Walking your dog on a leash without exerting too much effort is a sight to be envied by other dog owners who just keep on tugging their dogs leashes. Training your dog to walk on a leash is an important skill to be taught to your pet at an early point in its life because learning this task at a later point would not be that effective.
While training your dog to walk on a leash is a pretty hard task, great patience and techniques can aid so much in the training process. Dogs just like humans want to ambulate and scurry off freely, without any contraptions. More than that, dogs are inquisitive creatures- anything that rouses their interests would be a good target for them making them restless and run after something.
Training a dog to walk on a leash, just like all other skills training for a dog requires patience, time, a positive regard toward the dog, a supply of reinforcements like dog foods/ pellets and of course, a leash and a collar/harness (whichever you prefer). These factors would help you greatly in training your dog in an easy and hassle free manner.
First off, you need to give your dog a good start to keep things on track. Some, if not most dogs feel negative upon seeing a leash because it gives them a feeling of danger. You need to develop in your dog a sense of comfort with a leash, you can place it in his dog house, beside his food bowl, and the like so that he would get fond of it. Sooner than you think, the sight of a leash would make the dog feel excited because it would mean leisure rather than restraints.
Before doing the training, you need to give your dog the sit and stay command which would enable you to put the collar or harness around him, and snap in the leash. At first, your dog might feel a little uncomfortable with that thing around his neck but sooner hell get the hang of it. Try to tug in the leash a little for him to start moving and give him some treats for that. At times, he might get a little restless and might attempt to run faster than you- just give him the Heel command and a positive reinforcement and hell be able to follow and pace with you comfortably.
A steady and consistent routine would yield good results for you and your dog. Soon enough, your dog would learn how to walk on a leash like theres no leash at all.