Our pup is due to have her second injection this week, so i thought i would introduce her lead. She is pulling at the lead like a tug of war, or spinning round like the Tasmanian Devil!! Where do we go from here, so she can enjoy her first walk???

With mine i used to leave the lead trailing on the floor at first then throw treats up the hall until they followed them, then id hold the lead really loosely and when they put a small bit of pressure on the lead without risistance id give them loads of praise and then leave them for a while and try again later in the day

I'm afraid I never bother about any lead training until I'm ready to take them out for the first time. I do collar train them right from when I first get the puppy though.

Regards, John

i encourage mine to move slowly along with treats, then let them run round the house or garden with the lead attached to the collar, for a few mins, i only do five mins a day, dont try and drag the pup it will only hate the lead, its hard to be paicent but you will get there in the end, in a few months you will have a dog who gets ver excited, in my case crazy when it sees a lead!!

I was told by a Finnish Spitz breeder and Elkhound owner that these breeds need the lead on at 6 weeks, as they can fight very determinedly, so the sooner they are used to the lead the better.  I have never had any trouble with any of mine except for initial resistence, but having seen a p-up I bred allowed to get away with not wanting to walk on lead, and how embarrasing it is at training class where she refuses to walk, and of course being a woden floor can happily slide along rather than have to walk, then I think it does depoend on how stubborn/independant the bred is.

My methos has always bento attach lead, and let pup walk about with me holding the lead, and never allowing any pressure until pup seems happy, then I will encourage with voice and treats for pup to go where I wish to go, and then give the odd little tug and then release to get them to move my way if attracting attention doesn't do the trick.  this way they learn that they will have to complu, so better co-operate when called.  I do this all at home in the garden, as the experience of traffic and lead being new will be more stressful.  At least when used to thelead walking along the stret won't be so scary.  Of course I live in the city and don't drive, so my first walks outside the house are straight on a busy road.

With our Pom's we too have always done the putting the lead on and letting them walk around with it dragging on the gound. Then I use titbits to get them to come in my direction and for them not to bother when I'm holding the lead   Having said this my mum has an 11 week old Pom. who we haven't started lead training yet and whom I can see being a handful, I'll tell you if I succeed with her in the next few days :d

Ooh The Spitz have al got the wilful bit pat :D

Hi all,

I agree with John on this one, introduce collar asap (around 8-9 weeks in my case, but with no lead) let pup just get used to the feel of the collar first which is a huge step forward.  As the weeks go by and you want to start going for walks attach the lead to collar just for a few mins to start and then slowly build up.  My pup was surprisingly good when i attached the lead and he is now 13 weeks of age and not bothered by lead at all.  I DO think a lot of it is on your puppys personality, my pup is a happy little boy and rather confident, which i guess makes learning his skills much easier for him.  GOOD LUCK :o)