leash training

Question
Hello,
My jack russell,Rocky is 1o months old. I've had him 13 weeks and managed to house train him but I'm having a tough time getting him to sop trying to drag me around. I precede him out the door and short leash him to try to lead him but this isn't working. It's not a big deal 'cause I'm clearly stronger than him but I think we would both enjoy our walks (6-8 total, 3-4 miles a day)if he wasn't choking himself on the lead. Thank you for any help you can offer.

Answer
First, what kind of collar are you using, Rafael? Secondly, you need to teach him that as long as there is tension on the lead, there is going to be no forward movement. To do this, you are going to have to forget about taking him for walks, because you won't get very far at first.

The first thing I would suggest is to get an appropriate collar for your dog. Because of his small size, I do not recommend a slip collar, or choker. Instead, you should get a martingale style collar, such as a nylon collar with a chain (like this one: http://www.dogsupplies.com/store/mcart.php?ID=801 ) or a small sized prong. These collars put much less pressure on the windpipe of the dog, and give you more control.

Now that you have a good collar, you can begin your training. Basically, you stop whenever he starts pulling, and you stand absolutely still until he comes back to you. Then you praise him lavishly, and begin walking forward again. He will immediately go back to the end of the lead and start trying to pull again. Stop. Wait for him to return to you, praise him, and start forward again. This is very time consuming at first, until it 'clicks' in the dog's head, but it's so easy a child could do it.

Another method is to turn and start walking in the opposite (or parallel) direction to the one you were initially walking, as soon as he reaches the end of the leash. If you decide to do this, I would recommend using a flat martingale collar vs the prong.