Does your pup pull like a train? Sadly, many do and don’t come ready-made leash walkers. Leash training can be a hard skill to master, both for the owner and the dog! It takes patience, consistency and can be pretty challenging.
There’s a lot to think about when leash training, you have your treats, your dog’s leash, all those distractions, and you *still* have to try and walk in a straight line, and reward your dog, so how does adding a clicker to leash training make any of that easier?!
Well we’ll tell you in this article, as we dig into clicker training for beginners, how to get your puppy used to clicker leash training, how clicker leash training can stop your puppy pulling on leash, and what else you can do instead of clicker leash training.
If you want to teach your dog loose leash walking from the get go, download the Zigzag puppy training app, where we go through a whole loose leash training program, as well as teach your dog those all important life skills.
Clicker training for beginners
Clicker training for puppies is a way of applying positive reinforcement training with a marker that gives instant feedback, to tell the puppy they did the right thing and that a treat is coming. By using a clicker rather than a verbal marker, we can be sure that it always stays the same and isn’t affected by our emotions, which can mean a lot to a dog!
Read more in our article on clicker training.
Getting your puppy used to clicker leash training
To use clicker leash training for your puppy, think less about the leash, and more about where you want your dog to be when you’re training leash walking.
Follow these steps, and you’ll get clicker leash training aced in no time!
Start at home
Somewhere with few distractions is the best place to start out, so your dog can focus on clicker leash training. This might be in your main living space at first, followed by your own yard.
Choose your treats
We want stinky, high value real good treats to make walking next to you rewarding for your dog.
Learn more in our article rewards and treats about what treats to use for leash training, and why.
Train naked – your puppy not you!
Don’t worry about a leash or harness to begin with, let’s teach them where they should be with the clicker first.
Create a reward zone
This will be somewhere around your left or right heel, click when they get in the zone, and give them a treat. You can just drop it for them, sometimes that’s easier.
Start walking
Click and treat your dog walking next to you, in that reward zone, just one or two steps at first! Build up the number of steps that your dog walks next to you, little by little,
Add the leash and harness
Now you’ve got some steps going on, add a leash and harness, but we’re still training clicker leash walking in that low distraction environment.
Move outside
Walk up and down the same street when clicker leash training, so your dog gets reading their pee mails out of the way, and it’s no longer distracting for them. Click and treat them when their head is up, and they’re walking next to you.
Practice clicker leash training
Anywhere and everywhere. Clicker leash training, and loose leash training in general, takes time and practice. Teach your dog that walking next to you is the best thing ever, and that you’re the center of their world.
Click and treat randomly
Once your dog can walk with clicker leash training reliably, you can start to randomly reward how many steps they’re doing for a click and treat. This works a bit like a slot machine, and keeps them guessing, resulting in stronger behavior and less leash pulling.
Will clicker training solve my puppy pulling?
Yes, clicker training can be successfully used for leash pulling in puppies, and many other behaviors in fact like teaching your puppy to come back, as well as tricks and teaching them not to jump up.
Puppies are naturally curious and will pull on the leash to get to stuff they want to investigate. By practicing clicker training, you can teach them that you’re worth hanging out with, and that walking next to you brings about wonderful rewards.
It’s worth working through a step by step program, using positive reinforcement at its core, like we do in the Zigzag app. Download today, and you’ll learn how to stop your puppy pulling on a leash, as well as heaps of other cool stuff.
What to use instead of clicker training?
If using a clicker is a bit much for you, then you can just use a word marker like ‘good’ or ‘yes’ it works similarly, and if you struggle with holding a clicker, or don’t want to use one for another reason then marker training with positive reinforcement is the way to go.
Check out our article on how to stop a puppy pulling on the leash without a clicker but using a marker instead. You can also leash train your pup by downloading the Zigzag app, and work your way through the dedicated lessons, or talk to our team of professional dog trainers 24/7. They’re available to help solve your leash pulling problems, and soothe any of those new puppy worries you might be having.
