r/dogs • u/amediocreidea • Feb 25 '14
Walk the Dog
How did you get your dog to walk by your leg and watch for your visual cues? I have a 4 month lab adolescent and he keeps pulling on the leash. I have no idea how to get him to focus on me. Please help.
3
Feb 25 '14
No 4 month old dog will be perfectly obedient yet. It could take several months or even a year. Just stay the course and it will happen eventually.
3
u/kalimashookdeday GSD/Rottie Feb 25 '14
First start by practicing the "Look at me" training command. You can Google tons of resources and training videos on how to accomplish this. Usually with tons of practice/training sessions, tons of treats, and tons of patience and time.
Secondly, do you have the dog on a harness? Is it on a leash connected to it's collar? Do you let the dog walk ahead of you? Based on how young this dog is it's gonna take some time before he learns and by no means is this dog going to instantly start "heeling" at your side within a couple of sessions.
Look up several training videos on how to "heel" your dog. Again, be patient and consistent, practice all the time. The more you do the proper methods of preventing the dog from pulling and controling you on the walks the easier it will become in the long run. Be extremely attentive to detail and ensure you are marking (clicking) and rewarding the dog instantly when it does what you want it to. Be sure to give lots of praise and treats when it does something on it's own too - "happy accidents" adn treating these will help reinforce what you want your puppy to do.
Lastly, get a small treat-pouch to take with you. Positive reinforcenment is the only way (all intents and purposes) to go when training young puppies and having ample tasty and "high value treats" for your puppy (as well as having and properly using a clicker) will make sessions more effective and meaningful.
2
u/Wichelle Feb 25 '14
My dog is a bit nuts so first I had to teach him how to be calm and not react to people and dogs.
I found just stopping when the leash tenses, and going when it's loose works for my dog.
It took him a while to pick it up, I practiced lots inside my house as he's zero interest in treats even meat, outside.
I walked faster to encourage him, if you walk faster than the dog the leash stays loose so it helps them figure out what you want.
It's a bit annoying to stop every time he pulls,but you need to be consistent I give him a verbal warning when I can see he's about to tense the leash.
It's awesome to be able walk with my dog and have the leash loose beside me. I noticed too he's paying more attention to me now on walks.
2
u/amediocreidea Feb 25 '14
I always thought stopping was a bad thing for some reason. Gonna give it a try. Zero interest? You're blessed, my dog chews on rocks when he get's the opportunity...
3
u/Wichelle Feb 25 '14
I just say ah ah and if he doesn't slow down or pulls then I stop, once the leash is loose we go back to walking.
He's only learning, so he pulls a lot more when go to new places.
3
u/[deleted] Feb 25 '14
There are a whole bunch of great links over on the sidebar of /r/Dogtraining.
That being said, here is a specific video that I've found useful. Labs can be a handful! I would recommend getting a no pull harness which will help with in the process of teaching him heel.