How to teach a puppy to walk on a leash

Equipment comes first, and it comes slowly. The AKC calls a harness generally the better option for puppies, because it keeps pressure off the neck if they pull, and suggests a front-clip harness for large puppies; a well-fitted flat collar is the other choice. Put it on for a minute during a game or a meal, take it off, and repeat through the day until your puppy forgets it is wearing anything. Our harness how-to covers fitting and a slow introduction in detail.

Then choose the leash. The AKC recommends a lightweight 6-foot leash and advises against retractable ones, which hand a puppy more line every time it pulls. VCA suggests clipping the leash on for short periods at home while you play, with treats whenever it comes out, so the leash starts to predict good things. Stay with the puppy the whole time the leash is on, since a trailing leash can snag on furniture or turn into a chew toy.

The first outdoor sessions happen at home, because public ground waits for your vet's word on the vaccine series. A yard, a driveway or the front step gives the puppy grass, wind and passing cars without the dog traffic of a sidewalk. Go back to paying every step or two, because outside is far more interesting than the kitchen. A puppy that sits and refuses to move is often overwhelmed; wait, let it look, then walk the other way for a treat.

When the vet says yes, choose quiet places before busy ones. Gloucester allows dogs in Stage Fort Park, though not on its beaches, and the city requires every dog in the park to be on a leash, which suits a short practice walk on the grass at a quiet hour. Halibut Point State Park in Rockport requires leashes too. Tick season runs April to November on Cape Ann, so check your puppy's coat after any walk through long grass.

Some puppies freeze every time they leave the house, and that is usually fear rather than stubbornness. Brave & Balanced, for pups from 4 months, works on confidence, fear-based behavior and leash skills. AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy, for puppies from 8 weeks to 6 months over 6 weeks and 12 sessions, includes leash skills, and its test asks a puppy to follow its owner on lead in a straight line for 15 steps and walk past people 5 feet away.

For the youngest pups, Tiny Tails Puppy School covers life skills and confidence from 8 to 16 weeks, and Bright Beginnings adds leash skills, recall and impulse control from 4 months. Gabriella Pope leads every program, force-free, with sessions from $94. If a puppy that walked nicely at four months starts pulling hard at eight, that is adolescence arriving, and our loose-leash walking how-to and Calm & Connected pick up from there.