CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Puppies => Topic started by: Suzieb on April 15, 2014, 06:17:26 PM
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Hi, can anyone give me some advice about lead training? Jeffrey is fantastic off lead but I'm struggling to get him to walk nicely on the lead.
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Hi,
Lots of practice in garden. Use a treat that he doesn't normally have, hold it so he can see it and get him to walk alongside you and praise him the whole time. I normally say "heal" as I do this. Treat him when he's walking nicely. Try with and without lead on. If Jake pulls in lead when I'm out, I just stop, say no. He's soon learnt that pulling gets him nowhere and if he stops, let's lead go slack, we'll walk again. Takes time and persistence but you'll get there. There's some good videos on YouTube along the same lines.
Good luck ;)
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Do you go to puppy classes? Weve done alot around lead training, very similar to already mentioned, walk on a short lead not one of those horrible extenders. He should walk at your heal, when he tries to pull or walk too far ahead just check him back (obviously not hard!) and treat him when he walks properly. I dont treat with a treat though as it would distract my very greedy dog, so i just give him a fuss and lots of positive good boys etc, hes doing brill though :) Its really worked for us. I think its important to keep on the lead fun though, so the dog doesnt want to be off lead constantly, so lots of positive praise, we do little sprints as well to keep him on the go and interested. :)
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I'm a complete novice, but at our first puppy class it was suggested to walk Archie (now 12 weeks old) on a short lead and every time he pulls ahead, to turn around and walk the other way so he's behind me again, and as soon as he pulls ahead of me again to turn around and walk back the other way again .......... and so on, so that he's always behind without any particular tugging involved. We've had several days of looking complete idiots in the street. Obviously it takes ages to get anywhere, but every day it's been getting slightly better. And yesterday we walked a good five minutes maybe without him pulling ahead once, trotting nicely at my heel (possibly because Archie figured out we were on our way home and he really really wanted to get there, so he may have actually stopped pulling ahead so that I didn't turn round?) Reasonable progress - so I'm pleased. When Archie pulls sideways or back I give a hint of a treat at my side which usually draws him back into heel, although that can also make him sit down and wait for the treat so we do a sort of forward-turn, forward-turn, forward-sit-forward, forward-forward-turn, forward-sit-forward. Yes, it really is as boring as it sounds....... Early days :D
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Our class taught a different way to anything I have done in the past and it really worked. They told us to first teach the dog what the word "heal" means. It seems obvious but I'd never thought of it before. We started with pup sitting facing us on a loose lead. You then gently pull the lead towards you and back behind you to the left hand side. This loops the dog round behind you so he is beside you facing forward. (Hope that makes sense). Once he is beside you reward him. When he is doing it easily and waiting beside you for the treat add the word " heal" or whatever you prefer. Eventually they will move to your side on the command. When they do, start adding a few paces of walking forwards and gradually increase how far you walk, praising and treating if they are doing it right.
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It can take a while so don't worry that you haven't cracked it yet especially as he will get bigger and stronger as he grows plus there are no hard and fast rules as to how long it takes but you need to be patient with what ever method you use - you may also find its an uphill battle when you set out on a walk as they get too excited to listen.
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Archiebean
Thank you so much. That makes such sense to me. I will be trying this with Sirius. Hadn't thought of it like that before. How clever. :lol2: