Ok, I am sure your puppy is no longer a puppy by now. But I just joined and only saw and read two replies to your post. And I hope at this time you and your puppy have completed obedience training. But for anyone else that may encounter this. There could be several factors at work. You did not mention how you introduced your puppy to the leash, so I will assume you did as most do, and throw a leash on him and magically he knows right away what u want. Not saying this makes u a bad puppy owner, but the victim of a bad breeder. How is it the breeders fault? They should have reccomended you first off to basic puppy ownership habits and traits that are inherent in the breed, habits such as a dominance thing or maybe the breed is like a horse and just hates to be taught, and this is not a bad dog, but takes someone with experience to step in and help such as OBEDIENCE TRAINING. If they did in deed do this then shame on you for not listning. And from the way your post read, the breeder did not mention such behavorial traits? BAD BREEDER, should have giving you some basic obedience tips and even an obedience school reference. And yes bad new owner, but no different than a million other pet owners that wind up with the wrong dog for them, BAD BREEDER, should have prepared you with more information and asked more questions of you as to put you on the right track to a loving co-existance between your family and a new puppy, that was ripped from his home and put with these strange people that can't figure out how to communicate with you. After all, do you know what the pupies life was like before you? Was it allowed to potty on the floor? Was the puppy ever put on a leash before you got him? BAD BREEDER if your puppy was not socialized. And if the puppy was properly socialized, then shame on you for not having the breeder show you how he/she handled the puppies. Did u discuss how the breeder handled discipline? Maybe you are not doing this correctly. Again Basic Obedience will teach you this. Never YELL or HIT your puppy for discipline. A puppy that is yelled at and hit a lot has little self confidence and a dog like this can grow up to be unpredictable and even dangerous.
Now I know I rambled on, but I want you to know this is not the puppies fault. It is you as the owner for not learning more, and the breeder for not informing you ahead of time. I sometmes breed my mini schnauzers, my female second and last litter and she is now four. And A puppy never leaves my home without a few basic training. Including Leash walking and sit and stay. Now I also show the new parents how to discipline a mini schnauzer, and you do notwant to piss off a schnauzer, so you have to make him look at you while correcting him. Beleive it or not a puppy or dog that is looking around while you are preaching why he should not potty on the floor is not going to learn. So you have to learn to command his attention. But with leash training. As a breeder I always leash my dogs in front of the puppy cage and I get excited about having the leash on. They are learning. And the puppies are also allowed to run around in the house attached to the leash. At first they will try and chew on the leash or just sit on the floor. If chewing, then get pups attention and when he stops chewing and looks at you priase him for listning to you. don't yell for him chewing, he has no idea he is not supposed to, and dogs react to praise whether good or bad. After a few days the puppies learn the leash is not a bad thing. Until they discover it means they can not do what they want on it. OMG I can go on forever on this subject. BUT A PUPPY or DOG HAS TO LEARN A LEASH MEANS A CONTROLLED ENVIROMENT. And there somethings he should not do while on a leash. After all the purpose of a leash is to protect the dog from danger. And something that many people assume is that thier dog or puppy off leash in the house is a well mannered dog, and so he will be that way natually outside on a leash. WRONG? Learning leash control and the use of body language is not natural. It is taught. A puppy is depending on you to show him what to do, and to continue to use a leash without know how to use it properly is only creating problems. Such as you being walked or dragged instead of walking the dog. OBEDIENCE training will teach leash control. Man ya'll I am sorry for rambling,but so many dogs get loose and lost or worse hit by a car because the owner did not know leash control. It looks easy when someone else is doing it. But it takes concentration on your part, to be sure the dog has clear instructions from you. OK Here go now; first you need to teach sit. Then you need to teach him to come to you or Front. This is started by having the puppy in the sit stay position. Then with leash attached to him, move back a foot at first, and Call the puppy to you, inticing him with a treat if neccessary. And while standing a short distance from him stand up straight and in a firm but not mean voice, say puppies name and then the word Front. The leash should not be tight, it should lay loosely on the floor with little pull on the puppy, and then guide the puppy toward you with a gentle guide of the leash. and in front you want the puppy to sit directly in front of and as close as to you as possible without touching you. Here until the puppy learns, and he will with practice. Lure him with food and try to keep the loose leash come, just that, you do not want him to associate you having to pull on the leash to get him to respond. But at first this will probably be necessary. And Make a huge deal out of him doing it right. OMG I mean get excited and prise him, put more empahises on priase before u give the treat. Keep practice to only a few minutes a day. But don't get frustrated at the puppy and never yell. You simply correct and show him what you want. How do you correct, well if you tell the puppy to front, and he is distracted. Simply walk up to him and re-sit the puppy and regain his attention. Show him the treat if that is what it takes to get his attention. And the moment you have him looking at you praise praise praise. I allways tell my dogs to focus, when distracted. After a week the puppy will have a good grasp of what you want. And remember to practice everyday, indoors at first away from other dogs or even children. And as you practice you want to extend the distance between you and the puppy. Most trainers will have you use a 15' traing leash for this excercise. And even as you begin to learn other things sch as Heel, which is not the same as Forward, you will always want to go through this at least once before moving on. Ok now you said the puppy will heel off leash. When you say heel I am assuming you are referring to the puppy walking next to you. Actually Heel, is refered to as the dog standing on your left lined up to your shoulder. Not walking but standing, ready for your command. A dog in heel should never lay down or stray or sit without you telling him to. This is usually in a STACK stance. This stance is very important for many reasons. How do you teach a dog to do that? Well you will be using a standard leash, NOT A RETRACTIBLE, with a retrctible you can not give signals nor let the dog know what he should be doing. Now you need to learn to use one hand and successfully take in or ease out the leash, you only want to give the dog as much as is needed for a comfortable stance. And you start off in a front position, and then say dogs name and the word heel and them use the leash, that is taught in your left hand, and guide the dog to your left side. You will want the dog preferably to circle around you starting on the right and end up facing the same way you are, and not sitting. At first you want to praise the dog for moving to the heel position even with your guidence. if he sits or lays, then stand him back up and priase him after he is standing. In obedience trials, the beginners class will allow you to stack the dog. You should learn the breed accepted stance, and teach him by physically moving his paws to corect conformation. (This should actually be introduced to puppy almost the moment he learns to walk, by the breeder. And every time the dog is put on grooming table or examination table the stack should be adjusted. It is also important for your puppy to know that this stance is an invitation for touching and attention in manners and by people he is not accustomed to. Again, this should have been taught by breeder as part of socialzation. And always re-inforced by you. An effective heel will take time and concetration by you. You want him to learn to do it correctly, and yet you may have to take a step back with your left leg while guiding the dog to position, you do not want the dog to associate the step back as a signal. And as I stated you will later want the dog to heel on your left, but do so by him circling you. Then we will move into the next step...literally, Forward. This is the command that you give a dog when you want him to walk beside you. And here you will roll the leash up, keep it taught, his free movement should be almost nill. and step forward with the left leg, and then yo will give the command Forward. If he does not move with you then a quick, ok quick jerk on the leash and say forward and begin a straight line. You will walk with the dog keeping at your shoulder lined with his. Smaller dogs will mean you have to walk a little faster. Take 6-10 steps and then say halt, and stop. Do not say Halt and take another step. Think about saying it on your left forward then say halt and move your right foot forward even with the left. When doing this excersice, do not watch the dog, always walk looking where you are going. You want to teach the dog to watch you. If you are watching the dog, then you wind up going off course, by following the dog. You will know where the dog is by the feel of the leash. A trick is to hold a treat or toy in your right hand, and your arm should be held straight down with the forearm perpendicular to your waist. Let the dog know the treat is there and he will learn to watch. this excercise should be with three people. A caller, one who will shout out commands such as right left forward. And two people one at each end of yard, the dog will be walking around the people and you do not want him distracted by them. These are excercises I teach my own dogs. They may differ in techniques and commands then some obedience classes teach. However the basics are the same, and you should always consult a professional to assure you are indeed doing the excercises correctly. I am by no means a proffesional. I am not a professional breeder. I simply love my dogs and especially the mini schnauzer. And I breed to the AMSC standards. And I also try to be a responsible breeder, which includes proper socialization skills, and temperment testing. Good luck.
PEace and remember the ASPCA and PETA are not to be trusted.
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