Leash Training

An important part of any dog/owner relationship is leash training. This is a very important skill to master. Its beneficial to both you and your dog, since dogs that are leash trained are much safer and easy to manage.

If you are here looking for information on how to leash train you dog, you have come to the right place. The methods outlined is better suited for train a puppy since leash training an older dog is a bit different.

Below are some methods to leash train your puppy, if you follow these steps you should have your puppy trained in a few weeks. Be patient don't expect your dog to know or understand how to act on a leash the first time it is put on. This, like any other training, this requires patience and consistency, and also means that anyone who is involved in taking your dog on a walk must conform to these methods.

How to train your dog or puppy to walk on a leash

1. Get your dog familiar with having a collar on, Place it on him/her while feeding or playing. Let your dog run around and play, eventually he will forget its there. He/she may try to get it off but that's normal, they will eventually give up
2. After the collar becomes no big deal, then comes the leash. Preferable a light one. Attach it to your dogs collar, let him get used to it and maybe drag at around a bit until its presence is forgotten.Be sure you supervise him/her, you don't want them getting tangled up.
3. By now your dog or puppy should be comfortable with his collar and leash on. So now its time to pick it up, keep your initial session short and sharp. Walk around your house, apartment or yard and get him/her used to it.
   
   When he/she is walking alongside you, give lots of praise, verbal or a treat to reward desired action. On the other hand, your dog starts to pull on the leash STOP immediately, your dog must understand that pulling with get him/her nowhere. Just call him/her back over to you and reward them when they do so.
   
   Also, Don't yank on their leash to get them over to you, this is unnecessary and could possibly make your dog dislike being on a leash.
   
   Most importantly, do not continue walking when your dog is pulling on the leash, this inadvertently rewards your dog and encourages this behavior

All that is required to achieve this is persistence and patience, make sure every family member or whoever is involved in walking and training your dog understands and conveys a consistent message to your dog. This method is designed to leash train a young puppy, since their minds are young and are in the learning stage. Leash training for older dogs is a bit. different.

For more information on how to behavior train your dog I recommend this training resource

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