Grooming, potty training, leash training a puppy or even scheduling exercise time, all of these things and more should be managed by the pet owner. It has to be settled, whether you are going to do all of that by yourself or will get the help of a professional.
As pet owners who chose to home train our pets, we have a lot of things to do and consider to let our pets reach the peak of being well-mannered, know what we are expecting from them and eliminate any bad behaviors that were gained or any trait that needs to be under control.
Some of the methods we use go perfectly fine and we get the desired results, and other times things take the wrong way. It is frustrating because we really put a lot of effort into training our canines.
If things don’t go as planned, you should know either you are missing something or you are doing it wrong. Here are the reasons why your techniques on how to leash training a puppy is not working.
Leash Training a Puppy; Common Mistakes
Leash training is one of the vital skills you will need your dog to have, it will help him not only with giving the needed exercising but also will help in overall behaving and the degree of the puppy’s responses.
Sometimes while training your puppy to walk leashed you made some mistakes, so here is a list of common mistakes you should rule out of your training;
Not Understanding The Dog’s Natural Traits
When you start to leash training a puppy, you need to know that you are teaching your dog a totally different act to his natural behaviors. Dogs tend to walk in a Zig-Zag random order following scents found in their environment, they also keep running chasing each other and rarely walk side by side.
So, it is very important for you to know that even if leash training a puppy took a little more time than you think, it is because you are teaching your puppy to kind of walking against his nature.
Putting Too High Expectations
Your puppy won’t learn to walk leashed in a day or two, put reasonable expectations for your puppy so you won’t get frustrated by his acts. If you are going to put an estimated time you want your puppy to learn how to walk leashed, it is not a very good idea, be patient.
Starting Leash Training outside
When teaching our puppies a new skill, we need to make sure that there is nothing to distract them from the training session. Starting to leash train your puppy outside without trying first teaching your puppy what he should do at home will probably end in vain.
There are a lot of distractions found out there and your dog won’t focus on knowing what to do, hence, he will follow his nature and try to walk in a zig-zag pattern, plus you need to let your puppy understand first what you want him exactly so he won’t be vulnerable.
What are you expecting from your dog while walking on a leash? of course to look at you when you talk to him and to walk beside you, right? You will need to teach your dog to give you his attention when you call his name and make sure he fully got this skill, then start to train him on being leashed in the house and then take him in small walks in the back yard before taking him outside.
Pulling, lunging and Barking
Whenever you are walking with your dog outside, you need to know what you will do when he is not behaving as he is supposed to do. Walking down the street and suddenly found your puppy pulling the leash, you should know that pulling back won’t fix the problem.
Also using a pinch or choking collars won’t fix that. Yes, utilizing these collars may reduce the pulling but it would cause more serious problems as making your puppy aggressive.
If your dog starts to pull the leash, stop moving entirely and refuse to walk until your puppy comes back to you again and don’t jerk the leash. Use a front hooked harness or head halters if your puppy tends to pull this would help you be in control.
Outdoors Harness would help you a lot with your dog if you are for very long walks or camping. It comes with a backpack that will help you demolish the worry of carrying food and water for your dog.
Lunging is not acceptable too while walking, if your puppy tends to do so, you will need to redirect your puppy’s attention if he is doing it because he is going after anything he saw. Treat him to redirect his attention away from the source of bothering. Mostly you will have this problem a lot if your puppy is from a herding breed.
Barking at other dogs while walking or things would typically happen if your dog is lacking exercise. Make sure your puppy is getting enough mental and physical exercises that are suitable for his/her breed.
Dropping Treats Too Soon
Your leash training a puppy technique should be just like any other training, have a rewarding system. Rewarding your puppy is not something you would drop any time soon especially if he is learning new skills.
Dropping the usage of treats while being out would be another mistake that would affect the progress of your puppy’s training. Positive reinforcement is needed almost the entire time. Never go out without having some treats for your pooch to keep the learning phase ongoing.
Leash Training a Puppy; Choosing The Wrong Time For Training Our Puppies
To choose the wrong time for training doesn’t always revolve around your puppy. Sometimes you would be frustrated or out of the mood and at these times, it is not recommended to train your puppy when you are not feeling well as it will negatively affect him.
Being out of the mood will make you punish or shout for your puppy if he/she didn’t do what you asked them for right from the first time, this will make your relationship with stressed and of course you don’t want that.
Avoiding to fall for these pitfalls will help you to leash training a puppy perfectly and won’t have any problems while doing it. If you are a new timer in having a pet you may want to also check 5 Basic Puppy Training Commands You Should Know.
