8 week old resists leash

[Rocmistro]

Hi. My 8 week old bitch, Chloe is doing pretty good all around. She'll follow me outside and "Come" (usually) when I ask her to come. As soon as I put a leash on, she just sits down and doesn't want to do anything.

I have 2 things that I'm trying.

1. First is the advice I've seen on the forum: I put the leash on her and just let her walk around with it on at times to get comfortable with it.

2. I have also (maybe half a dozen times now), when outside, put the leash on and tried to get her to follow. When she refuses, I stretch the leash out as far as it will go, and ask her to "come". When she is stubborn (ie, most of the time) I begin to pull gently and "drag" her along (it's more of a forced walk...I'm not actually dragging her limp body on the ground). She does not like this and resists until she gets to me. She usually starts to cough and choke a little at which point I let up. I do not praise her or scold her during this process, and she gets no treats. When she reaches me, she sits, and I give her a minute to collect herself as I know she does not like it. We usually repeat this 2 more times before heading back inside.

So my question is on point 2, above. I'm doing this as much to let her know that she is NOT in charge, as I am to train her to be good on a leash. Am I accomplishing this or just making her hate being on a leash? I'm trying to break the "rebellious/dominant" spirit, let her know who is Alpha. Obviously, I don't want to her hurt her so I'm a little concerned when she starts choking/coughing but I assume that she'll "get it" soon and will see that following me willingly is clearly the better choice.

Any thoughts? I'm torn (in general) between make the puppy conform and not wanting to raise her to be resentful, so I'm always walking that line between the two.

Thanks.

[moondog]

Originally Posted by Rocmistro

So my question is on point 2, above. I'm doing this as much to let her know that she is NOT in charge, as I am to train her to be good on a leash.

Number one is fine....let her drag a leash (supervised) around the house and get accustomed to how it feels.

Number two is all wrong. First of all, the leash is NOT a teaching tool and should not be used for that purpose - at this stage it is only on the puppy to keep the puppy out of harm's way. Keep a hold of the leash and keep it loose (no tension), and use everything BUT the leash when teaching her to walk with you. Pat your leg, squeek a toy, jump up and down, roll her a treat.....anything BUT pulling on the leash.

She should actually think she IS in charge at this stage, even though she's not.....that's what your bigger brain is for! And...by making good choices, she gets a REWARD. You do need to lure at first until she gets the idea, then after a period of time when she's really good at something, you wait until she does it, and THEN she gets a reward. It takes time for a puppy to learn..so give her that consideration.

Originally Posted by Rocmistro

Am I accomplishing this or just making her hate being on a leash? I'm trying to break the "rebellious/dominant" spirit, let her know who is Alpha.

The LAST thing I EVER want to do with a puppy or a dog is break their spirit! That's the best thing they possess. What you want to do is teach her how to use that beautiful spirit by channeling it into behaviors you would like to see, not by shutting it down. She needs a LEADER, not an "alpha".

[lgslgs]

When we were teaching our two puppies about walking on a leash, they had very different reactions. One was always eager to follow on the leash and leash training was very easy with her.

The other one just needed much more time to mentally process things that were new to him. He'd follow along eventually, but he needed some time first to get his head around all of the new things to see and smell. He did not respond well to pressure on the leash, and we just had to work slower with him. Once he figured something out he'd be eager to be cooperative until the next new thing - then it was slow down and think about it time while his sister just dove in.

This happened with leash work, learning to cross the little wooden bridge over our stream, learning about stairs, and pretty much with most new things. Georgia Rae barrels in - Luther stops and ponders first. Luther always catches on and gets the skill, but it takes extra time compared to his sister.

In our current training, doing down/stays with us going in and out of the living room, Luther's tendency to think things through and mull them over has actually been quite a plus. He doesn't just get up and toddle off - but holds an alert down posture and observes the goings on as he figures out what is expected of him. With this skill he's learning much faster than his "ants in her pants" sister.


I'd take a good look at your girl and question whether "stubborn" is the right way to think about her behavior. With Luther, we could make him act stubborn by being too firm while he was in processing/learning mode. I doubt your 8 week old girl could truly be considered rebellious or dominant. At that age, she is just learning how to process the world around her, and she might need a few minutes to take in new situations. Trying to speed that process up beyond her ability to mentally process it will only stress her out and slow everything down.


Lynda

[hokisteph5]

IMO, there's a big difference between teaching a puppy or dog manners and breaking their spirit. My female, in particular, has always had a calculating look on her face when it comes to being told to do something. She has even been known to air sniff to see if I have treats and, if I do, whether they're worthy of her doing what I want.

[turbodx]

Wow I'm having the same exact issues with my 8 week old :( , he won't walk once the leach goes on :(

[hokisteph5]

Here's an old thread with more tips on how to work on puppies' leash training.

[spawn207]

My pup is 9 weeks and I've seem to be having the same problem. I really don't have a problem when I take him out for his business, he pretty much is ok with that. It seems when I take him out of the driveway and on the blacktop he seems not to budge. I also notice that he doesn't stray far from the house. I would like to take him on a short walk but does not want to. He will just plop down in front of the driveway. Is he too young for a walk, if not how can I get him to leave away from the house.

[turbodx]

Originally Posted by spawn207

My pup is 9 weeks and I've seem to be having the same problem. I really don't have a problem when I take him out for his business, he pretty much is ok with that. It seems when I take him out of the driveway and on the blacktop he seems not to budge. I also notice that he doesn't stray far from the house. I would like to take him on a short walk but does not want to. He will just plop down in front of the driveway. Is he too young for a walk, if not how can I get him to leave away from the house.

our pups must be related , mine does exactly that , a couple of posts on here recommend using treats , I tried that yesterday and actually got him to walk on the driveway . It was so funny i had to stand there for about 2-3 minute while he looked around before he would even take 1 step.

[Urika]

Diesel, now four years old did the same exact thing around that age. Once the leash went on, he didn't want to move. I don't quite remember what I did but asked for advice here.
Rogue my nine week old has been walking around the house with her collar and lead on for the last week. Today she went on her first walk to the corner. My oldest son had Diesel on lead, and I Rogue. She was a bit hesitant during the walk but she did just fine and much better than I expected.

[TrinaJ]

I used a piece of kabana with Jett, i would put the leash on her and she would sit and not move, so i got out a pice of kabana and walked out in front of her. Still holding the leash i held out the treat to her and she came. I gave her the treat told her she was a good girl and repeated the process. I then started walking backward while she walk walking toward me (still holding the treat) I would only walk a few meters before getting down praising her and rewarding her with the treat. I found this also helped with stairs, Jett HATED stairs, even with kabana, but as she got older she became more confident with the and now races up and down them

Good luck.

Trina

[Skip]

Originally Posted by Rocmistro

Hi. My 8 week old bitch, Chloe is doing pretty good all around. She'll follow me outside and "Come" (usually) when I ask her to come. As soon as I put a leash on, she just sits down and doesn't want to do anything.

I have 2 things that I'm trying.

1. First is the advice I've seen on the forum: I put the leash on her and just let her walk around with it on at times to get comfortable with it.

2. I have also (maybe half a dozen times now), when outside, put the leash on and tried to get her to follow. When she refuses, I stretch the leash out as far as it will go, and ask her to "come". When she is stubborn (ie, most of the time) I begin to pull gently and "drag" her along (it's more of a forced walk...I'm not actually dragging her limp body on the ground). She does not like this and resists until she gets to me. She usually starts to cough and choke a little at which point I let up. I do not praise her or scold her during this process, and she gets no treats. When she reaches me, she sits, and I give her a minute to collect herself as I know she does not like it. We usually repeat this 2 more times before heading back inside.

So my question is on point 2, above. I'm doing this as much to let her know that she is NOT in charge, as I am to train her to be good on a leash. Am I accomplishing this or just making her hate being on a leash? I'm trying to break the "rebellious/dominant" spirit, let her know who is Alpha. Obviously, I don't want to her hurt her so I'm a little concerned when she starts choking/coughing but I assume that she'll "get it" soon and will see that following me willingly is clearly the better choice.

Any thoughts? I'm torn (in general) between make the puppy conform and not wanting to raise her to be resentful, so I'm always walking that line between the two.

Thanks.

She is still SO young, and everything needs to be as fun as possible at this point. If it was me, I would not even put a leash on a pup this young. The first couple weeks need to be as fun as possible with a ton of bonding. I want the pup to get the feeling that I am the center of it's fun. I would only go for short fun walks in my yard with PLENTY of treats or favorite toys so that the pup stays close. Leashes aren't even needed at this point yet (in MY opinion). If you are worried about the pup getting away, then you can attach a VERY thin light leash for the pup to drag around, but you don't need to hold the leash unless there is an emergency.

[lengel]

IMO, treats should be part of a puppy's diet. Have you tried doing "come" exercises with her on lead and really good, smelly treats as a reward when she does? Our trainer recommends "choose to heal" exercises in the house, keeping our Zooey next to us while shamelessly horking over liver or cheese treats. Zooey is now 17 weeks and does not pull on lead. We have treated her extensively when we put the leash on, when we restrain her by her collar and when she comes to us even when she's on lead. Now she offers the desired behaviors. She's amazing. We couldn't be happier.

[TrinaJ]

Originally Posted by Skip

She is still SO young, and everything needs to be as fun as possible at this point. If it was me, I would not even put a leash on a pup this young. The first couple weeks need to be as fun as possible with a ton of bonding. I want the pup to get the feeling that I am the center of it's fun. I would only go for short fun walks in my yard with PLENTY of treats or favorite toys so that the pup stays close. Leashes aren't even needed at this point yet (in MY opinion). If you are worried about the pup getting away, then you can attach a VERY thin light leash for the pup to drag around, but you don't need to hold the leash unless there is an emergency.

I do agree with Skip, we got Jett when she was 14 weeks old but its never to early to teach 'come' with a treat.

Have fun!

[poohbearsmom]

I concur with RottsnScotts... the leash is for safety at this point, and to keep the pup from getting into things that it shouldn't.

Dragging the leash is good, and do make sure it's under 100% supervision; if you cut the handle so it can't get caught on things, that's even better.

Many young pups have no problem with the leash, and happily follow where the fun goes (note the word "fun"). Some pups can go into panic mode when they grasp that the leash will not allow them to "flee" from undesirable situatons (like the terrible "snake" around it's neck!!!). Some pups will go into avoidance, and some pups will simply plant their little paws as if to say, "NO WAY JOSE' !!!". Some pups will try all of these techniques to get away from the boogie man.

You're best to handle this calmly, happily and help the pup gain confidence about his new found predicament.

There was a Dane pup in my class last week that was approaching 9 weeks of age. The first time he'd had a leash *or collar!* placed on him was 5 minutes before travelling to class. Confidence-wise, he was great with people, great with the other pups, great environmentally, until.... there was tension on the leash... and then OH BOY! the fun began! We tried several approaches using food, but he was entirely too stressed to care about the treat, and only wanted to flee; he was in complete avoidance of any human attempts to gain his attention (poor little fella). My assistant finally laid down on the ground and got down to the pup's level, patted the ground, cooed at him and told him what a silly boy he was in a sing song voice. He then moved to a different place and did the same. The pup's recovery began, and he kept joining the silly man on the ground. I'm betting by this Saturday morning, he'll be moving around just grandly on the end of a loose leash if his owner practices what she learned.

Lesson here: There is no humility in dog training; do what it takes to get the job done in a manner your pup can deal with that gains your pup's trust.. Remember, your puppy has no idea what a leash is when you introduce it (snake around my neck??!!???).

Every experience your pup has right now should be FUN FUN FUN. If you need to, sit down and have a tea party by yourself until your pup voluntarily comes to you with the leash on. Move your locale, and rinse and repeat.

It's better your pup learn that the leash is not a death sentence now, than to wait until your pup is older. It's only a leash. Soon, your pup will be begging you to put it on her, because she'll know fun things will happen!

Puppy Mantra: What doesn't kill me makes me stronger!!!!!

Hope this helps.

[spawn207]

My 10 week pup is now giving my a hard time on the leash. When I take him out for his business, he will go and when it's time to go inside he will just plop down on the floor. Sometimes when I do take him out just for a minute, he's laying on the floor and when I call him he doesn't budge. Why is that, is it just subborness, or lazy?