Hi everyone!
Trying to train my pup to walk nicely on a lead and I am nearing the end of my tether (no pun intended!) I have a 5 month old cocker spaniel, and I have heard that cockers can be difficult to lead train so I am trying to be as patient as possible but after a particularly frustrating walk with absolutely zero progress and my arm in danger of getting ripped out of its socket, I'm looking for some advice.
So, he will usually walk nicely for the first 2 minutes or so of the walk, and I make sure to reward and praise him the whole time. Then suddenly he just decides he's had enough, we're walking too slow and he'll try and take off! And if I was to let him, he would spend the entire walk straining at the end of the lead, panting away and dragging me in his wake. I have read up a lot on how to train puppies to heel and have had advice from trainers (though we're not attending puppy classes ourselves). I have a little pouch of treats to entice him to walk next to me, but after the first couple of minutes he just starts jumping at me if I try to tempt him with treats and then goes back to running. Whenever he pulls I will stop, or turn and walk the other way. When I stop, he will stop as well, and usually sit down, but as soon as I start walking again he takes off like a horse leaving the start box! At times he has launched himself so hard that he's actually bounced back at the end of the lead and spun! And he doesn't seem to understand what I want from him, so he starts to get antsy and frustrated. If I turn the other way, he will usually walk nicely next to me for a little while and be rewarded for it (before spotting the next thing to launch himself at!) but as soon as I turn back the way we were going he will be straining again. I've tried walking backwards so he's coming towards me and the treats, but again this only lasts until his attention is drawn elsewhere. I also make sure to try different routes and walks to places he's never been before and this doesn't make a difference in his behaviour at all, so I know he's not just pulling in anticipation of getting somewhere.
I've been seriously trying to sort out his walking for around 2 and a half weeks now, which I know isn't all that long in terms of dog training, but I would have expected to see at least a little bit of progress by now. It is worrying because occasionally he will launch himself towards roads, and I'm afraid that one day he might catch me off guard and manage to yank the lead out of my hand - not to mention the strain it is going to put on my arms and shoulders when he is big and strong! It is extremely frustrating because he is such a quick learner usually, so it's making me think that I am failing at putting across what desirable behaviour is. I also live in a small village and I'm starting to get really funny looks from the locals when I've been standing in the same spot for 15 minutes, or walking back and forth along the same street haha!
He is great off the lead, and we are lucky that we live somewhere with lots of places he can explore freely. His recall is fantastic (most of the time) and we just have lovely walks that way, and it makes life a whole lot easier for me! The temptation is to do that all the time and just be resigned to the fact that he's going to pull, but I always hate seeing dogs strangling themselves and choking, and I don't want to be one of those dog walkers! But I'm worried that I'm testing our bond by persevering with training that he doesn't seem to understand...
Any advice would be very much appreciated. Should I just keep doing what I'm doing or are there other tricks I could be trying? Thank you!
Trying to train my pup to walk nicely on a lead and I am nearing the end of my tether (no pun intended!) I have a 5 month old cocker spaniel, and I have heard that cockers can be difficult to lead train so I am trying to be as patient as possible but after a particularly frustrating walk with absolutely zero progress and my arm in danger of getting ripped out of its socket, I'm looking for some advice.
So, he will usually walk nicely for the first 2 minutes or so of the walk, and I make sure to reward and praise him the whole time. Then suddenly he just decides he's had enough, we're walking too slow and he'll try and take off! And if I was to let him, he would spend the entire walk straining at the end of the lead, panting away and dragging me in his wake. I have read up a lot on how to train puppies to heel and have had advice from trainers (though we're not attending puppy classes ourselves). I have a little pouch of treats to entice him to walk next to me, but after the first couple of minutes he just starts jumping at me if I try to tempt him with treats and then goes back to running. Whenever he pulls I will stop, or turn and walk the other way. When I stop, he will stop as well, and usually sit down, but as soon as I start walking again he takes off like a horse leaving the start box! At times he has launched himself so hard that he's actually bounced back at the end of the lead and spun! And he doesn't seem to understand what I want from him, so he starts to get antsy and frustrated. If I turn the other way, he will usually walk nicely next to me for a little while and be rewarded for it (before spotting the next thing to launch himself at!) but as soon as I turn back the way we were going he will be straining again. I've tried walking backwards so he's coming towards me and the treats, but again this only lasts until his attention is drawn elsewhere. I also make sure to try different routes and walks to places he's never been before and this doesn't make a difference in his behaviour at all, so I know he's not just pulling in anticipation of getting somewhere.
I've been seriously trying to sort out his walking for around 2 and a half weeks now, which I know isn't all that long in terms of dog training, but I would have expected to see at least a little bit of progress by now. It is worrying because occasionally he will launch himself towards roads, and I'm afraid that one day he might catch me off guard and manage to yank the lead out of my hand - not to mention the strain it is going to put on my arms and shoulders when he is big and strong! It is extremely frustrating because he is such a quick learner usually, so it's making me think that I am failing at putting across what desirable behaviour is. I also live in a small village and I'm starting to get really funny looks from the locals when I've been standing in the same spot for 15 minutes, or walking back and forth along the same street haha!
He is great off the lead, and we are lucky that we live somewhere with lots of places he can explore freely. His recall is fantastic (most of the time) and we just have lovely walks that way, and it makes life a whole lot easier for me! The temptation is to do that all the time and just be resigned to the fact that he's going to pull, but I always hate seeing dogs strangling themselves and choking, and I don't want to be one of those dog walkers! But I'm worried that I'm testing our bond by persevering with training that he doesn't seem to understand...
Any advice would be very much appreciated. Should I just keep doing what I'm doing or are there other tricks I could be trying? Thank you!
