Puppy Leash training

[Buck Dancer]

I have had many labs and always leash trained them very early to heal, stay, sit on a leash. However, I now have a 12 week old Pudelpointer. I have read that one should not be as strict handling a pointing breed on a leash so I pretty much have been letting him wonder left right front back as I walk him.

As he gets bigger and stronger, I am thinking I'll need to start doing some leash OB. I know how to do it, I just don't know the proper approach and timing of leash manners for a young pointer.

I guess the theory is you want your pointer to be more free ranging in a the field and not be too controlling.

Thoughts?

[flitecontrol]

Never leash trained a PP, but have done it with GWP, DD, WPG , GS and mongrels. I think a dog is a dog, and while there are differences between individuals, they aren't breed specific. I've had a dog that worked well on a leash from an early age and yet ranged a lot farther out than I liked. The others got the same training but weren't horizon busters. In short, I don't think beginning leash training would be a problem for your pup. Just keep the sessions short and fun.

[Misskiwi67]

I correct obnoxious pulling, but tolerate some pulling.

I teach heel early using reward based methods. Not heeling, it’s OK to pull. Heeling, is heeling.

[bwjohn]

"I think," so take it with a grain of salt, most people want their pointing breed dogs to be more independent and allow them to get away with more of the "minor" annoyances in obedience than the retriever groups. Again I am speaking in general. B/c they want them to be more independent they let them pull and tug and go more than the retriever group. IMO, if leash training takes the independence out of the dog you didn't have much dog to start with.

It really all boils down to what you want out of the dog, if you want absolute maximum range the dog is capable of maybe you let it go. But if you are ok with a closer working dog, by a little bit possibly (maybe), teach him heal and stay.

personally I never teach pointing or versatile dogs to sit. I like the versatile breeds, but don't use them for waterfowl, where the sit command could be useful. If a dog ever gets to much pressure and begins to sit on point or in drills to avoid corrections, you have a harder thing to fix if you have taught him/her that sitting is a good thing.

Obedience is all what you want, some people want a lot of control and others don't. Do what you are comfortable with, at the end of the day it is your dog to live with and hunt.

brandon

[bhennessy]

Leash training is a must in my house. My dogs (2 Griffs) have to behave on the leash or else no one is happy. My theory is that an ill behaved dog doesn’t get walked as much in an urban environment simply because they are a pain in the ass for the wife, kids, passers-by, etc. and then no one is happy. I doubt the training has dialed down my dogs range. These guys are smart enough to know their different roles and they also get lots of off leash time.

I started mine learning to walk on a loose leash (not pulling) after they had a good grasp of come, stay and sit...Three months maybe? Positive reinforcement only until they understood that “come” on a leash meant no pulling, darting to the other side, behind, etc. i say come and hold a treat just in front and above their nose so that they stay in position because they want it. “Good come”, give treat, rinse/repeat many many times. Bad behavior means no treat and a positive correction with the leash to put them back into place.

This got both my dogs 75% of the way there. Then adding distractions and finally negative reinforcement by way of a pinch collar and later e-collar (after they were conditioned at around 9 months) got them to the 90% mark...and the last 10 is always a work in progress when we pass a dog on the sidewalk, stray cat appears, etc.

I read (gun dog magazine maybe?) there is a new e-collar for this purpose that delivers a correction when the dog pulls on the leash it’s attached to. Reviewer said it worked very quickly.

[orhunter]

Leash manners are one if the first things I work on with a pup. No pulling so one of your arms becomes longer than the other and whoa. Don’t teach the other stuff. Have gotten lots of compliments on how well my dogs behave on leash. I just tell folks there are consequences for pulling too hard.

[Doc E]

"HEEL" means heel --- on or off leash.
"Release" or "Smell for birds" means go out and do your thing.

.

[Doc E]

"HEEL" means heel --- on or off leash.
"Release" or "Smell for birds" means go out and do your thing.

.

[Buck Dancer]

Thanks for the input everyone

I will leash train just like I did with my Labs. He is a puppy now and I can deal with the darting back and forth and almost tripping me, but as the dog gets older, no way could I deal with it and as someone else said, the wife and kids aren't going to want to give me a break and walk the dog once in a while if he does not behave properly on a leash. Also, teaching sit to give me more control of the dog in the house.

Over the years, nothing drove me more crazy then neighbors with their 90 lb rescue dogs being dragged by their dog in humane sled harnesses toward my well behaved dog - I guess they don't want the dog to hurt it's neck with even a normal collar. I don't want to be that guy.

My labs were leash trained then trained to heal and walk with me without a leash and a simple command,"OK", and they were off and hunting.

If leash training and sit ruin the dog from being a great pointing dog in the field so be it. Even if I hunt a bunch, 98% of the time it will be a house dog so manors are very important. Now if I lived on a ranch with wild birds in my backyard and dogs that lived mostly in kennels it might make sense to do less OB.

[Misskiwi67]

Leash training and sit won’t hurt your pointing dog one bit.

The only reason I tolerate some pulling is for blood track training. But pulling me down and acting like an idiot is not tolerated.

[ryanr]

Pointing dog or retriever, heel means heel. Every dog should have leash manners and know when they are expected and readily comply. Most of the time my dogs are free to have fun and we're goofing off and playing. However the short intervals when we're working they are expected to be compliant otherwise a dog acting like an a-hole gets treated like one. That said a 12wk old puppy is not going to really act like one but no reason not to start shaping heel and general leash manners now. That's all positive reinforcement.

I do allow pulling when we're approaching the duck pond for duck search work. I like the dog fired up to hunt up a duck. I often don't even have them on a leash for that and sometimes they'll start without me!