pulling on lead

Question

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Followup To

Question -
hi! i have a 15 week old puppy and he keeps pulling on the lead! how do u train them to stop pulling on the lead?
thanks x
tasha

Answer -
Hi Tasha,
Your puppy is almost 4 months old and still a baby, but he can  be taught at this age not to pull on the lead. I would like to know what breed or mixture of breeds he is so I can get an idea as to size, weight, etc. Also; what type of collar is he wearing? Is it leather, cloth material, link chain, slip collar, or buckle? And, how have you tried to this point to stop him from pulling? If you can answer these questions for me, I will be happy to help you further. I'm confident it will be easy to teach but we want to be certain we do it in the right way and, most importantly, it is easy and pleasing for the puppy. What is his name? I'll look for your mail.

Harry


Hi! his name is Snoopy and he is a springer spaniel so he is very active and i no its going to be hard. he is wearing a puppy collar as i brought him one but its to big for him and i think its a denmi and ita has a buckle!
thanks
tasha

Answer
Hi Tasha,

You said Snoopy"s collar is too big for him. First thing we want to do is make sure that he will not be able to slip out of it and run away from you. A good way to measure for size is to be able to slide 2 of your fingers (no more) underneath the collar when it's on him. They should fit easily, and the collar should not be able to slip over his head.

Snoopy, at this age, is too young for serious professional training however, you can still teach him to walk without pulling. When he is pulling ahead he is definitly not paying attention to you. He is doing what he wants to do; go,go,go, not knowing any better and not enjoying his walk.

You need to get his attention and keep it. You need to calm him down, and bring him under control. This will help him to pay attention to you and cause him to think.

What I would like you to try is to first make the leash a little shorter. About 1/3 less then letting him have the full length of the lead. Now when you take him out and are ready to begin your walk, as soon as he starts to pull ahead of you, I want you to first call-out his name and instantly turn and walk in another direction. Probably, when he catches up to you he will continue to go right past you. As soon as he starts to go ahead of you--again, quickly call out his name and instantly turn and walk in another direction. Keep doing this each time he pulls ahead of you and call his name and instantly turn and walk in another direction. Try and make the way you turn different each time. This action that you continually do for a short period will cause him to settle down, pay attention and start looking at you.In other words, you are confusing him and making him pay attention to you.(Remember, you have shortened the length of his leash by 1/3).You will begin to notice that you are gaining some control. Now, this is very important. When he begins to walk with you and not pull, do NOT walk for a long distance because I guarantee he will start pulling again. Instead, when he walks only about 5 feet by your side to start, stop, and let him know you are pleased with him by patting him on the head or whatever you do to let him know you are happy with him. Once he gets the idea what you want, you can start to give him more distance on the leash. When this happens, we'll take it to the next step.

Try what I said. It may sound silly but I promise you it will work. Don't give up and don't get mad. Just keep making those very fast turns immediately after you call his name.

Let me know how your making out after you walk him about 5 or 6 times.

Good luck.........Harry