Hi,

Can anyone recommend any good sites or any good books with advice on getting your puppy to walk on a lead?

I've been trying with Foxy since the week after her first injection and she still wont walk on a lead! She has accepted her harness and lead no problem, but as soon as I walk off in front, she just freezes and eventually does start to walk but the lead is constantly taught (as if I am pulling her, forcing her to walk... of course that isn't what I am doing) with me way in front. She isn't waking freely. It's as if she is having to walk, but pulling backwards to stop. I have tried making it fun and using treats to get her to walk forward by herself, but it doesn't work. I have also not forced her into walking, I have just tried to get her to slightly, using treats and reasurring her etc. So now, I just end up giving in and picking her up and carrying her on a walk! Yes I know bad mummy, but I just need some help! I don't really want to be one of these toy breed owners that never takes their dogs for walks, or carries them everywhere. I enjoy the thought of taking Foxy out for walks (even if they are short), and over the park, but at the moment that just isn't happening.
So it's not the harness or lead being a problem, she is used to them and has no problem with that... it's the getting her to walk outside of the garden that I need help with.

Also, any good books with training (hard to train) puppies to sit and other simple commands? Foxy seems to be extremely difficult (not sure if that word is too harsh) to even train to sit. I've been doing short sessions daily or every other day for weeks, and she still isn't getting anywhere. She's just too distracted all the time.

For example, if I were to do a search on Google - How to train a puppy to sit. I'd get a good few sites with an explanation. It's usuallly, "stand/kneel over your puppy and hold the treat in your fingers, lower your hand over the back of your pups head and the automatic reaction of your puppy is to sit"... but noooooooooooooooooooo not Foxy she just stands up on her back feet and walks backwards!!!!! So I tried lowering my hand, so that she couldn't stand, but then she's just trying to get at the treat as soon as she knows it's in my hand, so she's dancing and running all over the place. The above technique just doesn't work with Foxy unfortunately. She doesn't get into that sit position doing it like that.

Thanks

Gwen Bailey The Perfect Puppy Book (she owes me some commission again lol). Her training exercises are sooo east to follow and work everytime. Good luck.

PS does your fella like Foxy

Hi my oldest sheltie hated the leash also and wouldn't walk what I ended up doing ( it took 3 or 4 walks to get past this stage) I would walk he would stop when I got to the end of the leash I would sit on the grass and call him when he made it to me I'd make a little fuss over him then I'd get up and say his name if he he stopped agian we'd do the same thing sit on the grass or sidewalk call him excitedly make a fuss go again it the longest 1/2 a block I'd ever walked but after a few days he got it and know he loves his leash more than running in the park...Jill

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I would actually suggest 'Puppy School' by Gwen Bailey as it is purely training based and tells you how to teach your puppy all the basic commands and some tricks etc aswell.

If she won't sit using the treat as a lure, you're almost certainly not doing it right. If it is done correctly, she'll need to sit to see/gain access to the treat and sitting will be the only way she can do it.

just to be different im going to suggest this one When Pigs Fly: Training Success with Impossible Dogs by Jane Killion. Its great to read simple and easy also The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller is really good.

Thanks everyone, I will take a look into both books!

I need to film her when I am trying to train her to sit, so then you can see what I mean. It's pretty hard to explain the way she acts when doing it with text!

As soon as she knows the treat is in my hand, which of course she needs to after all luring her with it to get her to sit. She just comes straight for my hand trying to get it out (she doesn't bite my fingers, just licks me furiously trying to get it out), so I then try to lower it over the back of her head... and it just isn't working. She walks backwards doesn't go into the sit position!Honestly, she just walks backwards everytime, or jumps around.

I've tried lowering my hand so if she stands up she's too high to get it, to then see if she lowers her butt to sit, but instead she just grabs onto my hand and wont let go (with her body and front feet).

I'll try and make a video (some how with one pair of hands or someones help, so you can see what it is she does, my explanation on here doesn't even make sense to me lol).

Mrsdusty......... he loves her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he thinks she's perfect! He got too attatched within 3 days of being with her so that's great! When it was time for us to go home he said "oh I am going to miss Foxy, I want to see her again soon..." I was like "erm! what about me!?" hehe just kidding

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