# walking on lead



## beccypaul (Oct 23, 2004)

hello guys, i'm here again for more puppy advice!

well my little darling is a week away from being able to go walkies!!!

i can't wait, we have been trying puppy lightweight nylon collar on, which she tolerates but when the lead go's on well that little bum hits the floor!!! and she just won't budge!! not even for treats held in front of her for encouragement!!

any ideas? also her neck seems tiny that what do you think about collars versus harnesses? i've got a x small nylon harness that i was going to use in the future but it actually go's small enough for now? what do u think? help

best thing i ever did was get my little maltese dixie, my bf is in love with her so he is now bottom of the pack in our house!!!!


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

> _Originally posted by beccypaul_@Nov 28 2004, 12:41 PM
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OK... get rid of the collar. Maltese have delicate tracheas and are prone to collasping tracheas and a collar pressing against their necks is not good. I didn't know this with my first Maltese, Rosebud, many years ago and yep, she developed a collapsed trachea. Use only a harness on your precious baby.

You had the right idea on how to get her to move. I had a trainer at my house helping me teach Catcher to walk on the lead and he had on a harness and we had some really good smelling treats and as he would go for the treats we would praise him for walking and we just kept doing that and eventually he was walking pretty good, trying to get the treats...... My experience is that these babies can't resist certain treats..... get something like a jerky-type treat with a very strong smell. Give her just a teeny-tiny piece....


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## dr.jaimie (Mar 23, 2004)

when parker was a pup i lived in an apartment so i had to put him on a leash to go potty and he would not move...i didnt think he would ever walk on a leash. then when we moved into our house he was about 4.5 months old....decided to go for a walk and he had no prob w/ the leash.....i think it is an age thing. it was really weird how one day he hated it and the next, it was his best friend. so dont feel discouraged.


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## beccypaul (Oct 23, 2004)

i'm glad i posted to the forum before i started her on that collar then, thanks.

none of my breed books meantion this and talk about collars.

i always had the feeling to use a harness in the future but i will start trying it on now. 
thanks i think will try very smelly tripe next time :lol:


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## Caesar's Mommie (Apr 8, 2004)

We had a real difficult time trying to get Caesar to walk with a leash too. We finally bought a harness instead of a regular collar. This seemed to help some, but not a whole lot. We would take him to the park and i would run some and he would follow (hubby had the leash) and then he got honey nut cheerios when he came to me or ran with me. Now he can walk just fine with a collar or harness. He used to not move at all, I had always thought they automatically walked with a leash, I didnt know u had to teach them.







We also have a retractable leash which goes up to 16ft...works great!


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## beccypaul (Oct 23, 2004)

i have a retractable leash so i will start trying that, i just thought i'd use the puppy leash at the start but best to just use the best stuff.

i know this is a well written forum topic but how big were all your maltesers at 10 weeks and what are they now?

my little dixie is so adorable that i can't bring myself to sit down and start to write my assignment for college and i really need to do it!!!!!


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

I have a harness too.. (of course) I tried walking in the house.. I tried doing it with playing, just to get him to move.


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## doctorcathy (May 17, 2004)

a harness is great. i use a collar and a harness. sprites really good---she totally knows how to heel. i think having your dog heel is the best thing too...that teaches them not to pull. andwhen they have the idea....that when they walk---they wont pull.


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

> _Originally posted by beccypaul_@Nov 28 2004, 03:44 PM
> *i have a retractable leash so i will start trying that,  i just thought i'd use the puppy leash at the start but best to just use the best stuff.
> 
> i know this is a well written forum topic but how big were all your maltesers at 10 weeks and what are they now?
> ...


[/QUOTE]

The retractable leash is great when you want the dog to have freedom to explore outside but it is not recommended by trainers if you are teaching your dog to heel because you don't have good control with the retractables. To heel, you want to put the dog on your left side and hold the leash with your left hand and then have it go across your body and hold it in your right hand also..... if that makes sense. 

If you are needing to prompt her to follow, then put a tiny treat that can be eaten without being chewed, in your left hand and in front of her nose and praise her to high heaven when she moves and follows you and when she is doing it correctly, say "heel". My trainer said not to ever pull them, that they will follow the treat....
Also, when they are walking the correct way, at your side, keep the lead loose. When you want to correct the dog for things like getting in front of you, then shorten it so the dog feels it. As long as they are doing what they are supposed to do, keep the lead comfortable for them. 

I would recommend going to dog training classes. It is so easy to learn these things the correct way when in a class setting or having a trainer come to your home. That way you won't accidentally teach her any bad habits!!







Good luck!!


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## Nicolle916 (Nov 1, 2004)

> _Originally posted by beccypaul_@Nov 28 2004, 02:44 PM
> *i have a retractable leash so i will start trying that,  i just thought i'd use the puppy leash at the start but best to just use the best stuff.
> 
> i know this is a well written forum topic but how big were all your maltesers at 10 weeks and what are they now?
> ...


[/QUOTE]

I just went through this in the last few months. Bella is now walking on a leash just fine. She still pulls but I am working with her and she knows that she has to stop pulling before we will keep walking. 

She didn't walk on the leash at first either. It is very different once you can go outside. Bella really wanted to walk around outside so she forgot about the leash and walked around.

I live in an apartment so Bella had never even been on the gound until after all her shots...the first walk was VERY EXCITING!

I use a regular leash...I have never tried retractable.

Bella is now 5 months and 3.5 lbs. (she has been consistant on this weight for a month but I'm sure it might change next month after she is spayed). She was 1.6 lbs. at 10 weeks.

Good luck and have fun!
Nicolle


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## saltymalty (Sep 14, 2004)

We put the harness on our pup the day we picked her up (this past Friday) and she took right to it. I think she was so distracted by her new surroundings, that she didn't really even take notice. Because we live on a very busy street and her potty place is by my side door, we put her on the leash the very first time we took her out. We practice walking to our potty spot and do a lot of leaf chasing while on our leash. She loves to be outside...even during the terrible rainstorm we had this morning. She did her business many times, although she came in looking like a half drowned rat. But my point is that she seems to like wearing the harness and gets a bit upset when we take it off of her for grooming or when she's locked into her crate. I purchased the smallest sized one from PetCo. and it seems to fit her just fine. My husband is a bit concerned that the leash might give way when she gets jumping and running. So I think I'm going to get a stronger one tomorrow, just to be on the safe side.


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## Laceys mom (Nov 12, 2004)

Lacey uses a harness, never a collar. Lacey did really well when I first started walking her. She will do anything for a honey nut cheerio so I used those for teaching her. Find something your little one loves and use it. These little ones are so cute. The best advice my trainer gave me was not to carry Lacey when I took her for her walks. He said that he had a lot of dogs that he had to teach to walk on a leash...he told me the owners would carry the dogs everywhere and the dogs would rather be held instead of walking. So when I am outside with Lacey she is walking beside me. The only time I carry her is when we are in the park and a big dog is coming near her and doesn't look friendly. I did have one big dog jump up on me trying to get her. Talk about scary. The owners walked this dog everynight when I would walk Lacey. This dog was not well behaved at all. The owners told me they were trying to get the dog to walk and behave. If you ask me that dog should not be out in public until it is well behaved. I had to change the time I walked Lacey because of this dog. Everytime this dog saw Lacey it would go crazy trying to get to her and Lacey would start to shake.


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## Laceys mom (Nov 12, 2004)

Oh, and I thing someone wanted to know how much our dogs weighed? Lacey was 4 pounds at 14 weeks when she came home. Lacey is now 10 months old and she weighs 7 pounds. I figure she will be about 8 pounds full grown. She is perfect though. Her hair is growing out and is very silky. The picture of her on this site is when her hair was about an inch long and looks curly. Need to get another picture of her. She wasn't to happy when I took this picture. I made her sit when she wanted to check out the camera.


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