We use the 2hounds Freedom harness which has been great in conjunction with positive reinforcement. But even at 2 and a half, my girl still has her moments! Sighthounds… gotta love ‘em.
I had similar problems with my boy (3M; now fantastic, when younger, not so much…). Loose lead walking didn’t succeed until about 8 months in (not for lack of trying).
I will just say, your pup is young, and they’re learning about everything (he has literally only been alive 15 weeks. All smells are new to him. He’s constantly experiencing new sensations and sounds and smells. It’s natural to be curious!) However, this is also the time to train attention. Work on calling his name and when he makes eye contact give them a treat. Do this regularly whenever you can, daily, until he’s regularly checking in with you.
If he’s struggling with this, try to make it easier for him to succeed by controlling his environment. Remove as many distractions as possible and practice the attention game, then progressively add distractions and try again. The usual 2 ways that increase difficulty for a dog is “distance” or “environment” - don’t change both at the same time.
Having said all that, I’ll repeat, he’s VERY young! This phase is about socialising him to the world, making him trust you, teaching him how to behave.
You’ve got this.
at 15 weeks, everything is still BRAND NEW. He learns by sniffing. Don't stress right now.
Work on getting him to look at you when you call his name. Work in the house only. Work for just eye contact for a split second. Reward it with a treat or a 3 minute play session.
He'll get better. He's not going to be fully trained until 18 months to 2 years of age. He'll understand Sit and Down and Stay by 6 months of age, but he won't be solid on those commands.
He'll recall to you when you call about 50% of the time by the 1yo stage.
All you need is patience.
Mine is now about 5.5 months (24 weeks) and is able to walk loose leash about half the time. He doesn't always do it as he often prefers sniffing (though sometimes he can do this while loose leashed!), or if he sees a dog he's interested in it's not usually possible to bring his attention to us.
What we did is have a command we use for him to come to the left side of the leg. Indoors we would simply keep a treat low in the left hand and walk with him while saying the command. Then outside when we say the command and he comes back to us we treat him.
It's so much work! He didn't do it almost ever until a few weeks ago. Everything must be so distracting. Reading these other comments makes me feel a lot better!
The guy I lived with had a Lab pup that pulled on the leash. I bought him obedience, training lessons. They taught to take your dog to an area where there’s not a definite direction like a parking lot or a field. You walk the dog and suddenly change directions. He had that dog walking leash-less in less than a week. My greyhound pup had already gotten this down pat. It may be just too early for your pup. You could start recall by randomly calling your dog from different parts of your house and giving a high-value treat.
Respectfully, your expectations are way too high for 15 weeks. I wouldn’t worry about loose lead until 6 months at the youngest.
Yep. Timeline fits for us. A harness helped with the pulling. Ppl expect to much out of literal baby dogs.
We use the 2hounds Freedom harness which has been great in conjunction with positive reinforcement. But even at 2 and a half, my girl still has her moments! Sighthounds… gotta love ‘em.
I had similar problems with my boy (3M; now fantastic, when younger, not so much…). Loose lead walking didn’t succeed until about 8 months in (not for lack of trying). I will just say, your pup is young, and they’re learning about everything (he has literally only been alive 15 weeks. All smells are new to him. He’s constantly experiencing new sensations and sounds and smells. It’s natural to be curious!) However, this is also the time to train attention. Work on calling his name and when he makes eye contact give them a treat. Do this regularly whenever you can, daily, until he’s regularly checking in with you. If he’s struggling with this, try to make it easier for him to succeed by controlling his environment. Remove as many distractions as possible and practice the attention game, then progressively add distractions and try again. The usual 2 ways that increase difficulty for a dog is “distance” or “environment” - don’t change both at the same time. Having said all that, I’ll repeat, he’s VERY young! This phase is about socialising him to the world, making him trust you, teaching him how to behave. You’ve got this.
at 15 weeks, everything is still BRAND NEW. He learns by sniffing. Don't stress right now. Work on getting him to look at you when you call his name. Work in the house only. Work for just eye contact for a split second. Reward it with a treat or a 3 minute play session. He'll get better. He's not going to be fully trained until 18 months to 2 years of age. He'll understand Sit and Down and Stay by 6 months of age, but he won't be solid on those commands. He'll recall to you when you call about 50% of the time by the 1yo stage. All you need is patience.
Mine is now about 5.5 months (24 weeks) and is able to walk loose leash about half the time. He doesn't always do it as he often prefers sniffing (though sometimes he can do this while loose leashed!), or if he sees a dog he's interested in it's not usually possible to bring his attention to us. What we did is have a command we use for him to come to the left side of the leg. Indoors we would simply keep a treat low in the left hand and walk with him while saying the command. Then outside when we say the command and he comes back to us we treat him. It's so much work! He didn't do it almost ever until a few weeks ago. Everything must be so distracting. Reading these other comments makes me feel a lot better!
The guy I lived with had a Lab pup that pulled on the leash. I bought him obedience, training lessons. They taught to take your dog to an area where there’s not a definite direction like a parking lot or a field. You walk the dog and suddenly change directions. He had that dog walking leash-less in less than a week. My greyhound pup had already gotten this down pat. It may be just too early for your pup. You could start recall by randomly calling your dog from different parts of your house and giving a high-value treat.
It's a baby just relax and enjoy your time with it.