Richard Cussons

Labrador Training To Walk on Leash

Training your dog to walk on leash? Here are some tips you may find helpful...

There can be various purposes of labrador training. Apart from being household pet, a labrador can be trained to become guide dog for physically handicapped persons, rescue or search dog, hunting dog, detection dog or therapy dog. But regardless of the labrador training purpose, basic training must be done in order to make advanced training less challenging.

One lesson that must be included in the basic labrador training is training a dog to walk on leash. Most dogs do not like the restriction caused by leash and collar. It is therefore important to make leash training as simple and early as soon as possible. It's good if your new family member has already been introduced to collars, but if that is not the case, there is no cause for alarm. There is still time for you to get your pet familiar and comfortable with a collar.

To start the ball rolling, happily call your pet to come to you. Place the collar when he is relaxed and playing to keep his attention away from the strange thing around his neck. He'll probably try to remove or scratch off the thing but it is important that you don't take it off. Take it off only when he is relaxed and has forgotten about it. The collar should not be too tight to give him comfort and allow him to breathe, and neither too loose for it to easily slip off your dog's head.

Once your lab is comfortable with the collar, attach the leash and leave it in a short while to get him used to it. When the leash is on, do not leave your dog unsupervised because the leash can tangled and may lead to injury. When your lab has got used to the leash, pick up the other end of the of it and start to walk around the house with your dog either beside or behind you, never ahead of you. Chances are, your dog will try to walk you or refuse to move. Use the "come" command to solve this problem. If that doesn't work, use the "come" command and gently tug the leash to get his attention. Praise or reward him if he responds to the command.

Training a labrador to walk on leash can be challenging knowing that labradors are large and strong dogs that may tend to pull a lot. The "stay" command can work wonders on this dilemma.

Keep training sessions short and enjoyable.

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