Hello to all

My Welsh Springer Spaniel is nine and a half weeks old. (We have got her since 9 days.)   She is used to wear a collar, but when I put a light puppy leash on, she bites it ,runs away from it and so on.  I think she is scared of it.  I only tried it twice or three times.  I know, it's not very often, but I thought, before I do something wrong, I better ask for some advise, before I carry on trying.  When I put it on first, I played with her in order to distract her from it.  The leash was just dragging behind her, but she found it quite disturbing.  I put it on when she ate or put it next to her food bowl, when she was eating, but it just puts her off eating.

Any sound advise how to get her used to it, without doing any damage?

Thanks a lot and regards

Bagpipe

With my own pups I found that holding the lead but allowing the pup to go where she wanted at first and then ecourageing her to coem with me, but never tightening the lead worked best.  I would use a treat to stop her wanting to chew it as that will be more enticing than the lead.  Use a cheerful upbeat voice and only do this for say a minute at a time a couple of times a day.

Once she is happy with that, then give small tugs in the direction you want ther to come, at the same time as enticing encourageing her.

I have never mastered this aspect, but if you can actually keep her walking with you without ever ahving to tighten the lead you will have a dog that doesn't pull on the lead at all. :D

Hello bagpipe,

Get some really tasty treats, like hotdog sausages, or maybe something even tastier like tinned fish, clip the lead on and give her them.  The food needs to be more rewarding than the lead is punishing, if that makes sense.  Her normal dog food might not be rewarding enough to outweigh how horrible she thinks the lead is.  Does that make sense? 

If she seems to be afraid of it, don't reassure her - don't say 'it's alright, don't worry little puppy' etc etc - because that just sounds like praise to a dog.  So you are praising her for being frightened and making it more likely to happen.  Just ignore her if she gets scared.  Wait for her to calm down and not be so afraid, and THEN remove the lead.  Remove the lead when she has calmed down - as a reward for calming down. 

Also, I wouldn't let the lead drag behind her on the floor, as it could be the sensation or noise of something dragging behind her which she finds scary - like something is chasing her and she can't get away from it, the faster she runs, the more noise it makes.  So just hold the end of the lead. 

Perhaps, at first, I would try to move with her so that she doesn't feel 'fixed' to the spot by it - let her determine where you go, not you.  But don't let her pull - try to keep it loose and just follow her around with it on.

Take her out in your garden with the lead on - chances are she will forget she's wearing it because the garden is so much more interesting than inside your house. 

Edited to say - I hadn't read Brainless's post when I posted this but it seems to say similar things...

I think your doing the right thing, just putting the lead on and distracting whilst its on , letting her drag it about a bit. I wouldnt put it on or near when feeding thou ... maybe after shes had a little play and is feeling a bit sleepy and less likely to object.
I did it 3 or 4 times a day for (a few minutes each time) a couple of days and then advanced to walking mine round the garden with it on. now he gets very excited when he see's his lead ( walkies :D )

Hello

Thanks to all of you.

Iwill try the 'really tasty food stuff' trick.  I wondered whether I should tell her off, when she is biting the lead.  But I didn't, because I thought that might not be the right thing to do in this circumstance.  So I try tomorrow again with something extremely tasty (hope it doesn't upset her little tummy).  And only for one minute at the time. 

Thanks again for tips and sharing experiences

Bagpipe

No, don't tell her off Bagpipe.

Imo, people tell their little puppies off far far too much.  A puppy's first experiences of everything have to be purely positive.  The puppy can't grow up being afraid to make the 'right' choice all the time, or she will turn into a timid thing, afraid to do anything in case it's the wrong thing.  (I've seen it.)

For the first 10-12 mnths of her life, a puppy should be trained using only positive/reward based methods all that time (no physical punishment, not even saying "no", no scruff shakes etc).  The most horrible thing you would ever do would be to ignore your puppy or give 'time out' to her. 

When your pup is 10-12mnths old and 'knows' the rules and some commands, then you can start to introduce a more verbally strict voice tone, which, because she will never have heard it before, will be more than enough and much more effective.

I really believe that's the best way to bring a pup up.

This is the method I've used with my puppies:

Carry the puppy about a 100 yards away from home and put the pup down.  I like to use a flexi lead, less chance of pup being jerked, and I then face towards home and just let the pup sniff about and they will usually keep near to you as you are then the most familiar thing to them in that strange place.  When the pup follows you encourage him, no pulling or tugging at them, and just make your way back home.

After a few times doing this I have found my pups are quite happy to go on the lead with me.

Hello onetwothree

I tried the 'tuna in brine' with the lead today and it really did the trick.  Just tiny bits of it, but it helped tremendously to distract her from the leash.  I did that three times today, once in the garden.  And only for two minutes or so at the time.   I don't like saying to my puppy 'no' all the time, because she just looks at me after that with her spaniel eyes, it could melt my heart.  But when she starts to tear the carpet and bite the curtains, then I say a loudish 'ah-ah ah' which makes stopping her what she is doing.  Do you think that is wrong?  I let her mouth my hand and I try the bite inhibition (got the link about how to train bite inhibition on this forum) and it works too, which involves of course the 'ouch'.  

Thanks for your answers and kind regards

Bagpipe

Of course that is fine, I think harsh tellings off are not needed (or understood) for a baby puppy.  A sound signifying disaproval and distraction into some positive behaviour is the best way.  If she chews at the carpet pick up a toy or tuggy for her to play with, so that she learns that some things are not allowed to be touched but her toys are fine, you also have to ensure you pick up anything she shouldn't have, and perhaps spray furtnityre etc with bitterspray to deter her.

If she picks up something you do not want her to have do not go after her for it as she will soon turn this into a good game of chase.  Instead pick up something and be all excited about it, and she will drop what she has, or come over and be happy to swap for soemthing you have for her.

Hello Brainless

" Instead pick up something and be all excited about it, and she will drop what she has, or come over and be happy to swap for something you have for her. "

Yes, isn't it funny how it works?! 

She really loves the garden and pulling at different shrubs etc., but when the point comes, where I want to go back into the house, than we never chase her in order to get her,  but we try to entice her (rattling with a plastic bag) to come in.  Sometimes I just grab her and carry her in. 

Thanks for your reply & regards

Bagpipe

Hi bagpipe,

Glad the fish worked.

As for tearing the carpet and curtains:  Firstly, I know you can't remove everything, but I always think it's best to try to remove anything you can which the puppy might choose to play with, if you don't want it touched.  This would probably extend to the curtains, by chucking them up over the rail, yes - but not the carpet!  It might also mean restricting the rooms which the puppy has access to, to a room which has fewer things in it that can be destroyed.

Second if the pup started to play with something I didn't want her to, I would distract her with another toy and so she would move away from there, and praise her when she did, and play with her for a bit with the toy.  I would also pick her up and physically move her, if she wouldn't come and play with my toy. 

I would try to make sure that her toys are much more interesting than the carpet or the curtains, so she prefers to play with them.  If she likes carpet and curtains, she probably likes SOFT things (different puppies have different preferences for toys), so I would probably buy her some stuffed dog toys, and other soft toys.  She might like to rip up a cardboard box - cardboard boxes are fun for puppies because they have to figure them out - it helps with brain development and co-ordination of legs as well.  And they can have a chew on them too.  I'd try to make sure there were always new interesting things for her to play with, so she doesn't get bored of the same selection of toys. 

It's also a good idea to rotate toys: Put some away for a week and let her have others, then swap them over - that way you don't need to keep buying new ones, but she'll think they're new!

No, I wouldn't say 'No' to a puppy this young.  People end up saying "no, no, no, no, no' to their dogs all the time and I think the dog just switches off, especially if it has heard it from a young age.  In addition, your pup doesn't know that it's doing anything wrong by playing with the curtains or the carpet - she just thinks they're more toys for her.  I always save punishment (verbal punishment) for when a dog KNOWS its done wrong or has disobeyed a command when older.  So, if I was in the room when my dog launched itself at a bin, I would yell 'No' - because that dog would not be a puppy and knows that bins are not to be touched, from learning the 'Leave' command in class and then in relation to that particular bin in that particular place.  But with a little puppy that doesn't know the "leave' command and is just playing, well I just think it's better to start off positive with a puppy. 

When you have built up a good relationship and your pup is desperate to please you and is secure in the knowledge that you are a good thing, from which only good things come, then you can try some verbal punishment, but until then I think it's best to use distraction.  I mean - you wouldn't tell a baby 'no' for crying, would you?  But you would tell a 4 yr old 'no' for crying....

Hello onetwothree

I understand your thoughts and I can say, that I act most of the time as you advise.  We restrict her to the kitchen and livingromm just now, although she is getting more nosy what's behind that livingroom door :-).  We removed things in these two rooms, which might tempt her.  I think it would be wrong to leave all these good and interesting things in a room and tell her not to touch them.  Then I rather haven't got them in the room in the first place.   When she starts chewing something I don't want her to, than I try to distract her in inviting her to a game with one of her favourite toys.  It generally works.  But I also say 'ah-ah-ah'.  Everywhere you read that a puppy should be told that some things are off limit from the word go.  But generally she is a  good girl (so far) and it makes it often  not necessary (spelling?  I'm not a native in english) to say 'no'.  And of course I would never tell her 'leave' if she hasn't got a clue what that means.  First I want to teach her different commands in a fun way, and when she understands them, than I can start using them in different ways.  Like your example with the bin.  But I can imagine that takes a good few months. 

Thanks and regards from Bagpipe