Puppy's First Walk

[Jaime + Oliver]

Hi All,

Oliver is finally fully vaccinated!  WOOHOO!  While we've been going to Puppy K and a few puppy socials in safe environments, Oliver has yet to go on a REAL walk in the big world full of things to smell and taste.

We've been practicing loose leash walking with collar and a harness in the backyard (with varying degrees of success).  Now that we're officially safe to go out in to the world on his own four furry feet, I'm concerned about holding his focus.

Are there any tips for the first walk, or the first few weeks of walks?  We're still weeks away from leash work in puppy school so any advice is appreciated!

[Cheryl and Lucas]

Congratulations! Explore and have fun:) Sniff it all and say hello to everyone you meet. The more sights, sounds and smells he is exposed to now, the less timid he will be in the future. Training will come later, just soak up all the attention you and Oliver will be getting for having "the cutest puppy ever"! He probably will not be focused for now, just put yourself in his errr..."paws". The world is a fascinating place. Make sure he is safe, watch what he puts into his mouth and hold on tight, it is gonna be a fun ride!

[Robin & Josie]

Ditto to the above. Josie is 5 months and our morning walk is key to settling her down for the morning. What I have found helpful is a.) and easy walk harness. I don't know if that is the harness you are using, but it helps keep her from pulling and when she does pull, it's from this D-ring on her chest rather than her neck/throat which is much better (no choking, no collapsed trachea later - our trainer, also a vet tech - cautioned about that one).

Josie is distracted by EVERYTHING. Kids walking to school, joggers, walkers, construction people, etc. Sometimes (often...), I'm walking one way and she puts the brakes on and tries to walk the other way to follow one of the above. It makes me crazy sometimes. What I have found helpful is one thing we have learned in Puppy K. - "attention training". If you train Oliver to answer to his name and give him a treat right away (call his name, he looks at you, you give treat immediately - repeat, repeat, repeat)n, you can use this for many things - walking among them. 

When Josie starts following someone else, I call her name and give her a treat. It usually breaks the trance of the distraction and gets her back on track. I usually have to do this multiple times during a walk. (It's always nice when the jogger, kids etc. are in front of us rather than going in the opposite direction....). I also say S-L-O-W, when she starts pulling and give her a treat when she's walking beside me nicely, looking up at me. 

Hope this will be helpful and enjoy!

Here are a few pictures of Josie - one alone and a couple of one of her favorite walking distractions - her fence friend. This is a nice lab whose name we haven't learned yet, but they like to sniff each other through the fence every morning :)

[Jaime + Oliver]

Little Josie is adorable!  We did pick up the Easy Walk Harness and had a heck of a time fitting it on a wiggly puppy.  We're already working on attention training with his name & "look at me" commands.  I just know it'll be different outside our yard.  I'm definitely going to have the treat pouch ready to go!

[Kris and Sawyer]

We have the Gentle Leader and Sawyer hates it! I had more success training him in the backyard with treats and using a regular leash on his collar. He's really food motivated, so I just kept treating him if he was walking nicely. If he pulled, I stood still. He walks pretty well on leash now. I also trained him to sit nicely whenever I stopped walking. I like that because if I stop to talk to someone he just sits there. Now if I could just get him to realize the cat does not want to play.... *sigh*

[Miss Ellie]

Hi Jaime,

I'm glad to have found this conversation, as our little one will be in the same boat as Oliver at the end of this month.  Hope his first walk goes great...can't wait to hear an update!

[Jaime + Oliver]

Puppy's first walk is done!  He was distracted like you wouldn't believe.  Forget looking at us, responding to his name, or obeying any commands.  He bounced from one side of the sidewalk to the other, sniffing, sniffing, sniffing.  He whined and squeaked a lot during the first few blocks but settled down eventually.  I'm really glad we went with the easy walk harness, otherwise I fear he would have strangled himself with all the excitement.  The most disheartening thing was despite meeting lots of people, exposing him to lots of situations, he barked at everyone we saw.  It was definitely a tail-wagging, "hi" kind of bark, but nevertheless not good and we spent a lot of time apologizing.  I'm just hoping the barking will lessen the more we get out.