Hi guys,

I just wanted to ask all of you out there who use a halti on your dog, a quick question.  When you use a halti, are you all aiming to be able to get back to a 'normal' collar eventually, or are you using a halti for good. The reason I ask this, is that I read an article in a magazine about halti's and there was a lady saying that her golden ret. was as good as gold on a halti, but still not on a flat collar.  She asked the question, 'would she ever be able to stop using it'? or is it for the life of the dog?
What do you guys think?
Thanks
Ali :)

I used one many years ago when I found it hard to control 2 dogs and a pram! I only had to use the Halti for about 6 months till the puller (lab) learned to walk nicely, and after that we reverted to a normal collar. Mind you, she walked closer to heel off the lead than she did on it :rolleyes: , but of course that's not sensible when you're near the road!

Most of our dogs own haltis but they use them now and then, whenever we are at a show then they have their haltis on but when going for a narmal walk its either check chains or haltis, they seem to go from being good on a halti, then they get to used to it so they go on the chain, this lasts a while untill they start to pull so they go back on the halti, it also depends who the dog is with, last week we took the two setter girls up town to see the lights go on, both had their chains on yet moya would not stop pulling with mum but maisie was good with me!  In the end mum had enough of being pulled by moya so i offered to swap!  well the same person was pulled!

So it all really depends on the dog, the person on the other end of the lead and the place, oh the fun of it!!!

Rox

The Gentle Leader is not allowed in WT so it has to go, but its useful to let kids walk Manic Morse.

I will never stop using Saffys halti simply because she is so strong that she could easily pull me over.  If she suddenly lunged at anything or for any reason I wouldn't be able to control her (not that this usually happens).  For example, if she sees one of the two people she goes crazy for she would be difficult for me to handle without the halti.  When walking, she still pulls like a steam train when I have the children with me even on a halti (she likes to be infront of them!) but I feel I do have control.
Fiona and Saffy

We've just started intermediate dog training with our 11 month old rottie last week.  He was wearing the Halti.  The dog trainer told us not to be reliant on the halti and that the dog should be trained properly to walk at heel without its aid.  The halti should just be used for back up.  When we take the halti off he pulls as before, but we're trying to train him without it.

Depends on the dog, on you and how much training you are giving the dog other than simply walking it on a halti.

Using a halti is a bit like putting a toddler on reins - reins don't teach the child the green cross code but do stops the child getting run over.  The green cross code has to be taught later.

In the same way, the halti is effective in stopping most dogs pulling, but doesn't always do the whole job for you. So you may have to 'train' a dog to walk to heel on a simple collar later, unless you are very lucky.

I would like to be able to walk both of mine without a headcollar, but in reality i am not sure if it will ever happen. The Megan even pulls with her halti and i have been trying to train her to walk to heel for almost 15 months now with no noticeable results, even though she can walk nicely to heel at training. However with ellie it is a different matter, as i simply use it because she is a very strong pup who is still at the manic stage so i prefer the control, but she is starting to walk nicely on a normal collar too so i don't think i will need to use it for long.

Ideally a halti would only have been a short-term thing but i know it will be life-time (or at least till she is an OAP).
She is just too strong for me (9st and growing) and if anything spooks her i do worry i'll be dragged under a bus :)