As most of you know every spring I enjoy attending our local dog training class with one of more of our dogs. If I have time and think the dog will do will, we go on and attend the Canine Good Citizenship testing at the end of the classes to try and earn that certification. It’s alway fun no matter how they do.

This year we have our two youngster; Legend and Laney (brother and sister) that I’m hoping to take through class. One will go through the first class in April and then next the class in May.

But first things first! I have to leash train them…lol!

Yep, I’ll admit, I’m a little lax on leash training puppies. When we live out in the country and our acreage is completely fenced in, I just let the dog run and do their thing. I don’t worry about leash training until we have dog class or need to go to the vet. I know, that’s not the greatest plan, but it’s how I roll.

So I thought I’d better start now so we don’t look like complete country bumpkins when we show up for class. And once they are walking on a leash well, I can start with some other basic commands and get a jump start on class.

Since we are starting to get more and more nice days and my body needs it,  I’ve been trying to walk every day.

Cajsa always goes with me. She’s the one dog I can completely trust to go off leash and if she wanders off smelling something, will come when called. Gotta love a herding/working breed! 😉

Now usually when a puppy (I know, he’s almost a year old, puppy he’s still a puppy) gets a leash on and feels some resistance they will have what I call a “puppy rodeo”. They buck, jump, twist and throw themselves all over the place. I try to talk to them in a calm manner and get their attention with a treat. Once they come towards the treat, the resistance isn’t there so they stop pulling and throwing a fit and they get a nummy reward. And yes, this wouldn’t be as dramatic or difficult if I trained them at a much younger age.

I snapped the buckle collar on Legend and let him out the door. Once hubby and I got to the gate, I snapped the leash on him and we headed out. And honestly, there wasn’t much of a struggle at all. He sat down a couple times with the brakes on instead of having a rodeo. Then it was just a matter of offering him a treat to get him to move forward and off we went!

He did great on his first leash walk off the property and through the woods. He enjoyed stopping to sniff and explore too and love having his big “sister” Cajsa along for company.

So I think we are easily on our way with leash training and then obedience work!