How do i introduce my new puppy to leash training without a struggle?

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DianeEvans

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I just brought my new pit bull pup home and she is very resistant to the leash , what is the most humane way to train her to walk on a leash without dragging her?
 
have dog drag short rope or leash so that she can step on it
put puppy on leash hold end of leash and follow puppy
repeat above encouraging puppy with goofy voice to walk the way you want and praise and reward
once dog let you be in yard on leash without pulling -
when you follow as soon as dog is pulling turn away and encourage puppy to catch up to you
as soon as the leash is loose - praise and treat
 
At this stage you should only be practicing leashes, not clipping them on a collar just yet. Remember it is only 5 minutes for each month of age with the leash with puppies. So a three-month-old puppy gets a 15 minute walk. Too much walking is bad for legs and joints. When my puppies are first little, I practice with the leash. In the house, I drape the leash on them and try to call them to me. Outside, I practice in my fenced back yard for about a month before the puppy graduates to the street. I might drape the leash on the puppy and get him to follow me, or drag the leash on the ground and see if he will follow me and try to catch the leash. There are many things in my back yard that scare a puppy, so it is so much easier to address, or correct issues when I am in my back yard and not in the street. We just walk laps in the yard and deal with drama as it comes up. Maybe around 3-months-old I might try to clip the leash to the collar, but if there is too much protesting, I drop the leash. They just get better with the leash around 4 to 5-months-old. So anyway, I use the commands "go" when I want to "go" and if the puppy tugs on the leash, I stop and say "wait". It is my walk and we go as fast as I can walk and no faster. If I want to "wait" and look at a flower, change the batteries in my walkman, count to ten, then I do it, it is my walk. When I am ready I say "go" and we "go" again. When the puppy pulls on the leash, I stop and say "wait" and we stop again, even if we just went two steps. I praise the puppy when he is doing good and talk soothing to him and encourage him when he is doing good, so he keeps doing it. It takes several laps of "go" and "wait" until he settles down, and when the walk is over, I make a big fuss and clap and then they get some play time. They don't like the walk at first, but they like the fuss at the end. I have to address "go" and "wait" again the next day, but it won't take me as long to get him to understand what I want from him. I also house sat a dog, and the owner thought he had leash issues, and that dog just didn't like being in front. He walked just fine with my dogs as long as he could be part of the group, but he didn't want to be in the front. If you have a family member, or a neighbor that has a dog that walks well, see if you can practice with them. I also had one dog that didn't like the maroon leash, or the pink one, but did just fine with the blue leash. Sometimes puppies are just puppies.
 
I always put a leash on them and let them walk around the house with it (without me holding it). Then we go to puppy kindergarten.
 
Let her drag the leash around in the house a bit. IF it's a young puppy and hasn't been introduced to leash training yet, don't worry about trying to teach her by marching her through the neighborhood. Just run drills in the front yard with treats ready. Forward 10 feet, random turn, forward another 10 feet. Stop, treat by left heel. Do 180, reverse direction. Walk another 10 feet. Stop. Treat by heel. Repeat as necessary. Save yourself some frustration, concentrate more on making it the most rewarding thing in the world for that dog to be by your side than on trying to yank her into submission with the leash. A game of follow the leader is more fun than leash tug-of-war between a frustrated dog and frustrated owner. If this puppy is young and hasn't been prejudiced against a proper leash walk yet it could be easy. Just concenctrate on teaching her the concept being at your heel right now, THEN get into longer walks later.
 
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