Hi Everyone,

I am new here, have been reading the forum for a few weeks now.

I have a JRT who is nearly 5 months old, and he pulls terribly to the point of choking himself. I have bought him a Halti and am trying to get him used to it, but he just keeps trying to chew it all the time. I give him a treat and he goes right back to chewing, any ideas how I can stop him or another way of changing the pulling. I do use the stopping/ starting, he can be so defiant when we are out. Any ideas would be great to try, I have taken him out once with the halti on and he went the complete opposite and refused to move. I was hoping the distraction of being out would prevent him chewing at it.

Thanks Alison

hi i havent much experince of terriers but maybe a harness (round body )may help,as he really objects to the halti.

there are lots of different head gear out there,im not a huge halti fan,my favorite is the "gentle controller"(not leader) the dogs seem happy in this!

Hi Alison,  I reckon he'd be happier in a harness.  There a lots of different ones that are designed to help with the pulling problem.  I can't remember what they are called.  Someone else will.  Lupi is one I think.

If you go for a harness, maybe try a special anti pull one as a puller can get his head down and really go for it in harness. My dog was a determined lead puller when we got him aged 6 months and he was promoted out of a gentle leader at 14 months. I remember the day we put a harness on him for him to get used to before starting tracking and we ploughed the street! How long have you been trying to accustom him to the halti and what means have been tried? It can take a while. Only had one sit down strike in GL which ended when I took him straight inside again - no GL, no walk.  Investigating the options isnt cheap but there are other head collars on the market like the Gentle Controller if you search this site, youlll find links. Pulling seems to slowly fade out rather than stop suddenly whatever the gear so be determined and patient - lead pulling is also worth a search on CD for strategies but give each a chance of a fortnight before you decide it isnt working. I find a combination of them work best with mine. Good luck :)

Hi , think a harness  owuld be better.I use haltis foor my two adult labs, but my staffy pup goes mental when we put one on her, so she has a cute little harness now and still pulls but at least isnt getting strangled any more!!

I have two Chihuahuas and if I use anything, (which is rare because of where I live) it's a harness. Collars, haltis...all those things are just too risky for injuries IMO on a small dog, and haltis on a large dog. A halti can cause neck injuries if they lunge or bolt, twisting their head. I have read a lot and I don't like the sound of them at all as far as cervical damage. So, my vote is for a harness. And yes, just stop walking if they pull. Make random turns etc. Treat/praise when they give you slack etc.

Good luck.

Carrie

I have chihuahuas too and have found body harness like little jackets are the best for them, but occasionally for my bit bigger chi i use a harness which has a collar but then padded bits that go under her legs which somehow makes it non pull too.

Hi there fellow Chihuahua owner. Yes, with Chi's if they pull, you can just air lift them...LOL. just kidding. The harness would dig into them and hurt. Aren't they just so cute and fun....and sooooooooooooooooooooo affectionate?

Hi Carrie, I have 3 girls ( one is a rescue), and one boy and one girl ( rescue) in Rainbow bridge.Im a complete chi nut. Are you in uk?

Oh, I'm sorry you lost you dog to Rainbow bridge.

They are really a lovely temperamented little breed. They're known for feistiness and some snap and are ill tempered. But I'm convinced that a lot of people don't socialize little dogs enough. People forget that they're dogs even, and don't tend to expose them to things as they might with big dogs. They also often spoil little dogs and let them have their own way about everything. So, like Dobermans, they too can get a reputation.

But mine are sweet natured to eveyone and go all over the place with me, including hikes with my Lab and Doberman and me. I take them in the local pub here and Chulita gets to lick whip cream off of this guy's coffee drink, right out of his mug sitting up at the bar. LOL. Everyone loves Chulita. And Jose is a little more timid, but sweet and such a major character and Mama's boy. I made a real point to get them around lots of people and situations when they were young. They are just the greatest little companion dogs, chalk full of personality and cozy snugglers.

I am sorry that you lost your little sweetie to Rainbow Bridge. Was that recent? I know....it's a hard thing to go through and we just keep doing it again and again don't we.

I am not in the UK, but in the north panhandle of Idaho in the U.S.

Carrie

We have two chi's in Rainbow Bridge, Toby a red smoothcoat we got in April 1984 when he was 4 mths old and my sons were small, my daughter was born when Toby was 2, he lived til 3 days before his 16th birthday in Dec 1998, and Irish Penny a cream/white longcoat who died in february 2003, we had her for 4 and 1/2 years and she was from a rescue, she had been used as a breeding machine with Gypsies and then sold to a woman with westies, who then took her to rescue real quick, with the excuse saying she doesnt like her,when we got her we were told she was spayed and was 2 years old, it turned out she was pregnant ( that was why she was put in rescue real quick) with a still born westie pup and was nearer 9 or more.Still she had a good life while we had her.Do you go to any chi sites?

Oh wow...you did a wonderful thing...giving these dogs such a great life. My....what a story.

No, I haven't yet gone on a Chi site. I occasionally go on a Doberman one. But I spend way too much time fiddling around on this computer. I need to go outside and work on my tan. LOL. Just kidding. There's too much work to do outside now.

I've never had long coat. My girl is mocha colored and my boy is solid "blue." But he's a mix I think or a very overgrown Chi. His ears are partially floppy and he's 15 LBs where as the girl is 5 LB. LOL. But he has a very, very pronounced personality....just makes me laugh a lot.

Do you have a Chi site you visit?

Nice to talk to you!

Hi, i go to a lot of chi sites both in uk and usa, it gets a joke between me and my chi friends as we usually join the same sites not knowing that our other friends are already on it, its quite addictive.If you do a search for chihuahua websites you should come up with lots of them.My longhaired chi is 7 and 1/2 lb but the small two are about 3 and 1/2 lb each.

Thanks all!  I bought a harness today and it worked a treat, he didn't like me putting it on but once we were out forgot all about it.

No pulling, and at one point he just happily walked by my side.

Hi rical,

I've got 2 JRT's  and a Mastiff and a Bullmastiff.
I use Halti's on the Mastiffs no problem but when I bought a Jrt sized one the two little s**ts wouldn't have any of it. They just rolled over or as you say chewed it.
What I did was put the Mastiffs Haltis (size 4) on the JRT's as a harness and it works perfect.
They don't pull and they don't choke.
Sorry if someone else has already mantioned using the Halti's as harnesses but I didn't read all the posts.
I think the JRT's are just too small to use a Halti on.
My two are okay if the Grandkids use the Halti's on them.

I bought a halti for Millie.

We went out.  We got to the end of the road (1 minute away) in about half an hour.  We came home.  We took it off.

No idea where halti is now, it never came out again....:-D

Her nose is obviously too near the ground, she spent most of the time with her face on the ground trying to paw the thing off whilst I stood there like a lemon in the street trying to get her to move another inch forward...

I find the biggest problem with people using the haltis and gentle leaders is not introducing it properly.  I use GL on both my collies but took the time to introduce them over about a week.  Putting them on in the house for about ten minutes, playing with them while it was on and treating them and gradually increading the time.  Now when they go they dont bat an eyelid about them and I have never had a problem since.

I did look into how to get him used to the halti, and followed the same advice only put it on him indoors and played well tried to, I did this for over a week and he still wouldn't stop chewing at it.

Now with the harness, he struggles a bit when I put it on, but it is getting easier the more I use it.

The instructions that came with the halti didn't mention anything about getting him accustomed to it first, just the best way to get it on.

Introducing Millie to her halti indoors didn't make a difference either!  But I'm pretty sure there were instructions on mine about introducing it gradually, that's odd!

That's very odd about the instructions! I know when we got ours (okay, it was nearly 20 years ago!) it said to introduce it slowly, putting it on the dog for meals to start with, then the occasional 10 minutes playing as well. It said do this for about 2 weeks before trying to use it with a lead ...