I wonder if anyone can help with this? Sparky walks quite well on his (flatbed) collar and lead if we are on familiar ground and will now turn left! (for those that read my previous post about the traffic) We are only having very short walks at the moment, (although he would go on forever if I'd let him ;)) as he's only 15 weeks, but when I have driven him to a local park or field to give him a short walk there he pulls like mad. I'm think I'm doing everything the Perfect Puppy book advises - , have an energetic game in the garden before we go, have the smelliest treats imaginable in my hand, talk to him as we walk, treat him when he does come close, reward him with a little sniff around if he does walk close for a while, and stand still as soon as he starts to pull, but the walks end up like a funeral march - one step followed by a 2 or 3 minute wait, he pulls so much that I'm sure he must be hurting himself (I don't yank him back, just let him pull as I stand still until he comes back close to me, or is tempted back by a treat, then try to walk on) and he pants like mad. Yesterday it was so bad that he was whining too - I felt like Cruella de Vil! It's getting to the point where he must think "Oh no, not that walk-thing again" as soon as he sees his lead. He can't be enjoying it. This has been since we let him off lead, by the way, so perhaps that has something to do with it????
He has a car harness, which doubles as one he could walk on, and have thought about getting a gentle leader but as he CAN walk well on his lead, do you think I should persevere with this first?

Thanks, Tracy

Rather than stand still when he pulls have you tried walking the other way? And then when the lead slackens and he's beside you you can reward him.

Wendy

Thanks Wendy, will try that later :)
Tracy

Hi Tracy,

There's nothing worse than a madly pulling pup is there? :)
Wendy's idea really works.
The standing still method didn't really work for my dog either(even after 5 months ) but changing direction constantly, did :D. Every time he looked like he knew where we were going, or started moving ahead, I changed direction (at least 90 degree angle to where we were going :D ) it worked like a charm he couldn't predict our direction and had to keep looking at me to see where I was going :D (or wondering what on earth I was doing) and when he did that he got a treat or some praise or both. :D :D

It will work for older dogs who pull, it gets their attention on the lead holder and the rest is easy, sometimes it takes as little as 5 minutes with a bright dog and then he's walking nicely. The nice thing is that if they forget, a 2 minute 'intensive changing direction' walk soon has them concentrating on you, and its fun. :)

Regards
Dill