Hi,
I have 2 6 month old Border Collies, 1 of whom is fantastic on lead but the other is awful she almost brings her 2 front feet off the ground coz we are trying to stop her from pulling!!!. She is so strong too. What is the best lead to stop her from pulling??????

Also they are both still very nervous around children, not so much adults, they love us and have no trouble showing this!!!!. We are just a bit worried that they may snap at a child etc?????, any ideas???

Thanks

x

I use a Kumfi Headalter on my Aussie - stopped pulling instantly :)

Daisy

I used the gentle controller on my collie:
http://www.naturaldogfoods.co.uk/

The best thing to stop her pulling would be some training - training devices may help, but won't teach her to walk nicely. Do you always take them out together? Taking them out seperatly and concentrating on the training will help. At 6 months many dogs find things they aren't used to scarey (and even things they are used to sometimes!) They need to be carefully socialised with all sorts of people, not just children but old people, people with walking sticks, old people, people wearing hats, in wheel chairs etc......... Dogs don't generalise that because it lives with two nice people that all people are nice, and children in particular make strange noises, tend to stare (which is an agressive signal for dogs) and are unpredictable :( IF you can take them to the school gate around 3.15 and let them watch children from a safe distance (DON'T LET THE KIDS STROKE THEM!!) So they can get used to the idea that this is what children are like - and to make it an even more pleasant experience you can give them small food treats when they are behaving well. DO NOT be tempted to reassure them if they show signs of nervousness - but make sure there is plenty of praise when they are being good. This must be done slowly and carefully, and watch your dogs carefully for signs of stress, such as panting, pacing, trying to get away, showing the whites of the eyes in the corner of the eye, ears down/back, if the dog shows any of these signs then the children are too close - take her further away....

HTH

Thanks so much for all your comments. I will try the leads and see if they work.

I normally have someome come with me when I walk them so I can concentrate on the puller. I will try the school thing, they are getting better but it just worries me. Do you think then, that when I go for a walk it's best to not let the kids come up to them if they are on the lead??

Thanks

xx

i recormend a halti. They are excelent. use them on my setters and aussie boy!

One trick I like to use when training dogs is to use a squeky toy. I take the toy with me on a walk. I hold the toy up agianst my chest. When we start on the walk I squeak the toy to get the dogs attention. If he doesn't move from my side then I give him the toy for a minute. Then I take the toy back and squeak it. Then I say the dogs name and heel and then take two steps and stop. Then I squeak the toy. If the dog is still at my side then I toss him the toy agian for a minute to play with. I also praise him and say his name and Good Heel. Then I take the toy back and squeak it. I then say his name and heel and walk forward 3 steps. As before if he stayed at my side then he gets the toy. In this manner he sees you as the exciting spot and the toy as his reward bny staying next to you. The first walk we slowly progress to 10 steps. The next day we progress to 15 and so on. It seems slow but it works. Within a couple of weeks the dogs I train are walking at my side and a nice loose lead between us.

I would recommend a Gentle leader headcollar, i had a Halti for Toby it worked but Toby is so strong that he broke the Halti, I would also get a link chain, luckly i had one when Tobys halti broke,
Heidi

We use a Gentle Leader for Sparky when we are walking along a road, as he pulls to get away from the traffic. At other times we use an ordinary collar and lead, or ordinary harness and long lead when training at a distance. I must admit, the gentle leader does look a bit uncomfortable though, and he still tries to pull against it. I've been looking fro alternatives, and have seen those Kunfi ones, which look good, and the expensive leather ones - I think they're by Dogmatic. I was really interested to see what Digger has to say about training being the only real answer; as we have been concentrating on his heelwork off lead, Sparky's lead walking has improved. We also found that a heavier lead helped (on a normal flatbed collar), purely be accident - we bought it in a rush because he'd chewed through his other one. I hve read somewhere that some dogs pull as a security thing - to check if we're still there, but not sure how accurate this is. If there is any truth in it, though, this would explain the heavy lead thing - as he can "feel" us on the other end of it even when it's loose. Our problem is when we go somewhere new, he is 5 and a half months old, so it's all just so exciting!
By the way, TWO at 6 months!!! How do you cope? Sparky runs rings round us on his own! ;) We are hoping for another next year though:)

Hi
Yes I know we must be mad. but all the family help out so it's ok!

x