Oliver’s Training

Today was my third session with 6 month old Oliver, a happy golden lab and his owner. We started a few weeks ago with loose leash walking. At our first meeting I showed the owner how to hold the leash, what commands we would add to his vocabulary as we progress and defined what the goals of what leash walking are. I also went over the types of collars and leashes. With few exceptions, I don’t use harnessed to train dogs. Harnesses encourage pulling. Dogs need to feel some leash pressure in order to learn what is expected of them.We communicate what we want them to do through rewards and leash pressure. Oliver already has plenty of engagement with the owner which is the first step of training. The second step is luring him into place with treats, showing him where we want him during the walk. Training is all about communication and repetition.

Leash walking is the foundation of training and coincides with what most dog owners what. How do you walk your dog without pulling. Since Oliver is a puppy, we don’t put too much pressure on him during his training. We make it fun and rewarding for him. Labs are notoriously food motivated so training is so much easier with food motivated dogs. Oliver loves his treats! With him I also showed the owner how to slow his roll with grabbing treats too hard from your hand.

Oliver weighs in at 41lbs but will grow to be around 70 to 80lbs. They are super strong dogs so getting them trained on a leash is a must. If you own a lab that his not been trained, you know how hard it is to keep them from not pulling. A few months ago I trained 2 labs that pulled harder than any two dogs I have every trained. They were a handful at age 3 and 5 with boundless unchecked energy.