Maisy has arrived!

[tagh]

X black lab, a bit wild, terrible on the lead but very loving and affectionate

[tagh]

IMG_1089.jpeg

[L Austin France]

Presumably a 'rescue'. How old?
Well done & good luck.

[Lori]

Our collie was terrible on a lead. It was my own fault as I rarely took him out on a leash. So, best start training and don't give up. Have treats ready to reward proper behavior.

[Blaze]

Rafal was dreadful on a lead but with persistance he is much better now. We now usually walk him off the lead, only putting it on if need be.

Have fun and good luck !

[tagh]

Any tips on lead training, please, as we start today?

[Lori]

There are a lot of You Tube videos out there about leash training. I like some of what is said in this link. You, apparently, are supposed to start in the house, which makes sense I guess.

https://wagwalking.com/training/walk-on-leash-1

[Blaze]

As Lori says, there are loads of videos out there and different methods of training.

For the first time ever, we went to an educator - beware, there are lots of bad and phoney ones out there. He came highly recommended from our vets, local kennels and people who'd used him. It was worth every penny and taught us a lot (we thought we knew it all ...... ). Training puppies is nothing like educating an older dog !

One really useful exercise was to take Rafal out on the lead and every time he started to pull change direction, giving the lead a bit of a jerk. Dogs tend to pull to get ahead and the change of direction stopped him in his tracks. Not a five minute job, but it certainly worked.
We've never used treats before but we used them occasionally with Rafal. However, his favourite reward (apart from praise - he understands "good boy") is being given his tuggy toy for a couple of minutes.

[Lori]

One really useful exercise was to take Rafal out on the lead and every time he started to pull change direction

Yes, that is suggested in the link I posted. I had never thought of that before.

[Blaze]

I had never thought of that before.

Neither had I ! The important thing is to do it quickly, as soon as the dog starts pulling. We found it really good.

Another thing we still do now is when Rafal is off the lead, is to make sure he doesn't get too far ahead - 10 - 15m max and never out of sight. We trained him by hiding so that he'd look back and wonder where we'd gone and come rushing back. We did it just for fun at first but then found it's a way of training them ! It teaches the dog to be aware of you and always has us in fits of laughter ! Of course he gets huge cuddles when he comes back !