Enjoying your daily walk with your canine best friend.
Training your puppy to walk calmly whilst on a leash is the key to an enjoyable walk with your canine friend. But where should you start?
Well, once you have selected the right Dog Collars and Leads (yes you should have more than one if possible) like the ones you can find on iwoof.com/ you can set off with your puppy training regime.
To start off with you should show your dog the harness, collar and lead that you are intending to use on your walks so that they become used to the sight and smell. You can also encourage them to wear the collar or harness for short periods of time whilst in the house and reward them with treats. Playing games with them whilst they are wearing the collar will also help your puppy to associate the collar with fun and food.
In order to help with your dog’s recall, you can practice calling them to you whilst they are wearing their collar or harness and again rewarding them when they do so. This will help when you are out on a walk should your dog be let off the lead for any reason in the future and you need to call them back to your side.
Once your puppy has become accustomed to the look and feel of the collar or harness you can then move onto introducing the lead. Again, you can do this by encouraging them to come to you and perhaps even taking a short walk around the room whilst on the lead. Giving your puppy praise and rewards during your indoor walks will help you when you move outdoors.
Once you begin your walk outside you should be aware of the number of different distractions that your puppy will encounter such as vehicles, people and other dogs. If you are unsure who your dog is going to react in these new surroundings you might want to choose a location that is newer to your home and at a time that is not going to be too busy with other people, so avoid school drop off and pick up times and immediately after people would be getting home from work. You should also keep these first walks short and make sure that you walk just a few steps in front of your puppy to reassure them that they are safe and that you are in control.
If you follow these steps and maintain a calm exterior whilst out walking with your puppy they will be enjoying their walks and building their confidence in no time.
