Walking your dog should be a pleasurable experience and the best way to ensure this is to familiarize your puppy and yourself with the leash and your dog poop bags holder as early as possible. Rather than needing to retrain your dog and yourself later, it is best to learn the skills right from the start. It is well worth the time to develop the skills now.
Always remember that you are the leader and it is up to you to lead your dog. Good communication is the key. Be consistent and make sure all of your family is consistent. It is a learning curve for everyone. Everyone needs to follow the same techniques or it will lead to total confusion for your puppy. Total training time may take up to two weeks and maybe longer. All dogs are different. Adapting to your particular pet and your patience are important. donate your poop
The first step in leash training is to get your puppy used to a collar. Pups are not used to having anything around their necks, so anything you place there will seem feel alien. Place it on your pup when he is eating or playing. Expect him to try to remove it by pawing at it or rolling around. Do not remove the collar at this stage or he will think that fighting the collar worked. Continue with distracting him and he will eventually forget that the collar is on. You can take the collar off when he is settled down and relaxed. This process should be repeated throughout the day and eventually your puppy will be comfortable wearing the collar.
Once your puppy is happy wearing his collar, it is time to introduce the leash. Do not add the dog poop bags holder at this time. Attach a lightweight leash to your pup’s collar and let him roam around the house. Some puppies seem overwhelmed by an entire leash at first. If so, you can start with a string, shoelace or something similar. Let your pup wander around the house and play with it. Keep an eye on him so he doesn’t become entangled. If your pup makes a fuss over the leash, then simply distract him with play or food. Do not remove it if he is obsessed over it or he will think that he has won.
Once your pup settles down with the leash and appears comfortable, it is time for you to pick up the other end. Make these first sessions short, sharp and fun. Always make sure you are holding the leash loosely. You will probably find that your pup loves to follow you around everywhere – that is good and use this to help with the training. If your puppy is walking beside you on a loose leash, give him plenty of praise and maybe a treat. When he strains on the leash, stop immediately. Do not yank him back over to you with the leash. Call him back to you and praise him when he comes. Never keep walking if your pup is straining on the leash – this only reinforces his bad habit and rewards his behavior. If you simply stop when your pup strains, he will learn that if he pulls on the leash, he will get nowhere. He will quickly learn that if he wants to continue walking he must be at your side on a loose leash. This also applies if your puppy sits down when you are walking. Do not yank him up. Simply call him over to you and reward him with praise and a treat and set off walking again with your pup on a loose leash at your side. Follow this method and you will have a nice loose leash and no pulling from you or your dog.