Walks?

[Allan]

Hi,

Things with Yoyo have been going well. She has had only 2 accidents in her crate (and none recently), although she still has the occassional accident on the carpet. Anyway, we started taking Yoyo out for some short walks (aobut 15 minutes) - she is 11 weeks old. Here is the problem. She pulls in every which way. Typically, the first half of the walk is a tug of war with her pulling in every direction and me trying to rein her in. The second half of the walk typically goes better (although not great).

Any advice?

thanks,
Allan

[Trickster]

Has she had all her puppy vaccinations?

[Allan]

She has had her first and second rounds of shots. The vet said it is fine to take her out now, despite not having her third set yet.

[Chester B. Dickens]

I wouldn't bother with leashed walks at all for now, just let her play safely in your yard and follow after you. Make it fun, but keep a watchful eye. If nothing else, you can work on name recognition and starting to instill WATCH ME. ;D

[Allan]

Unfortunately, we dont have a yard as we live in an apartment in Brooklyn. Yoyo, however, does know her name.... When do you suggest we begin leash walking?

[Trickster]

When do you suggest we begin leash walking?

You can start now but obviously if you live in an apartment you don't have much of a choice anyway.

It is hard to give advice about formal leash walking when you are dealing with an 11 week old. As you know, they don't exactly have huge attention spans and puppies will be puppies. In my opinion, the best thing to do is create small targets to work towards and not set your expectations too high. Don't expect to achieve loose leash walking anytime soon. While like everything success differs from dog to dog, walking nicely on the leash is one of the tougher aspects of training.

I think what I would do is firstly cut back on the amount of time you are walking. 15 minutes is a little too much all in one go. The puppy will get wound up and loose focus and physically, I also think it is a little too much for her age. I would do several short 5 minute walks a day or whatever you schedule allows. Don't focus too much on the formalities. The pup is going to be curious about the outside world so let her sniff and take in her surroundings. If she starts getting overly excited, call her to you to regain her focus, have her sit, reward (with food/praise), pat your side and encourage her along.

Good luck!