Our five month old lab is pulling on the lead, this can be dangerous near a busy road.  I have tried the gentle leader as suggested by the trainer (he attends training about once a month) but when the mood takes him he can be difficult with this on and tries to get it off.  I also noticed that after wearing the gentle leader for a week, he was worse than ever back on the normal lead.  A friend has suggested flicking his behind with the end of the lead.   He has a very strong will and I would like to establish who is leader here.

I would suggest you try getting him to do heelwork at home using motivation rather than physical correction. You need to get his attention on you rather than his surrounding & rather than describing him as strong willed I would think he is at his "Kevin"stage.

If he is food orientated titbits can be a great attention getter

Unfortunately I have tried the food motivation we started this way with small treats, it does work but doesn't seem to give results.  The gentle leader was suggested by the trainer secondly.

How long did you try for ? Training dogs unforrtunately instant & only acceptable behaviour should be rewarded

The head collars are great for helping but they must be used with an ordianry collar & only as an aid

The home practice is really important as as soon as you get out into the world there are lots of distractions. It takes 5 minutes or so at a time say twice a day to prevent boredom, believe me I have been there with a rescue GSD who was 29 inches at the shoulder at 7 months & had never had any training. In the words of the ex police handler who trained us"softy softy catch the monkey"i think people thought I was mad loads of circular heelwork in the garden, but he did get it in the end & ended up 33 inches at the shoulder & a very very big boy, but very well behaved in & out of the competition world

Be careful not to confuse heelwork with walking nicely on the lead.  Use different commands.  I would try walking backwards with your lab when he pulls so eventually he learns that pulling doesn't get him anywhere.  Treats are brilliant to get attention esp in labs! and I would reward him when he has a losse lead not when he has pulled your arm off!  Although I have to say that I think you may find that walking backwards or around in a circle will help you more in this instance as he sounds quite strong willed.

I tried walking round in a circle today and it certainly helped, in fact he was very well behaved for most of the walk.  I was confusing heel work with walking nicely on the lead as you said.  I will try the heelwork in the garden away from distractions and concentrate on walking nicely on the lead for now.

Try and keep away from the busy road if possible until you have got the problem under control :)

Try the stopping everytime the pup pulls. It will be tedious for you and hopefully for the pup and hopefully he will get the idea that pulling = no walk and will learn ! Praise when he is walking to hell with be positive reinforcement tto the pup so he knows he is doing things correctly ! It will take a while. Also is there anywhere you can take him to let off a bit of steam before you try this as it will also help as he will not be so eager for his walk and more likely to listen ! :)

HTH

Lucy

Libby used to be a nightmare on the lead, I'm sure I've got one arm longer than the other now :rolleyes:
We did exactly what Lucy has suggested, and stopped everytime she pulled, now Libby is not the brightest star in the sky, Bless her; but she got the idea very quickly.

liberty :)

I agree with moonmaiden; the old maxim you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar appies equally well to dogs :D

Dogs that pull are not, contrary to myth and folklore, trying to establish leadership or world domination; just trying to get to where they want to go in the shortest possible time.  They pull we walk faster then they pull even more etc etc :D

Headcollars are management tools and extremely useful however they do not "train" dogs not to pull.  For that you need a lot of time, patience, treats and motivation.  It is very intensive short term but has long term benefits.

Physical punishing your dog for normal behaviour is hardly the best basis for a good relationship and, if you think about it, hardly logical.  If I was having my back side flicked I would be MORE likely to pull away from the pain; not less!

HTH

Hi ourpup, just a word of encouragement that it will get better. Our dog was 6 months old when we got him, with a Professorship in Applied Pullology. We started with a long lead and tossing bits of hot dog to him when he walked beside us, stopping dead when he pulled until he got the message loose lead good, pulling no go - 2 weeks to get there and then keeping reinforcing it. From there we used a GL so the kids could walk him and to give our arms a rest!  Then we spent a bit of time each day on lead, changing direction at 45 degrees to starting point to keep him watching us, 3 weeks, then using the Jake the peg method of staggering right and left steps so a leg is always in front of dog to keep him in line, 4 weeks. So it takes time, and excitement, the teenage stage of your not boss of me now all set it back somewhat. As your pup is little, he should learn quickly from just stopping and not letting him tow you to his desire, especially if all the treats come when his nose is level with your knee. Whatever you do, stay calm and relaxed yourself so he can learn.

Hi Ourpup. I have a 6 month old chocolate lab and can sympathise fully! I'm lucky in that he only goes nuts when either it's heavy rain or very windy for some reason! Does anyone Know why this is as we live in Manchester, home of grey miserable weather, and he has already pulled the muscle in my arm once! Also, when i walk him he will only ever have a wee if he is stood in the middle of a puddle! Any clues anyone??

Last March we rescued a four year old dalmation who hadn't had much training - he pulled a lot. While we tried to solvethe problem we wlaked him on an easywalk training harness - it worked a treat. We have put a lot of effort in and are now just getting to the stage where we can walk him safely on a normal lead.

Phil

Hi!  Do you walk to the same place everytime you go for walks, is pup anticipating and therefore pulling you along?  By pulling back the dog's neck muscles will pull against you as it's a reflex reaction - so just fighting with eachother wont be enough!  Try walking in different directions every time you go out so that pup cant anticipate direction and pull with excitement, regularly stop and turn changing your direction.  Do you have a clicker?  Its a good way of rewarding pup for a loose lead as timing is very important so that pup gets the correct message from you!  If the lead is slack for a split second click and reward, not only will you have pup's attention (albeit not for long :rolleyes:) but you will also have rewarded for the desirable behaviour and hopefully pup will learn the association..Be warned...This will not happen overnight - It will take a lot of time and patience from you!
Sarah

Get a harness (anti pull) for going from A to B, or walks may be too frustrating; and set special training times apart for teaching walking on a loose lead :)

One thing i have found hugely effective was to ask my pup for just a second of loose lead before being immediately let off, then gradually ask for more, very slowy building it up; this was a crucial part of lead training for us. You can gradually put the cue word to that (i used "loose lead") and it starts to build up. Takes patience though :D

I also used a clicker which helps enormously - you must mark not only the dog being in the correct position, but also walking next to you in that position :)

Working from lamp post to lamp post is also a good way of monitoring progress.

Have fun!

Lindsay