Dogs are amazing animals capable of learning a wide variety of orders to make us happy (and also receive some treats in the meantime). Among the orders they can learn, we find that of walking with us, very useful and beneficial if we want to take them loose in some places and not run into any danger.
In this article by PeritoAnimal we will offer you some advice so that you know how teach the dog to walk together step by step, using positive reinforcement as an essential tool.
Remember that positive reinforcement greatly improves the animal's perception and speed of learning.
Steps to follow: 1Before starting, you should know that the fact that your puppy walks ahead of you does not mean that he is dominant, simply that you want to enjoy the walk relaxed by smelling and discovering new stimuli. Teach the order for the dog walk with you it will be essential not to run away on a walk, but this does not mean that you should constantly take your dog with you, it should allow him to express himself freely and enjoy as any other animal would.
At PeritoAnimal we only use positive reinforcement, a technique recommended by professionals that allows us to quickly assimilate what we want to teach our puppy. Let's start the process by getting dog treats or snacks, if you don't have any, you can use sausages. Cut them into small pieces.
Let him sniff and offer him a, now we are ready to start!
2 Now that you've tasted a treat that you like and that motivates you, start your tour to start with training. Once the puppy has done its needs, it will start to educate it to walk with you, for this it is best to look for a quiet and isolated area.
Choose how you want to ask your puppy to walk with you, you can say "together", "here", "to the side", just make sure to choose a word that it is not identical to another order so as not to be confused.
3 The process is very simple, take a treat, show it and call it with the chosen word: "Maggie together".
When the dog approaches you to receive the treat, it should keep walking at least one meter with the treat and only then should you give it. What you're doing is trying to get the dog to relate walking with us to receiving an award.
4 It will be fundamental repeat this procedure regularly for the dog to assimilate and relate it correctly. It is a very simple order that you can learn easily, the difficulty lies with us and the desire we have to practice it.
Remember that not all dogs will learn order with the same speed and that the amount of time you spend teaching a dog to walk with you will vary depending on age, predisposition and stress. Positive reinforcement will help the puppy to assimilate this order better and faster.
Something that can also be useful on walks with your dog is teaching the dog to walk without a guide and teaching an adult dog to walk with a guide, so take advantage and also check out our tips.
