him how brill he's being, silly things to just get him playing with me. Amazing how it works. I'm really having to re-train myself that his lead walk is for games and attention on him. Not for me to just march along and do my thinking while he gets a bit of exercise.
Reading with interest. I have a pup again now and do most walks off lead at the moment to get him excited about being out. I completely failed to teach our last Lab to walk nicely on the lead as when I did the about-turn walk he didn't get it and just lay down flat on the ground. Teaching it became impossible. He would always walk to heel when I had food in my hand but only then. In all other ways he was a brilliant dog (still much missed). I am looking to do better this time, but so far Caspar is not quite as bad at pulling. I definitely suffer from other half not following the same guidelines, though. I think he is the one that needs teaching!
Always treat by your knee when the dog is in the right position. Use a lot of treats at first. Here is a good page - https://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-stop-your-labrador-pulling-on-the-lead/ You need to be in it for the long haul (pun intended ) because it takes a lot of time and patience to get there. But you will
Following this thread as well; so many good tidbits. Since we live in the country we don't really 'go for walks' but I want to teach her to walk on leash and heel for when we do Rosie goes out on leash for leisure walks in the woods and potty breaks. She has gotten better about not pulling with me but with my hubby that seems to be the MO. This will be one of the obedience classes we'll take but in the meantime I will be using more stay with me games. I'm really leary about trying them when she's off leash - I'm on high alert and we have NO RECALL . Luckily we have a small fenced in area for free run and I can concentrate and never thought to implement some of those 'stay with me games' as it's typically used for quick unsupervised potty breaks and when we need to burn off energy quickly as we play a very unstructured or disciplined catch/retrieve with a ball cap. She loves ball caps and I have like a million of them and don't wear any(not sure how that happens) anyway, I never chase her for them and she is terrible about getting them to me consistently. I also don't treat when we are in this area and I think she has come to the conclusion she can do as she pleases there.
