Can anybody please help me I cant stop my dog pulling on a lead, ill start with a bit of info of wots happened, when he was a small pup I was told by the vet he had a rolling motion in his walk and thought it was his hip so I was advised to lead walk him on concrete and to let him pull against me as this would strengthen his legs and hips, so 3 times a day on short walks we did this, now he is 2 yr old and has been given the all clear by the vet 6 months ago but now we cant stop him from pulling we had tried all the usual things like stopping, walking backwards, changing direction ect. we bought a halti head collar but still he pulls that much he snapped it so bought another one but the same thing happened so now we have a dogmatic head collar made from leather and so far its holding strong but still pulls like hell, somebody told me when he pulls to tap (not kick) his front leg with my foot so he will learn if he walks in front of me he will get his leg tapped and he wont like it so he will stop pulling well the crafty git now if I move my foot near his he just lifts his leg up out the way lol so can anybody please give me some advice on what I can try next.

tnx

Hi Nettie

HOw long did you try each method? It takes a lot of patience to sort this out. Id suggest a zero tolerance policy on pulling, maybe just one person to walk him at first ( if you can). Remember hes had 2 years to consolidate the habit, so persevere. If he likes toys and will play with you, you could use a sqeaky one to encourage him to walk beside you as you do with pups. If not then use a flat collar and lead, and stop when the lead is tight. Dont let him pull you out the door! Keep your hand on your tummy at waist height, lead loop over your hand and held with a thumb, and relax your shoulders so you dont pull him, stop with your feet apart and wait till he falls back to your side, then go on. Hell learn the walk stops when he pulls and continues when the lead is loose. Be patient and if the lead lies along his back, thats success :) Heel comes later. No tapping. The dogmatic will give your arms a rest and increase control but you need to teach him the loose lead. Keep at it :)

Hi

I have tried the same methods for a few months at a time and still doing the walking backwards 1 now but when I walk back its like a tug of war lol, I cant tempt him with toys of food he just isn't interested while out on a walk, when I stand still he sits automatically where he is and wont move until I do so I pull him to my side before walking on but pulls straight way so I do the same again, I do walk him on my own and iv never let anybody else walk him, although he is worse for pulling if I walk with anybody else  which is not often, he just shows no signs of improvement in any method I try, If I could only see a slight sign that this method is working for him I will stick to it and the tapping only lasted for a day he picked that 1 up quick I wish he would learn to stop pulling as quick lol, my mother said it's a man thing lol

I'd suggest making life easy for yourself and him by using a harness, i like Kumfi Stop/pull, but other recommended one is the Walkezee.

It may help, and perhaps put in time training a loose lead walk in between. Clicker training would also help, but i would suggest getting a trainer to show you how :)

Lindsay
X

Nettie

Have PM'd you.

Hi Lindsay

We did buy a stop pull harness from our local pet shop although I cannot remember the make, it worked great for the first two days then he learnt how to ignore it and pulled worse so I went back to the head collar, the harness had a collar with two straps coming down the front and under each front leg and attaching to a ring on the back of the collar where you clip his lead so when he pulled it tightened up around his front legs so the crafty git pulled like hell and spent most of the time walking on his back legs lol, he is so intelligent instead of using it to walk properly he uses it to defeat anything I try but im more stubborn than him I wont give up

I was just going to suggest that very same Harness. It worked a treat on my 5 year old staffie.
No one was more surprised than me!

have u tried just walking back home when he pulls. walk time over.  wait til he calms down then go again.

my staffie used to pull really bad, tried everything.
I now walk her on a halti lead.  This clips round my waist and the other end clips to her collar or whatever you are using.  Firstly it takes the strain off my arms and i wont be subconsciously pulling her back, which causes them to pull more?
Everytime she pulls i stop, sometimes i will call her back to me then continue, or just wait for the lead to go slack and carry on.  A normal 10 minute walk would take 40 minutes the first time, with stopping every two steps!