Guide dogs wear a harness when on-duty; the harness handle is how they communicate with their handler. Through the handle, they guide their person through crowds, around obstacles, and up to curbs. They are always on the lookout for potential interference and are constantly problem-solving. That is why it is so important for the dogs to get time off to just be a dog. When a guide dog is out of harness, they are still expected to have leash and house manners, but then they are not responsible for their person. On leash and out of harness, they are in following mode, rather than leading mode.
So when we’re teaching a guide dog puppy manners, it is important that they understand how to behave in coat. We want to try to have a puppy that is confident and driven to walk out ahead (because they’ll eventually have to pull out against a harness) but also is well-behaved and not scavenging, yanking, or jumping. They are not allowed to eat, drink, or busy while in coat. If they start to have an accident with the coat on and you’re going to allow them to finish (such as during a bout of doggie diarrhea), take the coat off if you can. If they are acting thirsty and someone offers your puppy some water, take the coat off to allow them to have a drink. If you have a puppy 10 months or older, take the coat off before allowing them to greet someone. All of that consistency helps them understand on-duty versus off-duty.
The forward position itself should place the dog about a foot in front of you. A good rule of thumb is that the dog’s hind feet should line up with your feet. That is the default walking position when raising a puppy. The leash will usually have some tension in it; however, the puppy should not be pulling your arm off. Some less confident dogs may have a loose leash or may not be out ahead enough, but ideally they will be happy to drive forward.
When using the command “forward”, encourage your puppy to move out. At first, this may involve stepping off with your left foot (the foot closest to the puppy) and having to verbally encourage them to move out. Eventually, the puppy should step off first when hearing the command, followed by the raiser. To teach this, you can give the command forward, then sweep your hand under the leash and lightly tug forward. Start walking and praising as soon as your dog moves out. This will also mimic the hand signal we eventually use with forward, although the signal will be given with the right hand. However, by introducing it with your hand close to the puppy’s field of vision and pairing it with a light leash pull, you are teaching the dog to pay attention to both verbal and signal cues. Then the dog will learn that they are supposed to lead out on your command.
This is how the puppy will eventually work as a guide dog: the owner will say, “Freckles, forward!” and will wait for Freckles to start moving. That way, if Freckles determines that it is unsafe to move out (because of a car or an obstacle that her owner hasn’t identified yet), she can communicate the presence of a problem by intelligently disobeying the command. This is something that we teach when the dog is training for harness work with our trainers, but you can lay the foundation by teaching them to initiate movement when you say “forward”, rather than having them wait for your body motion.
That leads me to “fun walks”. Fun walks are a chance for a puppy to just relax and enjoy the world around them. You can give the puppy more leash freedom and allow them to explore. Remember that dogs see the world best through their nose, so sniffing is an important exercise and gives them a mental break. On fun walks, a dog can just be a dog… to a point. We still don’t want the puppy to get into trouble by eating inappropriate objects, marking their territory repeatedly/lifting their leg, or yanking on the leash.
Several times, I have been asked about a particular scenario. For example, when a puppy has stopped to enjoy a long, luxurious sniff, he may want to linger and is not interested in continuing to walk. However, at some point, the raiser is ready to move on. In this case, rather than use a phrase such as “let’s go” or “come on”, or rather than using the leash alone to get the dog moving, the command “forward” can be applied to get the dog back in motion. If the dog does not respond, then a leash correction can be used (as appropriate for the puppy’s age). The puppy should walk in “forward” position for as long as you would like to keep them walking there; however, this should always be followed by “take a break” when you are ready to allow them to sniff and “goof off” again. The forward position out-of-coat can be more "casual" than an in-coat forward. The walk should still be enjoyable for both you and the puppy.
This way, the puppy understands that even out of coat, “forward” is the command that means “begin forward motion”. When the puppy comes in for harness training, we will be dropping any use of “forward” when not in harness and will be teaching the dog to heel next to us.
Please note that we do not have raisers teach a moving heel command. Your puppies will learn “heel” as a stationary command to mean “come to my left side”, but any time that you’re walking with them, they should be leading in the forward position. We want to instill that confidence while they’re young; it’s easier to dial down over-confidence than to put confidence back once it’s lost.
That being said, if the puppy surges forward or lunges, pair a collar correction with the word "easy". If they are pulling towards a specific distraction, such as another dog or a person they want to see, you can stop or change direction as soon as they start to pull. Do not allow the dog to yank on the lead. If you are having a problem with control on lead, talk to your AC about different techniques.
