Puppies don’t naturally know how to walk nicely on a leash. It’s in a puppy’s nature to want to pull to get to where he wants to go, and that might not be where you want to go. Ideally, your pup should walk on a loose leash. You don’t have to enforce a strict “heel” unless you’re doing obedience. Most people just want the dog not to pull them down the block, or to keep walking when asked instead of stopping at every wonderful smell on the sidewalk.

            Dogs do what works for them. They are simple animals and they’re quite predictable. They learn incredibly quickly. Dogs are wired to keep doing the behaviors that work for them, and to avoid the behaviors that don’t. This is why they’re such a successful species. Imagine, they went from wolves and wild dogs to creatures who share our beds at night. That’s remarkable. And we’re the ones providing them with food, water, shelter, and love. What a good deal for the dog! But, abiding by human commands isn’t an intuitive thing for the dog, especially when it comes to something as basic as getting to where he wants to go.  If your pup pulls you to his favorite spot and you allow him to do that, he will continue to do it because it works. Why should he stop? You could put a choker or prong collar on him and he’ll still pull you to that spot – yes, it’s a little uncomfortable, but he’s still getting there. You could yank him and correct him, but as long as he’s still getting where he needs to go, it doesn’t do very much. If you don’t allow the dog to go where he wants to go when he’s pulling, but allow him to go where he wants when he’s walking nicely with a loose leash, then he’s always going to walk nicely with a loose leash. All it takes is a lot of practice. Some pups are very stubborn when it comes to walking nicely – there’s always something tempting just ahead, like an animal to chase, another dog, or a scent. But don’t let the dog win out on this one. Your eight pound leash-pulling puppy might turn into an eighty pound beast that can pull the leash right out of your hands. You have to commit to consistent loose-leash training. If you let the pup pull sometimes when you’re in a hurry, but then you try to train him not to pull at other times, you’re just going to have a confused puppy. He’ll learn a lot more quickly if you use every walk as a training session.

Follow these steps to teach your puppy to walk on a loose leash.

1. Prime the clicker.
2. Attach the four foot leash to the pup’s flat buckle collar. No choker, no prongs.
3. Hold the leash in your left hand along with the clicker, and the treats in your right. Stand still, holding the end of the leash firmly and close to the middle of your body. The pup will probably walk to the end of the leash, making it taut. Ignore him until he releases the tension in the leash, even for a fraction of a second. The instant he releases the tension, click and treat.
4. Now, walk a few steps – the pup starts walking too and will inevitably pull to the end of the leash again. Stop. Click and treat the second the pup lets the leash go slightly slack. Do this a few times.
5. Next, when the pup pulls one way, you will turn and walk the other way. When he follows, click and treat – he has little choice but to follow since he’s on the other end of the leash! Don’t pull or yank. Just walk and click and treat for any behavior that you like.
6. If you’re having trouble getting the pup to walk, toss a treat in the direction you want to go in. Or, you can lure him a little and treat him as you walk just as he gets to your left leg.
7. Every time the puppy pulls, and I mean, every time, you will stop and wait for the leash to slacken – click and treat. If you have a chronic puller, you may not get very far on the first few walks. That’s okay – just keep trying.

Whatever you do, make leash training fun. Coax and lure if you have to in the beginning, and remember to praise like crazy when the dog walks nicely, even for a second. Eventually, he’ll get the idea that he’s only going somewhere when the leash is loose and he’s walking with some composure. Treat, treat, treat!

      When you’ve got the pup walking decently on a loose leash, you can begin adding the cue “let’s go!” Make it a happy cue, not a forceful one. Some pups have the opposite problem to pulling – these are the “stoppers,” the pups who just dig in their heels and won’t budge. If you have a puppy that won’t walk, starts and stops, or one who lays down every time he sees another dog or something new, you’re going to have to use a lure to get him up and walking again. When he does, say “let’s go!” and click/treat. After a while, he will learn that he gets rewarded for moving. Be careful, however, that you don’t reward the start/stop/get-up/come-for-a-treat behavior. Treat on the fly, as you walk, rather than treating just after the dog gets up and runs over for a treat. If you suspect that the pup thinks that stopping is what’s getting the reward, ignore him when he stops – no eye contact, nothing – and then click/treat when he decides to get up on his own. After all, he can’t sit there forever.