Stop your puppy pulling on his lead.

Objective

To teach the adult dog to not pull on a lead.

Equipment

Dog treats, or good dried food, lots of patience, remember as in all dog training to make progress slowly. Suitable lead.

Step One

Have lots of treats readily available and your dog on its lead. Summary:

Have lots of treats available for the activity. Sit or stand near your puppy. The keyword for this activity is just the puppy's name. Use a treat and re-enforce with the attention to his name every time. Never use the puppies name in a negative way and punish the dog for some other misdemeanor. There is no advantage to using aversion therapy when training puppies to understand their name. The key to immediate success is happy rewarding use of the puppies name at all times.

Step Two

Keep the lead loose at all times. If you see your puppy starting to forge ahead, abruptly reverse directions so that puppy finds himself suddenly behind or beside you instead of forging in front of you. Don't wait until the puppy is clear at the other end of the lead, pulling ahead before you take action. The lead should always remain loose except for that one split second it takes when you're reversing direction. Do not drag your puppy back to your side. Use a quick tug, then immediately release so the lead is slack again. If it doesn't all happen in a split second, it's taking too long and your puppy will not learn to walk nicely on lead.

Instead of correcting your dog after he is already pulling, do not give him the opportunity to pull. If he never pulls, he will never learn to pull. You must correct him BEFORE he pulls!

Practice now before your pup learns to pull. Since your pup is unable to walk the streets yet, begin teaching him to walk around your house and yard. He should be taught not to pull before hitting the streets.

Step Three

If you cannot correct the puppy in time, do not reward his pulling by letting him continue on his way. Better to slowly just turn around and go the other way, or stop in your tracks and say, "We are not going one inch further until you stop pulling." Then wait, it may take 30 seconds; it may take 20 minutes. Do not move until your puppy is in control. Now you can start over and give the correction before he starts pulling again. If again you are too late in your correction, start again.

Summary

Use an appropriate lead that is easy for you to handle. The lead should be appropriate for your breed of dog, never use a choke chain.

Try to train your puppy good manners on his lead before he gets into the habit of pulling.

Do not yank and pull on your puppy's throat and neck. Use a soft, adjustable, non- restrictive harness. As soon as your pup learns leash manners, you can switch to a regular collar for walking. Do not leave the harness on your dog unattended. Use it only while you are practicing.

Joyce Barker - www.dogtraininginfo.co.uk

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