How to Teach a Puppy to Walk on the Leash

You want to take your puppy with you to the park, street, or other places to let him explore the world. But it cannot be possible without teaching your dog to walk on the leash. That is why you should start teaching your puppy walking on the leash.
On the other hand, you cannot take an untrained grown dog with you on a leash. Also, it is so tough to train a grown dog. So make sure you teach your little cute puppy walking on the leash.

But do you know how to teach a puppy to walk on the leash?

If not, follow the process I am going to mention below.

Collect all the essentials

The first step of a successful puppy walking teaching on a leash is to collect the collar and leash. Make sure you collect the best collar and leash. You know, not all the collar and leash are good and will be comfortable for your puppy. If the collar and leash are not good, your puppy will have pain and cannot feel interested in learning to walk on a leash.

Introduce your puppy with collar and leash

The next thing you should do is to introduce him with the leash and collar. Your puppy should get used to collar and leashes. Otherwise, he will react negatively and that is not good for you. To make him used to it, you can put the collar on his neck and let him play. It will help him be adjusted with the lead. After that, give him his favorite food as a treat. By doing that, you will make him get used to the collar and lead.

Teach a cue

Teach your puppy a cue. A cue is a sound that indicates your puppy that the food is on the way. It can be a word like the name of the doggy or a sound like chu chu or yes. You can even use clickers and treats. Every time you make a sound, you will treat your puppy with his favorite food. As a result, your puppy will get associated with the sound and whenever you make that sound, your puppy will come to you.

Make the puppy come to you

The main purpose of this cue training is to make the puppy come to you. Do not pull the leash to make the puppy come to you. Instead, you should teach him to come to you whenever you call his name or make that sound. So put the collar and leash on and then call the puppy. When they come, reward them with the treat.

Practice inside

Now your puppy understands the sound and he is used to leash and collar. It is time to start teaching him to walk on a leash inside or in a familiar place. It can be your yard or your home. Walking with you with a leash and collar is enough challenging for your dog, so walk in a familiar place. Keep your puppy focused on the treat instead of collar and leash. Give him a treat every time he walks on a leash with you.

Praise good behaviors

One common mistake most of us do is not praising the good behaviors. You cannot even imagine how effective it is to do good behavior. Whenever he follows your order, call him a good boy or good dog and reward him with your love and treat. Do not do any rough behavior with him if he does not follow your commands. Instead, use the treat to distract his focus.

Use short leash

When teaching him walking on the leash, you should make sure that the leash is short enough. The reason is that the shortest distance he has to stray away from you, the better and easier it will be for him to learn walking next to you on a leash. As he starts learning to walk closest to you, you can increase the distance by giving some slack from the hand.

Keep him at your side

At the same time, you need to make sure your puppy walks next to you instead of walking in front of you or behind you. When they walk in front of or behind you, they like to smell everything near them. Besides, this will prevent leash tangling as well. Like the short leash, you can be lenient as he learns walking properly on a leash. Remember that dogs follow the pack leader and you have to be the pack leader to make him follow you.

Give your puppy enough time

Do not expect to teach everything overnight. You should give your puppy enough time to learn walking on the leash. Since your puppy is too small to learn, you should not give up on him. Instead, you should focus on training and keep training him until he learns.

Take him outside

Now when you feel he is ready, you can take him outside the home. You can take him to the nearest park or the street. Remember that it will not be easy to walk with the puppy at first since he is new in that world. He will wonder and smell everything to explore. So do not lose control and have patience. Use your cue sound when the dog gets distracted.

Overcome the challenges

You will have some challenges when you will take your puppy outside the home. One common problem is leash pulling. In some places, your puppy will pull the leash and does not want to walk next to you. In that case, you should act like a tree and do not move until he comes back. However, do not pull back the leash at all. It can make the dog disobedient and also, can cause injuries.
Sometimes, your dog will get distracted by another dog or any object and run with or after that. In that case, you should use your cue sound and use a treat to distract him again to back him.
Also, your dog may start barking as he sees something or other dogs. It is a common behavior of a dog. So do not panic and follow the previous process you have read.

Conclusion

Teaching your puppy walking on the leash is really important for every dog owner if he or she wants to take his or her dog outside. Now you know how to teach a puppy to walk on the leash. Gradually, your puppy will learn it if you follow the process I have mentioned above. But you have to make sure you have patience all the time because obviously, it is a time-consuming task. Your puppy won’t learn it overnight. So a good alternative you could consider if you don’t have the time and patience is to hire a pet nanny in NJ like the Peaks Pet Nanny.