WALKING POLITELY ON A LEASH 



Teaching your pup to walk on a leash should be an easy and fun experience. If done right from the start, you’ll never end up with your dog taking YOU for a walk...tugging you on down the road! Start your pup out right – much easier now than when he’s a full grown adult Ridgeback weighing 100+ lbs!! 

To begin, start with a good fitting collar. You should be able to get a finger under the collar so it’s not too tight. REMEMBER TO CHECK THIS OFTEN, AS YOUR PUP WILL OUTGROW IT QUICKLY!!!! Too many horror stories of dogs being found with collars they had outgrown imbedded in their flesh! Do not use a choke chain or prong collar – just a nylon or leather flat collar will do.

When you put the leash on the pup and get ready for your first walk, make sure you have plenty of good treats with you. Try string cheese, hotdogs, chicken – in small pea sized bits. Do not pull hard on the leash to get the pup moving – encourage him forward saying WALK ON or GO ON, using treats to get him walking. Start with just a step or two and treat him and be happy, excited – tell him what a good pup he is! Keep building a few steps at a time until he’s moving along easily. Hold the leash in your right hand, with the pup walking at your left side. You can then hold the treats in your left hand, down in front of his nose to encourage forward movement. When you get the movement, praise the puppy and give him his treat! Practice this several times daily, even if it’s just a few steps at a time. In no time at all, he’ll be walking easily at your side. 

If your pup pulls on the leash at all, just stop, hang on to the leash, stand still and ignore him. Act like you’re a tree. As soon as he makes the leash loose again, praise him and give him a treat. If you’re using a clicker, click and treat as soon as you feel the leash loosen. Start walking forward again, using the WALK ON command. If he wants to go in a different direction and pulls to go there, don’t go – stand your ground. Practice walking on leash in your living room for 2 days, then your back yard for 2 days. Hide treats in different places around the house and yard so you can reward him for arriving at that spot with a loose leash. Once he is well-mannered on leash, take daily walks to train, meet new people and learn new social skills.

This is just to help you get started and is not intended to take the place of Puppy Kindergarten or Basic Obedience classes. You still need to get your pup enrolled in these classes!!!