Without using a halti collar.

lots of time and patience, positive reinforcement... what about training classes?

She's a rescue & 8 years old. If i pull her back she takes no notice, she's like a steam train full speed ahead.

How old is your dog?  Do you have an adult that has already learnt to pull, or a pup whom you want to prevent from starting?

The principle is the same but I've found there are a few differences in application.  Also is your dog/pup very food orientated?

Edited to say: just seen age! Back in a mo

distraction works for my bc, leo has never pulled thankfully lol. i carry a favourite toy, bait etc and encourage him to keep eye contact with me, or at worst keep looking at me and wait for my next command

> She's a rescue & 8 years old. If i pull her back she takes no notice, she's like a steam train full speed ahead.

My pup was trained never to start pulling, using food, praise and pauses.  My rescue wasn't very food orientated when he came to us so I did a couple of things:

Firstly I 'locked' my arm into position at my side and never, I mean NEVER, allowed my dog to move my arm forward.  Amazing how many people you see allow their dogs to walk/pull to the end of the lead (and their arm) and then yank them back.  it really does not work and you look daft :)  When necessary I actually put the lead in my right hand, around my back, and then hold it and him on my left.  This simply gave him less 'give' in the lead and me some more control.  I used whatever treats I could get him to eat and lots of verbal praise and pats for every time I felt him stop leaning into the lead.

Once I felt he had the message about the right position to walk in, I would gradually ease the lead so that he was walking with it looser and looser.  Nowadays he leans a little at the beginning of a walk but as soon as he remembers it's me on the other end he just stops.  He will pull a bit more for other people I notice...

I also used a Mikki Walkrite harness for a while when we were 'town walking'.  Mostly to prevent him lunging at pigeons BUT it really helped him to stop pulling.  This is a teaching aid and not to be used at all times however, I found it worked amazingly well.  HTH :)

Thanks for the replies. How does the Mikki Walkrite Harness work?
Also i walk 2 dogs both border collie size.

I have just seen a picture of the Mikki Walkrite Harness and it looks as if it can rub on their front legs.

> How does the Mikki Walkrite Harness work?

Do you know I'm not absolutely sure why it works :)  It comes with it's own collar.  Rubber covered straps drop through a guide ring down the shoulder and under the front legs.  You then attach it again at the front of the collar. 

I'm really careful with my dogs and I couldn't see that it caused any pain or discomfort but something about it certainly worked.  I found it much safer as my lad previously pinged to the end of his lead lunging at pigeons.  This worried me far more than anything else as he was a danger to himself and to me!  I used the Mikki thing around town and sometimes for the first few minutes of a walk.  I probably used it on and off for a couple of months then never again.  It was good enough to help me teach him what was required rather than being a long term management tool.

> it looks as if it can rub on their front legs.

I've just read a review which says exactly that.  It certainly wasn't my experience.  My boy has a long wiry coat and he didn't lose any hair.  I suspect it does feel a bit uncomfortable when they pull but stops the second they do.  It's a question of weighing up the benefits.  You don't use it for long periods and it really works - to an extent that your dog will stop pulling like a steam train and notice that you are on the other end of their lead, enabling you to positively heap praise on them walking at your side.

Mine soon realised there were big benefits in sticking with me instead of pulling ahead with both eyes in front.  AND no more hysterical leaping to the end of his lead at pigeons.  Once or twice he might have throttled his silly self as a suicidal pigeon landed in front of us.

I know it is no fun being dragged along by a dog regardless of size.  I have a 4year old GSD who walks along on the leash without any pulling at all (ok, spotting a cat doesn't count).  It was a trainer who told us to do this.  Get a slightly longer lead, long enough so that you can have a loop of the lead in your hand.  This works best in an open area.  As SOON as your dog puts any tension on the lead, drop the loop so you are only holding the end of the lead and take off running in the opposite direction.  Don't shout of the dog.  It does take time and patience and needs to be done EVERY time there is tension.  Also do it in as many different areas as you can.  We would take our boy in the car somewhere to practice and then started practising on quite streets so you could take off if necessary.  The difference seems to be that if you try to pull a dog back to you, they will always pull against you.  With this method it seems to be the slight jerk which gets their attention.  I would never do this with any kind of check collar on. With our boy it really started making him pay attention to us rather than any and everything else.  It probably took only a week or 2 but for those few weeks we followed this training ever time he was on the lead.
Unfortunately ((or fortunately depending how you look at it), every dog is different and what  works for one may not work for another. We had tried treats, walking in the other direction, standing still till he stopped pulling but this is what worked for him and I think a couple of weeks is quite quick adn definately worth the effort to have him walk nicely for years to come.
Hope this helps and good luck.

Personally,  I swear by the 'tree' method.
Walk and as soon as the dog pulls, stand still, as soon as the lead becomes slack, reward the dog with a treat (I also give a verbal of 'walking', so that can be used as a verbal reminder later) and carry on walking.

If your dog pulls to the piont you are worried about his throat/neck you could also use a chest harness (with a seperate lead, just to ease any presure on the neck if he's a heavy puller).

It may take you a while to get any distance to start with but I found it really gets the message home - pullers don't get anywhere :)

Tricolours said - I have just seen a picture of the Mikki Walkrite Harness and it looks as if it can rub on their front legs.
I found it did rub between the chest and front legs if they pull a lot, but doesn't when I cross the leg straps in front of the chest when clipping on to the collar. ie left to right clip and right to left clip. :-)

> I have just seen a picture of the Mikki Walkrite Harness and it looks as if it can rub on their front legs.

And also it can ruin a dogs front.  Remember a dogs does not have shoulder sockets like we have the only thing attaching the shoulders to the body is muscle.

>a dogs does not have shoulder sockets like we have

Just a picky point, but we don't either. ;-) Our shoulder-blades are only attached by muscle, and not a skeletal joint. It's standard construction.

So how do we get dislocated shoulders?  Shame we didn't get Human biology in my school.

Just found this: http://www.theodora.com/anatomy/humeral_articulation_or_shoulder_joint.html

and it says:
The shoulder-joint is an enarthrodial or ball-and-socket joint.

So I am confused?

We (and dogs) can dislocate the joint where the humerus (bone of the upper arm) joins the shoulder-blade, but the shoulder-blade isn't connected to any other bone (other than the collar bone). It's only connected to the trunk by muscles and tendons.

This illustration will make it clear. :-)

More information.

A dog's upper arm is connected by a joint to the shoulder-blade in exactly the same way, with the shoulder-blade only being connected to the body by muscles and tendons.

Get it now.

Somehow it was easy for me to understand in relation to dogs, just remember being told we were different.

Just wondering why the OP wants to exclude a halti.  I have a non puller who hates the postman and cats so the halti is there just incase he decides to lung at either.

Mine are not/never have been bad pullers, but because there is only 18 months between my youngest two, and we now often go down to the country where livestock piques even the sensible older ones interest managing 5 20kg dogs on lead is so much easier with head collars.

Once I started using them on the two youngest it was like having power steering and I bought two more (the 12 year old doesn't have one ;) ).

It was only after starting to use the head collars that I realised even when not pulling as such there was often sufficient tension on the leads with 100kg of dogs to put a strain on my shoulder.