- May 9, 2012
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Hey, I need some tips on leash training two 12 week old Border Collie mixes!
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I'm actually not great with leash training but, I've learned two things:
1) The correction with the leash is kind of like quick, mildly intense, cracking of a whip. It's just meant to get the dogs attention. Yanking or pulling the dog doesn't teach them much.
2) When the dog pulls, you stop dead in your tracks. You then wait for the dog to look back at you as if asking why are we stopping. When he does this, you praise and treat him.
OK a couple of other things that I remembered.
3) If you have one of those retractable leashes ... throw it away. They are a sure way to end up with a bad walker.
4) In order to not be pulled down the street by the dog, here's a tip. Don't try to control the dog with just your arms. You need to use your entire body and move with your center of gravity. Sorry for the Aikido analogy but, it’s true. As the dog starts to lunge at something, keep your arms a short distance from you, bend your knees a little to sink and "center" yourself. If you concentrate on your center, the dog will hit the end of the leash as if he hit a brick wall (your center of mass).
5) Treats, treats, treats and praise. As with all training, praise the dog and slip him treats whenever he's walk with a slacked leash. I use a small treat, actually their dog food kibble, to not disturb the forward motion too much.
Good Luck,
Jim
We all have our different methods, and different things work with different dogs.I would always train a dog in a positive manner wherever possible, in my experience if you start pulling and pushing and hurting all you will end up with is a nervous dog that spends it's time worrying about whats going to happen next rather than walking calmly and relaxed on the end of the lead, there is nothing wrong with changing direction suddenly to make the dog concentrate but otherwise it should be reward based so the dog wants to please you, it is worth the effort