9 week old hates the lead/First puppy pre-school

Heya's,

We had our first puppy pre-school lesson last Wednesday and all the pups were put on the floor initially with leads on. This was Bella's first lead/collar experience and she hated it. All the other puppies were just going with the flow. Since then I've been slowly exposing her to collar for short periods and a couple of times I've pulled the lead out and got excited about it, let her sniff it and than put it straight on her. She HATES it! Will pull as far away from me as she can and stares at me like my wilful 4yo daughter. I'm not pulling her or anything but telling her to come - I feel kind of stupid because she hasn't learnt these commands yet. Should she learn the basic commands before lead training? I kind've gave on that and just played games with her whilst she was on the lead so she could get more comfortable - should I just continue with this until I learn how to command at the training sessions. Let's face it...I'm the one that's learning here!

What is the best progression? We have coming up another school session tomorrow night and 2 more after that and than about 1.5 weeks until she can go for walkies and starts puppy school at 11 weeks.

I can't wait for our first walkies - what should I be expecting of her? Should I just practice sit and heel walking really slow? In the long-term I will not tolerate a dog that pulls me on the lead and that winds all over the footpath following her nose and getting under my feet?

I guess my long-winded question - what can I do NOW to get her ready and happy on her lead - practical tips please!!

Lisa

P.S Her first pre-puppy school was a hoot! She was shy for about 30 seconds and than she was going after all the dogs for a play, especially the bigger Siberian Husky and Great Dame (they were twice her size). She was the most hyperactive dog there and when all the puppies got tired they would just lie where they were and sleep...not Bella - she would keep going even though I could see she was popped she finds her calm switch! The thing is that when she'd finally had enough of those bigger dogs throwing her around she gave out this growl and everyone sh*t their dacks . No wonder staff's have a bad Rep - they were all smiling but I know they are were keeping their dog's away from mine

Suki wasn't a fan of the lead or a harness or clothing for that matter. The best thing to do is repeated exposure to it for short periods of time as frequently as possible. This helps them get used to it. For walks teach the watch me command and bring treats. Don't expect to get too far very fast either as they can be a little reluctant at first and get scared of things

Blue freaked out the first time we put a lead on him. He still hates those metal tags that go on the collar.



we would put the lead on him and let him run around with it and distract him with a toy or a treat if he started to get irritated with it.

start with 2 mins and build up to half an hour over a week or so