First walkies!

So we took Harley out for his first walk the other day (so we've had a few since). He was very very unsure of things, a lot of sitting down and whimpering and having to crouch down to get him to come over to us - but after a while he gains a bit of confidence and walks really well. We took him to the park which he preferred and we did some running around. Then he found his first stick which he proudly carried all the way home haha!

But today we went to the bigger park not too far from our house and Harley met his first dog friends!! He was so happy and excited and behaved really well and did some playing. I've not let him off the lead yet as I'm too frightened he'll run away - any tips with this? One of the ladies I met with her doggies told me to let him off in the tennis courts so he can't get out but can still run around, so I might try that when I next go down.

But overall he's done really well! Gets a lot of fuss from the people he meets and has been super friendly with everyone! Mostly the sitting and whimpering is when we are walking back to the house along the streets where there are cars so I'm wondering if it might be that which he's unsure about?

A couple of times when people passing have stroked him he also immediately starts peeing - excitement?




I'll post some photos of him on the park when we next go!

This is only my personal opinion but from the experience of 2 puppies (one at the moment), if you let them off now when they're a bit unsure they will follow you. This is a great early lesson in off lead walking, and you can practice recall at the same time. Millie is about 4 months and we've had her 'properly' for nearly 3 weeks only (RSPCA foster pup), and we do all our little walks off lead. Her recall is brilliant already.

If you leave it till later their curiosity and confidence will both have grown, and you may also have a little annoyance at the lead. The combination of those is more likely to lead to Harley (who is very, very beautiful, by the way) running off.

Pick your spot, find somewhere without other dogs to entice him, maybe somewhere that you're on a track with boundraries to keep him with you, and then walk with confidence. He'll follow.

Looks so gorgeous with his stick Yeah Iza used to pee when she met people.

Those are extremely cute pictures of Harley with his stick

Liz makes some great points and may well be worth a go, anything that teaches them recall easier is a bonus in my book. The tennis courts sound ideal if your not too confident letting him off elsewhere.

For general walking have you thought about getting a long lead. You can get some really long ones from Amazon (which I've used) to let Harley have some more freedom. I would urge you to do as much socialisation as you can while he is young, it will pay off big time when he's older making him a sociable confident fella. Another thing I would recommend is puppy classes, they will help you understand him and it'll be great socialisation with training all rolled into one.

Amazon do some very good training leads just do a search online for them.

Great advice from Liz and Ian. The only thing I would add is don't make a big thing of it, as you're walking check out the area and if it's nice and safe, drop the lead and just carry on. If he's food orientated then use plenty of high value treats.
Great pics by the way.
Another stunning pup for us to watch grow.
Pete

aww harley great advice i think the younger you teach them the better as said above.

I'd go with a long lead as well and start practicing the recall command

Thank you guys for all your replies! After Liz's first reply we went back to the back and decided to let him off his lead in a quiet section of the park with no dogs around and he did AMAZING! Haha! He didn't run off and mostly stayed by our side (obviously exploring around a little), he comes straight back when we call his name and has been loving playing fetch with his toys there. So we've been doing that every day since.

We've met loads more dogs since going to the park too and got invited to a Facebook group for the local dog walkers which has been great for me and Jimmy, especially being first time doggie owners aha. Harley's been doing really well meeting and playing with other dogs off the lead too, isn't intimidated and is always super friendly and playful! Although today he got his first telling off from an older dog (think he thought he was trying to take his ball), and got a small scratch just under his eye which bled a little. He made a horrible yelp and came running back over to us but then seemed to shake it off and tried to play again! But we moved along and then cleaned him up when we got in and has been fine since.

And thanks for the advice Ian too! We've already got him booked in for some puppy classes which start this Friday so we're really excited. But overall Harley's been doing really well! We feel like trips to the park has helped us bond more and he's been listening a lot better to us too.

Aw great to hear he's doing so well