|
I started my pups out the day I'd bring them home at 8 or 9 weeks of age, with no leash and just in the house, maybe a little out in my yard. I'd make squeeky, happy noises and pat my thigh and just encourage them to come along with me. If I was going down the hall to do some laundry, I'd say, "Lyric, let's go!" And he'd come along. I'd praise him and so forth. Then at odd times during the day I'd put a collar and leash on and let the dog drag it around, but ONLY if I could watch him constantly. That can be dangerous if unsupervised, as they can get tangled around furniture and strangle. I'd make it like it was a game and tell him how great he was. I'd just do that for 10 minutes or so at a time.....a couple times a day. Then after a few days, I'd pick up the other end and entice him to come along with me, giving treats and praise. At no time, if he would resist, did I pull or force, just coax and praise. And running a little bit away from the pup, making happy sounds will often get him excited and he'll come along. We'd do this inside where there weren't so many distractions, then advance out into the lawn. After a week or two, he was walking along quite nicely with the leash and didn't mind it at all. Then we worked on refining things. We didn't go out in the big world among too many distractions until he was quite capable on the leash, except when I needed to socialize him. Then there wasn't all that much walking, more stopping at this store or that and just going in to see people etc. But it didn't take long before we could go anywhere walking.
|