Walking

We took three walks today and saw great improvements. When we stepped out for the first walk he didn't want to budge. By the 3rd walk of the day he was trotting along side me.

• So he could get used to his leash, I put it on the floor early in the morning so he had a chance to familiarize himself with it.
• Some women on another site reminded me that I should add a note about puppy safety:
  
• I'm only walking Puppy Red around a short block (about 6 houses). We don't want to push it too much since he's so young and his bones, joints, etc. are just forming.
• We need to be careful about walking in certain areas until he has had his shots. When talking to a vet in my neighborhood the other day he noted that it is okay to walk my puppy outdoors in our neighborhood.
• If we approach another dog we need to remember that a puppy cannot defend himself against a full grown dog. Ask the owner if their dog is good with puppies then use your own good judgment to determine if the two dogs should actually meet. You also don't want your puppy around dogs who aren't up to date on their shots.
  
• Once outside, whenever he didn't want to move, I tried different things to get his legs rolling voluntarily. Note that tugging on the leash when the dog refuses to move doesn't help. It's better to find something that makes him want to walk.
• For some dogs it's a treat.
  
• For Puppy Red it was me taking a couple quick steps in place...my energetic movement seemed to spark his movement.
• Once he started walking, he wanted to switch sides and would often bump into my legs/feet.
• During the 1st two walks I didn't worry about him heeling. I just wanted him to get used to the collar and leash, the neighborhood and walking with me.
  
• By the 3rd walk it felt like he was starting to understand our route and the purpose a little. Because of that, it felt like he was ready to start practicing heeling. I kept the leash on one side and held it loosely straight above his head and about a foot to the side of me. If I felt him leaning towards me to cross my path, I would hold the leash steady. He would feel that it didn't slacken for him to change paths and would continue in his correct path straight forward. At no point did I jerk the leash or yell at him, but most of the walks included plenty of praise when doing the right thing.
  
• The pace also increased on each walk. The 1st walk included several stops since he wasn't sure if he enjoyed taking the walk. The 3rd walk was intentionally more brisk so he focused on the walk and heeling more than anything else.

And now for a cute puppy pic: