Kolby Chasing Leash

We have been advised by our trainer to not allow Puppies in Training to roam freely in the house without a long leash attached (to start). The reasoning is if you give a command that they ignore, you can not correct them quickly without it. Case in point, if you tell a puppy Here and it turns the opposite direction in a run, what is stopping you from correcting the puppy? Continued verbal cues that they are not obeying? It is not effective.

Once the puppies are reliable in their listening and obeying, they can roam without the long leash. But if they mess up and test you by disobeying, then the long leash is supposed to return until puppy can get the idea that every minute is a listening minute.

So far, Kolby is doing awesome with the long leash because he is in love with the long leash. He will carry it wherever he walks. All. Day. Long. I follow him to make sure he is not taking pit-stops for bathrooms, and not deciding on inappropriate chewing, but not so close where he feels hovered and not willing to explore and make mistakes.

I think carrying his long leash is better than a chew toy for Kolby. I wonder how long this will last.

(side note: he sometimes cheats on his long leash and falls in love with the faux grass at the base of the container holding our faux tree in the living room. Grrr, that is a mess to clean up and he is so sneaky about it. I am almost wanting to dispose of said faux grass and tree, but that would teach him zero).

Last week my girl caught Kolby on video tape. Bear with the crazy start to this video when it is turned incorrectly. My girl was studying on the couch when we noticed circular Kolby and she just wanted to get the video started.

If you don't get too dizzy, you'll have to complete the entire 2:30 minute video. It is worth it.

Will Kolby ever catch his leash??