Leash training

Our little catahoula pup is now 4 months old. She's had her boosters, so now I feel safer taking her out on her leash.

This may seem like an odd question.. But how do you properly leash train? I'll admit I've never had a dog that did not try to drag me down the street while out on walks, and I want to bring her up properly.. I just have no idea how to do it.

I took her with me to Petsmart today, and on our way to the car she was pulling (pretty hard) to go back to the house. A car or two drove down the street while we were going the 15 feet or so from the front door to the car and it upset her. When I see something distract/upset her I try to distract her by giving her a command, then praising her when she does it (or if I help her do it).

While at Petsmart she'd try to hide whenever a shopping cart was pushed by, and she would pull to try to get away from areas that had people in them, but if someone gets down and says hello she'll go right up and sniff them.

Money has been kind of tight (had a few unexpected expenses since we got the pup) so I have not been able to get her in to puppy training classes. I think they'll help with some of the issues so I plan to get her in as soon as we can afford to, but I want to work with her in the meantime.

As it stands now I'm getting the same general behavior out of the puppy on the leash as I am from the older dog, just not as extreme yet. Misty (pup) will walk at my side or slightly behind me with slack on the leash (never any slack with the older dog), but she weaves back and forth in front of me or around behind me.. I'm very clumsy, so if I don't walk very slowly I'm going to end up flat on my face. Misty doesn't pull too much just yet (except when spooked), but I'd like her to walk calmly at my side

I went through the exact same problems with my pup, Max. He was very shy around new people and new things, but the more you expose your puppy to these things, the more she'll get used to them, and come out of her shell.

As far as leash training, what I do to keep my pup from running in between my legs and all over the place is to old the leash tightly in one hand, on whatever side you want the pup to walk. This way you're only giving them enough slack to be on that side, and not enough to be running all around. It's taken a few weeks for Max to understand he's not to wander between and in front of my legs, but he's getting much better about it.

As far as socialization, just expose your pup to everything you can, when you can. I take Max out to the local pet stores at least once a week, take him around to meet people on walks, and run the whole gambit of meeting people and seeing new things almost every day. It's been a slow process for me - kind of like two steps forward, one step back - but it's been working well so far.

I hope this helps, and good luck with your new puppy.

-Tim

Hi, I had the same problem with Molly, a 4 month old standard poodle. I got this advice from Mafiaprincess. I tried the tree method and it really worked! It took about two weeks to train her to walk nicely on the leash. I have to admit at first it was strange not to get far from the house. But now we are walking two miles in about an hour. Try this method, it may work for you too!

"I'm a big fan of a flat buckle collar and training honestly. I like the be a tree method. Dog pulls you stop, dog goes hey we aren't going anywhere looks at you often takes a step or more back into you you continue. For the first while you may not go further than half a block, but it works.

You have taught your dog to pull, so now you have to unteach it. The dog has found that pressure on the collar means that you get to go where she wants. It's been rewarding.. Now you need to teach that only no pressure is going to get you to go anywhere and it will take time. There is also the turn the other way method.. Dog pulls you turn 180 degrees and essentially 'leave the dog behind'.. dog catches up starts to pull you now go the other way leaving her behind again.

Training tools are just that, tools. Whether it be gentle leader, a no pull harness or a prong, technically you are supposed to be weaning off of it to walk normally without at some point. Many people don't though and use it as a bandaid. If you can teach without, why not try that first." This was quoted from Mafiaprincess.