Six weeks old- Leash training!

At six weeks the puppies are doing quite well with their toilet training.  They have not pooped in their crate for several days.  We make sure that they have a chance to go outside right after they eat because we know puppies poop after eating.  They get plenty of play time outside

exploring the big semi truck

climbing over tools we left out,

and playing chase.

Now we are on to the next challenge:  walking on a leash

Since they are very young and very small it is important to be very gentle with the leash.  Our goal is to introduce it in a way that shows them a leash means fun.

We spent several days encouraging them to follow us as we walk around the yard.  Every time they go outside or come back in we point them in the right direction, but we never pick them up.  They have to make it up the steps on their own.   

From this they learn to follow direction and to work towards goals, two things we will be asking them to do on a leash.

The first day we slipped a leash around their neck we only asked for a few steps.  

This is the most frightening time for the puppy, so we have to be extremely gentle.  We put just one finger worth of pressure on the leash and we wait. 

We never drag them forward, this makes them feel helpless.  We wait for the puppy to choose to move forward.  This is a puzzle for them.  They try lots of different solutions to the puzzle: pulling away from the pressure, yelping, grabbing the leash with their mouth, even rolling over.  As soon as they try moving toward us we praise them happily.  They figured out the puzzle!

The second and third sessions we ask a little more, showing them the true purpose of a leash is to walk together.  

In these sessions the some of the puppies would only walk a dozen feet and some went all around our puppy yard.  It is up to each puppy how much we do.  We make sure that each session shows less fight and more walking.  By the fourth day all of them are walking happily around the yard with only short bouts of pulling. 

Angel even came up to Judith and asked for another walk when everyone was done, so he got to go all the way to the arena and back!