Best way to introduce your puppy to its collar and lead

Firstly, I would recommend that you buy the cheapest collar and lead that you can find, for two reasons: your puppy is going to grow out of the collar very quickly and your puppy is going to chew the lead.

You then need to target the times that you put them on so that the puppy has a positive event happening straight after they are put on. For example, put the collar on just before you feed it, as soon as the puppy has finished you take the collar off again. Puppies are generally on 3-4 meals a day so that is 3-4 repetitions of the collar preceding food – the positive event. After a couple of days your puppy will look forward to having the collar put on.

Once your puppy is happy with the collar try the lead in the same way, in association with a positive event. This time you can put the lead on just before letting it out into the garden, don’t try to control the puppy with it, just let the puppy drag it around. When the puppy is taken back in, the lead can be taken off. After a couple of days the lead can be used as intended.