Hi,
I have an 1 year and 2 month old dog, who will not walk with the lead nicely, It makes walking her unpleasent, she pulles me along which the lead hurts my hand. She doesnt do it so much with my partner,if i take her to the park she is fine as she is off the lead and always comes if i call her. its only the lead, and its a shame as she is hurting herself too. Has anyone got any ideas

Hi
I use a halti on my dog Oliver. This prevents him from pulling, so he walks to heel.
With Marley I walk with a biscuit in my hand and he does not leave my side :D
Vickie

Have you thought about trying a halti or a harness maybe ?
Our last dog pulled terribly except when he was on a harness and then he walked by myside . I know others recommend haltis over harnesses but I have never used one myself so I cannot say .
I'm sure there will be lots of advice from others on this
Good luck :)
Lel

Hi,
At the moment im using a harness which isnt making any difference, I have tried making her stop and sit down and she does that, but as soon as we walk again she pulls

I personally prefer the gentle leader (Canac) to a Halti, but same principle, if you have control of the head/muzzle they cannot pull, same principle as a halter or bridle on a horse!

What sort of dog is she, and what sort of harness are you using?
LynnT

You can get special harnesses which help with stopping pulling, for example the StopPull by Kumfi, but it is best to learn to train the dog to walk on a looose lead.

Classes may help if you would consider these?

Good luck :)

Lindsay

Hi Lady

Do you go to training classes?

Teaching a dog to walk on the lead is hard but the work you put in to get the result is well worth the effort.

I would rather you find an instructor who can show you (make sure their dogs walk nicely first) and get a couple of private lessons - the cost of teaching you could well be worth it

Christine

Not that my training tips are ever any good, but both my dogs have worn harnesses and I found that it encourages them to pull you along - rather like a horse drawing a carriage they put all the weight of their shoulders and chest into it. I use a Halti to stop Hugo pulling but Christine is right, lessons are much the better option. These devices only force the dog to stop pulling, it doesn't actually teach them that pulling is unacceptable.

I have found, however, that harnesses are most useful for dragging dogs out of rivers! :D

This is my message from another post...hope it helps

>The dog must know two things in the heel, >1< which side to stand when you give the heel, and >2< that until you give the release command, he must stay by your side, keeping his head next to your thigh.

If I was you, I would first teach it that the "HEEL" is by the side of you (whichever side you want to walk him) and quickly reward him with a tiny treat - tiny treat because as soon as he recieves the treat, he will want to run off again. As he tries to run off, give him a hard and fast "CHECK" (get a half check or check chain), he will look up and think"what the bloody hell was that for", as soon as he looks at you, give him a smile, say "GOODBOY HEEL" (every time he tries moving away, give him a "check", but you stay very still and extremely calm) When he is standing next to you, start making anti-clockwise circles if he is on the left. As soon as he goes infront of your thigh, which he will, cos he doesn't quite know whats going on, give him another check, to bring him back close to you thigh. Make the cirlces very small. The dog will probably standing pretty much still and you walking around him like an idiot, but make sure that his head is close to your thigh.
If at this stage, he is calm and staying by your side, then he has learnt that when he hears the heel command, he must stand by your thigh.
For stage >2< make the circles bigger until eventually he his walking next to your thigh as you walk in a straight line, and even making clockwise turns.
If at any stage you think you are loosing hold of the situation, give the release command and play with him for a minute or two. Make sure that when you play with him, he can tell you are in a playful mood, and when you give him the heel command, you must be serious giving the impression "its back to business".
You must praise like you've never praised before if he is doing it right. Praise is the most important thing. Call him a "GOOD PUPPY WUPPY" and all that sort of crap which women are really good at!!!!. Dogs learn the most when they are having fun, so make sure his tail is always wagging!!!
If I haven't make any sense, or I need to make anything clearer, please let me know.
Goodluck
Josh<
The thing with this method, is that it makes use of a check chain. The thing with using reward based techniques, such as treats and toys, is that the dog stays happy only because of the toy/treat. When you use any sort of negative re-inforcement,like the use of a check chain, the dog doesn't like it, and if you don't know how to bring your dogs happiness/interest levels up again, the continued "check" will eventually break your dog down, and eventually he will refuse to do what you want. The art to using any sort of negative re-inforcement is being able to give a quick, CONTROLLED correction whilst knowing how to keep your dog intrested and happy with the control of your body language, voice tone, and eyes and NOT "Good Boy, here's your treat"!!!

Another thing that has just struck me..... do you walk the dog, then take it to the park?????!!!! I used to do this with Sophie (my GSD). I realised that she pulled (A) because I hadn't taught her to heel correctly and (B) because she loves running around and couldn't wait to get to the park. Does your dog pull on the way home? If she doesn't then firstly train her to heel, but the make off lead a reward ie if she pulls, then you don't go to the park. If she stays calm and heels nicely (she will only heel when she knows what "heel" is!!!) then she gets to have a run around in the park.