It's pretty common for someone to get a puppy and immediately wanna put on a
leash and take them out for a long walk.
But there are three big reasons why you shouldn't be taking your puppy out for
long walks until they're ready. Number one, your puppy,
isn't physically ready to be going out on long walks.
Yet puppies as they're growing, have growth plates in their long bones,
they're called epiphyseal plates. And as your puppy grows up,
repetitive exercise can actually cause stress injuries to these growth plates.
Things like long walks,
long runs going out for a bike ride can actually be damaging to them as they
grow.
All it takes is one bad experience with another dog or with a person to turn
your puppy's,
understanding of the world from a place of fascination and into a world of
scary, challenging things. And number three,
walking on leash is a complicated skill and your puppy at this age,
just isn't ready for that kind of challenge yet.
Now the good news is there are a couple of exercises that you can do that will
build a solid foundation for when you start your puppy walking training.
Now this is the fifth video in our series with this adorable little puppy.
But if this is your first time here, let me bring you up to speed.
This is our new puppy vlog. Now as a dog trainer, for more than 20 years,
I have raised and trained a lot of dogs already in this series.
I'm gonna share with you some tips and tricks that I've learned along the way.
And I bet many of them you've never heard of I'm Kayl McCann.
This is eight-week-old mixed breed puppy Five Alive.
Welcome back to McCann Dogs.
Now I only have a few minutes this afternoon that I can do any training with
Five Alive.
So I thought it would be a great opportunity to show you a skill that's really
going to benefit your puppy's future leash walking training,
the best part about a skill like this is that you can work on it in your living
room. Here in our training facility,
we've helped more than a hundred thousand dog owners to overcome the same dog
training challenges that you have.
So if this is your first time on the channel and you're currently training a
puppy,
make sure you hit that subscribe button so that we can help you to have a well
behaved four-legged family member.
You seen us do a lot of work on luring with Five Alive.
We've really started to show him that putting in a little bit of effort,
following some food and all kinds of crazy ways is valuable.
Now this luring exercise that I'm going to show you in just a moment is gonna be
really beneficial for your leash walking training.
And it's really not that different than some of the exercises we've done
already. A couple of things to keep in mind, worry. We want to start this out,
making it really easy for him. I'll show you you. In fact,
we'll just start walking. He's focused on the food. I'm gonna say yes,
then reward him in position. I can take out another treat, lure him back.
He's literally just following the food. And this is the very beginning of this.
Now because he and I have worked on this a few times,
couple of times before we can start to make it a little bit more challenging.
We don't want all of the emphasis to be on the food.
So what I'm going to do is I'm gonna take a couple of steps as I have the food
away. Yes. Then reward him in position. I'll show you what I mean.
Let's go, buddy.
Yes. Good boy. I'm gonna take a treat out. We're gonna turn the corner.
And as we come back around to you guys, I'm gonna remove yes. Oh, I,
I kind of "yes'd" the wrong time there. Let's try that again.
I don't love that he was in the air now I'm gonna make my food go away.
Good boy. Lure him around the corner.
Yes. Good boy. And make it really, really simple for him to be right.
The other thing that was interesting, and again,
these are really foundational puppy steps.
As we get a little deeper into the training,
we're gonna be really focused on keeping all four feet on the floor.
Now it's really important to watch for that.
I wouldn't wanna reward my puppy if he's only on two wheels, you know,
if he's up on his hind legs, not a great time to reward.
The other thing to keep in mind is as I'm moving along with him,
my knuckles are forward. So that he's in line with me as I'm rewarding him.
A lot of people make the mistake and they turn their hand out to reward their
puppy. Well, look what happens. He's almost at a 90 degree angle to me,
but if I keep my knuckles forward, then the puppy's in a great position,
something I want you to notice now, as I've had Five Alive in here,
I've had his house-line on for situations like that. If he goes to leave,
you know, he gets distracted. I do have his house-line on for this exercise.
I have been letting him drag that line. Now, if you think that you, uh,
should be hanging onto the leash, cuz your puppy's a little bit more distracted,
that's okay. The one thing I want you to be careful of though,
is I don't want you to be having that leash tight.
We want this to be all about your puppy, getting great information,
being rewarded lots on a loose leash.
So make sure that you're not accidentally adding some tension in to that leash,
a pretty common place for that to happen.
That's a boy is when people go to reward their puppy,
they turn into the statue of Liberty. So make sure that leash is loose.
Anytime your puppy is in at your side and they're in the right position.
The other thing I want you to work on with your puppy is a control position or a
sit in start position. Now this is, uh, the result of rewarding. I don't know,
a couple of nights this past week and we've created like high value for this
position. I also lured him into that pre-walking position,
but this is the kind of thing that allows you to start with some control
as you work on your walking.
Isn't it great to have your puppy already in,
at your side so that you can get the rewards at so that you don't have to start
with them pulling you out the door. Okay.
I need to show you how to get him into this position though. Okay, buddy.
Now it's pretty straightforward for a lot of you guys that have, uh, you know,
medium two, uh, small breed puppies.
It's as simple as luring your puppy in behind you turning your knuckles forward
and then luring them back up to your side and then into a sit. I mean,
he really, uh, enjoys being in this position. And to be honest,
this is exactly what it would look like the first couple of times we tried this
exercise. Good boy.
Nice sit this exercise as well because we've taught him to lure,
taught him to follow food really well. Okay. So I'm gonna show you again.
So it's simple. It's simply just luring your puppy back. Gonna get him,
those paws outta there and then turning your knuckles forward.
And luring him up into that sitting position. Now,
if you have a larger breed dog or a giant breed,
something that a lot of puppy owners that have great big large dogs struggle
with is the getting the right distance behind them. So think about it this way.
I want you to keep your right foot planted. Let's get 'em out in front of me.
Get your, keep your right foot planted and take a big step back. Oh,
he's very excited about the food. Take a big step back with your left,
then turn your knuckles forward. Lure your puppy up.
And then into that sitting position. Yes. The only time they get a treat,
good boy is when they're on all four paws with their little butt parked at the
ground. Now, um,
wouldn't it be nice if you were out on a walk with your puppy and they started
to go into an automatic sit, you know,
you get to the edge of the sidewalk and as you stop,
they park their little bum. Yes. Good boy.
Now this is how you start to teach that skill. You know,
having lots of understanding. Okay buddy, try to break it off this way.
You have lots of understanding or lots of value. Oh, he is very excited.
Now he is very excited about the food. Lots of value for being in this position.
Now I feel like we're getting to the end of this training session with him.
He's starting to get a little bit over stimulated and the reward value is
maybe not as high as it was.
So this is the right time to stop the training with your puppy. You know,
we've worked for, I dunno what it's been like four or five minutes.
We've got in tons of rewards for that great position for that great moving at my
side. But now he wants to do something that's a little bit more energetic and,
and maybe I can build some of that into our, our training session.
But for that last few minutes,
we've really built value for that puppy walking unleash.
And these are the kinds of foundational steps that will change everything when
it comes to your walking training,
because we only had a few minutes to do some training this afternoon between
classes.
I really wanted to get all of his energy out and I decided to play a little bit
of tug to do some toy play,
but there really big mistakes that people often make when teaching their dog to
drop a toy. So you don't make those same mistakes. Click that card right there.
As we were recording this video,
instructor Shannon sent us a link to our puppy walking foundation checklist.
I think it'll be perfect for you.
So make sure you check it out in the description below on that note. I'm Ken,
this is Five Alive happy training.