You are responsible for the life and well-being of your puppy.
At certain times this means that your puppy needs to behave while on his leash, so that he can walk safely in public places, especially if you live near busy traffic.
If you have a new puppy, training obedience should be one of your top priorities.
What you are aiming for You should aim to be one of those puppy owners you see in the park that always causes people to look round and smile.
Your goal is for your young puppy to jog along happily right by your side, comfortable on his leash.
You want to look in effortless control.
Then you will certainly be the envy of other puppy owners.
You can put behind you all those embarrassing memories of your puppy straining at his leash: pulling you in every direction, causing you to apologize to complete strangers for your dog's erratic, uncontrollable behavior! Making it easy for your puppy, training obedience indoors Puppies often get distracted very easily, so start off your training indoors where he can give the task his full attention.
Also, begin by making sure that he has a well-fitting collar and a good strong leash.
You should also allow your puppy to smell his leash, so he can become comfortable, before you begin.
1)The starting position.
Start with the puppy on your left-hand side.
Hold the end of his leash in your right hand, along with a food reward.
Use your left hand to loosely hold the slack of the lead.
Be ready to slide your left hand down to the collar to gently pull him back into position if required.
2)Walking to heel.
Begin walking with your left foot first.
As the puppy walks beside you, clearly give the command "heel".
If the puppy surges forward slide your left hand down the lead to the collar and gently pull backwards.
3)Getting him to sit.
When the puppy is in the heel position, give the reward and verbal praise.
Then command the puppy to sit.
Slowly increase the distance you cover as the puppy obeys the sequence of commands.
4)Turning right.
Once the puppy is able to walk to heel and sit obediently as you go from room to room, you can begin to train him to turn right.
Gently guide him around to the right with your left hand pulling gently on his leash, and give the command "heel".
5)Turning left.
To take a left turn, you need to walk slightly ahead of your puppy, and hold out the food treat in front of the puppy's nose to slow him down.
Keep the puppy close to your left leg and give the "steady" command as he slows down.
Then gently turn him to the left.
Dealing with some common problems The most common problems you may face when teaching your new puppy to walk comfortably on his leash include: climbing up the lead, collapsing to the ground and pulling forwards.
If your puppy is climbing up the lead then simply use the "sit" command clearly and confidently.
You should stay still and try to ignore your puppy while he is jumping up.
Only reward him when all four paws are on the ground again.
If your puppy collapses to the ground while on the leash then you need to gain his attention before you can resume training him.
This can be tricky if he has become bored.
Bring along a favourite toy to gain his interest if you think this is likely to happen.
The most concerning problem to deal with is when your puppy pulls forward on his leash.
Unless you deal with this one problem then you will undo all the good work above and you will still dread taking your puppy out for a walk where there are lots of people or dangerous traffic.
The good news is that there are some simple commands which you can learn.
If you use them to complete your puppy training, obedience will be your reward.
Most puppy owners don't realize these commands can have an almost instant positive effect on your puppy's behavior and will stop him pulling forward on his leash for good.