How do you leash train a strong willed easily bored 3 month old puppy?
I would recommend trying a Sporn harness. They are incredible. I volunteer at a few local rescues and we have many dogs come in that have never had the experience of walking on a leash. They either try to walk you or they pull back and try to get out of a normal collar. The Sporn harness does not pinch or poke the dog at all, which can be very painful or dangerous, especially for a dog as young as yours is. They go on like a normal harness would and they put gentle pressure on the clavicle(breastbone) of the dog when they pull or tug on the leash. I have put these on dogs as large as 150# and as small as a Yorkie. They work great and are very humane. For a 3 month old puppy, everything is new to them. They have never had the experience of walking on leash. You should also put the leash on the pup in the house and allow him to walk around with it so he gets used to the feel of having it on. Start slow and work with him in a small area just to get him used to the idea. Walk him around in
Well, you just have to keep trying. He’s only 3 months old, so he’s not used to this at all. You could put a harness on him, which gives you better control of him. When my dog was 3 months old, he didn’t really walk on leash either. He just kind of wandered around on his own, in no real direction. I just let him do it, and eventually he started walking more. He’s not going to walk on a leash like an older dog yet.
To begin with a 12 week old puppy is in kind of a limbo stage. Fear memory has just developed and they are still to develop the cognitive skills necessary to properly understand a correction. I always suggest that all training at this age be correction free and on a fun basis only because it is to easy to do more harm than good. (dog doesn’t understand but does remember) Puppy’s by nature are totally food motivated, so take advantage of that and cookie train. Somewhere about 6-7 months the puppy will start to exhibit a new found sense of Independence and self awareness. This is your cue that the puppy is no longer food motivated and has developed “other” motivations (shouldn’t need an explanation), and has developed the cognitive skills to properly understand corrections. Formal training should start at this age, and you can start “proofing” what the puppy has already been taught. You will find that now you can teach the dog in two days what it couldn’t quite grasp in two months before
