Which is the correct method to introduce a puppy to the walking leash?

Hi!

I wanted to start walking my puppy, but he's quite afraid of the leash. He's a 4 and a half months old doberman. I tried putting in just the collar first (he has two weeks with it now without any issue) but each and every time I try to put the leash in the collar, he runs away. When I do put it in, he is so scared he barely (or won't at all) move. His legs shake of how scared he is.

I never forced him to walk with it, I've never tied him to anything, and well... I just don't know why is he so scared, but I need to know how can I introduce him to his walking leash so he can exercise with my other dog.

Help would be greatly appreciated

All I can say is how I introduce a dog/pup to a leash and it works but writing it down makes it look a long time when in fact it doesn't take long.

I start my attaching a short, narrow ribbon to the collar and leave it on, when I am sure my dog is fine with it I change it for a longer ribbon. I keep changing the ribbon for a longer one until it is the length of a lead and my dog is dragging it round the house. When it is this long if I want my dog to follow me I pick the end of the ribbon and encourage him to follow me, if the ribbon goes tense I let go.

Next I do it all again with a thicker ribbon, then again with a cord that is heavier than the ribbon but not as heavy as a lead. Once my dog is happy with the cord and is following me round with encouragement with me holding the end, I start it all over again with a very short lead then gradually change for longer lead.

How quickly this takes depends on the dog, one that isn't worried by it will be quite quickly, a dog worried by a lead will take longer. It is important that you don't rush this, it is worth being patient.

This is the way I teach my puppies.
I get a lot of pieces of cooked chicken and get them interested in the chicken and then gradually get them to follow me with the chicken in my left hand, so they become used to sitting by my side and being fed chicken and then walking by my side and then getting chicken. I make the intervals between the chicken longer and longer and eventually before they get the chicken they have to sit next to me, walk on next to me, sit when I stop then they get the chicken.
Then I put a puppy collar on and a lead, I have found it helps if I do it when I still have one or more puppies with me because they play with each other and play tug of war with the leads, so they get used to the lead and being pulled.
Then we go back to one to ones, they are used to walking with me with the chicken so I am holding the lead very loosely and then bring it in gradually, using the chicken as a reward for the behaviour I require.
There is a bit of pulling back at the beginning, but they see that piece of chicken in front of them and walk on for that and in the end they forget they never had a lead on, and my problem then becomes stopping them pulling because they are so keen to go out and about.
Hope this helps you a bit. Like I say it is what I do and what works for me, we all have different ways of doing things.

I have always found they get used to a lead quicker using a harness as they don't have anything around their necks panicking them.

So once used to the harness I just clip on the lead and off we go.

The excitement of being outdoors usually overcomes any fear of the lead.

For the past 39 years I've trained all my puppies to walk with me off lead wearing just a collar, very much as tawnywolf does. I started when I was training someone else's dog who had had a terrible experience with a dog"breaker".

All my puppies wear a collar from day one & it is not removed, so they get used to wearing a collar, but not being constrained. I do small left & right handed circles with cooked chicken held just at nose height. I also use a clicker to mark when the puppy is in the heel position.

The sessions omly last a couple of minutes at the most as young puppies have a very short concentration period. I do it several time a day & play games before & afterwards.

Once the puppy is willing walking nicely at heel I attach a very light short lead to the collar & let it drag alon the floor whilst training. once the puppy accepts this I move on to a slightly longer light lead & hold it loose at all times & repeat the chicken & clicker training. The very important thing is to keep the lead slack at all time as the natural reaction to a tight lead is for the dog to pull away.

I show owners this by having them stand near me & pulling on their sleeve, the instinctive reaction is to pull away & this is want a dog does unless it is happy & understands that walking near you is very rewarding.

Harnesses do not stop pulling & put more pressure on the dog's shoulders, they simply don't choke the dog when it pulls. If you use the methods Tawnywolf & I have suggested your dog will never learn to pull on lead.

My Meg(failed sheepdog)had never had a lead on before I got her & she never pulls because she learnt as a puppy to simply follow her owner around off lead & is happy to trot alongside anyone who has hold of her lead.

Harnesses may not stop pulling but I have found mine don't pull anyway, they have a harness so if they get into any difficulty I can pull them, back from a snapping dog, out of water and many other occasions. Helps them in and out of the car too especially now Mollie is starting to struggle.

I agree, Milan (Dobermann) was 8 months old when I got her. I used a harness simply because 1) she would at that age be able to out run the pair of us, should she choose to. A Harness is much easier to grab hold of. 2) She wasn't keen on having anything attached to her collar. She'd been living rough and didn't like being restrained. She was used to defending herself with her teeth so could easily be moved away by using the harness. I always start pups off on a harness so it seemed the obvious choice for her too. She now walks well on a collar and lead.

Harnesses are tricky because a flat hardness can encrourage pulling because of the the dogs oppositional reflex, but a non pull harness such as the ones where you clip a lead to a d ring on their chest, or ones that put pressure on the chest when the dog pulls, can help to ease pulling....apart from if you are Tonks and then you take a couple of days to work out exactly how you can pull in any type of anti pull equipment! Very frustrating as as a puppy I did so much no pulling training and she was fine but became untrained and frustrated once the children arrived and she was walking with a pram.

I have found over the years training is ongoing, even now at nearly 12 I still do a bit of sit, stay, walk nicely etc with Mollie just so it is always there in her mind as the right way to be, she loves her treats when we train too which helps.

I've never used a non pull harness and have managed to train all off mine not to pull. Diesel seems to prefer his harness but still manages to walk more or less to heel. I don't practice enough because they are hardly ever on lead. A trip to the vets is about the only time we pavement walk. A harness comes in quite handy for hoisting him up onto the table at the vets too.