# leash walking vs leash training a puppy



## sillybluecreature (Oct 6, 2013)

Help!!! My wonderful forum please give me some advice. I have an 11 week puppy, and like most, we are working on walking on lead (not pulling) as well as a slew of other commands. My question is, we need to walk her for exercise (we live in an apartment) and we can only work on her leash training for a couple minutes at a time (and I only attempt this when she has gotten some energy out)- _so do I just let her pull me_ the rest of the way? What is the best way to walk with an untrained puppy when you need to get somewhere (to a place they can run)? I see loads of videos on how to leash train but how does this fit into a normal life in the city?

It's about 500 m to the park and she'll pull the whole way if she can and will pull all the way back. We can't work on leash training the whole time otherwise we are both frustrated and will literally get 2m. No amount of high value snacks will get her short attention span on me the whole time to the park. Also I need to keep her on a tight leash as we are in the city and there are alot of dirty things, people, and other dogs to distract.

On the good stuff- when she's having a "fit" of crazy pulling, biting, barking I will sit down and wait it out and praise her when she finally comes to me calmer. When she's pulling my arm off, I'll stop and wait for her to stop, look back and acknowledge me before continuing. And I'll also get her to stop and sit for a snack when a crowd of people pass by that want to say hi. I'm very very patient with her but just don't want to encourage bad behaviour.

Overall I just can't compete with all the smells, sounds, people, dogs and tasty garbage out there and she'll be pulling 90% of the time in one direction or another. I don't want to ignore and encourage this behaviour but I also need her to get to the park happily.


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## einspänner (Sep 8, 2012)

You're right that a lot of leash training isn't really conducive to actually getting anywhere. It involves a lot of stopping and waiting, changing directions, etc. At her age though, I would allow that training time to be training time, and not a means to getting to the park. I know she benefits from the time running around now, but she doesn't NEED it in the same way she will when she's older and stronger and by then she'll be able to pull you even more. So my advice is to do the training now, rather than dragging it out and making it harder on yourself. That said, this is just laying the groundworks, so don't expect perfection. If you're not concerned with getting somewhere, you'll be less frustrated when she pulls and you can be a more present trainer. 

I'd work on it indoors too. With less distractions she'll more easily focus on you and then you can transfer that to more distracting environments. 

That doesn't really answer your question though...What method(s) are you currently using? I guess I would walk to the park as normal, but right before getting there I'd spend 5-10 minutes actively training. Then going to the park and running off lead becomes the reward. You can increase the time spent training as she gets older. Make sense?


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## sillybluecreature (Oct 6, 2013)

Totally makes sense. Thanks for the input, it's well appreciated. I'm trying to divide up the walk from heeling practice to sits/down and then switching to a short (couple meter) jog now until we get to park where she gets to run on a long leash. I've read a couple posts and I'm working on the method where when she pulls, I let go of a loop in the leash and immediately walk in the opposite direction (works great after a couple reminders). I give her a tiny treat if we get 5m without pulling. She's doing much better now (until someone walks by, or a dog walks by). I'll keep at it and only go out when I have a ton of time to spare.


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## nigelpen (Apr 27, 2014)

Hi There, my boy Tyler is about 13 weeks and so i feel your pain! 

I read some old forum posts and one guy talked about turning around and going in the opposite direction when they pull and i have been doing that. I will say it is slow progress but i think this is a long road (esp with a V). While teaching sit might be done in one or two days teaching a dog to heel is actually quite unnatural for them (so many good smells etc!). I only get frustrated when I am in a hurry so agree that leash training is not ideal when you need to get somewhere and indoor definitely helps. 

I use treats like you have noticed progress comes in fits and starts and some days/patches are better than others. I need to remind myself this is something that will take time. Lets check in with each in a few weeks! 

My main problem is that Tyler walks about a foot to far forward ... any tips on how to fix that would be appreciated (sorry to hijack the thread).


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## nigelpen (Apr 27, 2014)

Oh, one more thing. I found that outside i needed super high value treats (tiny bits of salmi and cheese!) to really keep him focused. Inside or in the property I could use almost anything.


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## Eddiemoto (May 4, 2013)

I too am in the midst of lead training. I too have some frustrations. I've gone to using a gentle lead which helps, but doesn't solve the problem. 

With Dudley it is all about his attention span. If I can keep it, he will walk along my side looking up at me and do what I call the happy walk. Which is only about 15% of any walk. Any other time it is about the rock, the stick, the pole, etc, etc. 

I've tried the turning direction thing but it takes a 20 minute walk and turns it into an hour. Hopefully this will get better with time.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Only with time will their attention span grow. When mine were young we practiced in the house, and then the backyard. Then the front yard and kept expanding the places we trained on leash. Each new place meant retraining, as it did not carry over with the new distractions. 
I kept all leash training short, about 5 minutes at first, and then graduated to 10. Mine did not have to stay perfectly at heel, the only object was to not pull like a sled dog. I would break up the leash training with some off leash (still on a check cord) running and playing.
If you keep training short, you stand a better chance of the pup ending on a good note. And it cuts down on the frustration.


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