Hi, 10week old SBT, time to get her lead trained,,, or at least start !!!

Anyone else who has experiance of the breed, whats best in your opinion to start, a collar or harness.

I personally wouldn't use a harness as I think these make dogs pull all the more. Just use a flat snug fitting widish collar that the pup can't back out of. We have a young staffie at classes and he has always been on a flat collar and now walks really well to heel and he is only 7 months. He started last november so has only had 16 weeks of training. Good Luck.:-)

I find staffies easier to walk on a harness!! They dont pull so much IMO.
If you want to show though you will need a coller, so start off with that.

My staffy knows when the harness is on its walk time, but when the coller is on its ring craft or show time!

Good luck & enjoy your puppy

ok,  2 replies, 2 differing answers........... lol.........    great !  lol

No wish to show her, she is a pet, and thats that.  Would LOVE it if she walked to heel, and prepared to put effort in.  Anyone else had any experiance?

i walk both my girls on a harness but im going to walk my boy on a collar as i wish to show him but i will probably use a harness for his "walkies" when hes older

hi darren. we have a 16week old staffy bitch. she wears a collar during the day we take it off a night . my wife takes her to puppy training. at first she was on the collar ,but pulled that much she used to choke herself. we then bought a harness,the nylon type one.she walks realy well on it . it was her 3rd time at training on tuesday. and she was the best pup there. give the harness a go darren, and go to a puppy class. hope this helps . all the best steve

Good evening,i have two 5mth old blue merle  border collie boy pups and they were started of on leads and i found they pulled real bad i then tried choke chains but this was even worse,with the strength behind a collie dog they are very detemined dogs and all they want to do is pull and run so in the end i decided to get them both a harness they have been walking on a harness now for just over a week and what a difference the pulling has stopped the trying to run and pull me with them has stopped its fantastic i now enjoy taking my boys for there walk and i think they enjoy it more no more pulling on there leads to slow them down buying them a harness has worked out well for me and my boys give it a go you will find it a much more relaxing and rewarding walking your dog with a harness good luck jen

My girlfriend wants the harness, so I guess she is right ...........lol. obviously I meant for the puppy !!  lol

Trouble is wem] bought the smallest, and its to big for her around the belly, so I guess its back to another shop to try and find one.

Puppy classes next week !!!!!!!

darren. take yor dog to the pet shop he will fit the right harrness for your staffy. ours did.you will find the small harrness wil fit your staffy until it is about 17 weeks, that was the case with ours.after that the next size will last you until it is an adult. by the way the harrness's are adjustable, so i can't see why it did not fit. hope this helps all the best steve

we didnt take the dog the first time, as the pet shop is about 1/2 hours drive, and to hold him for 1 hour is a bit risky,,,,,,,,,,,,figdetty little thing !!!

darren . me again. have a look at www.petshefield.co.uk the sell some nice harnesses for when she gets older. we have bought the embossed harness in the tan colour for ours with matching lead, very reasonable price as well. hope you like the site . steve

hiya
Having tried everything for my two and i mean everything lol!! I now find the lupi harnesses the best, and i can now walk the 2 staffies and 2 labs on haltis together .Without the harnesses i had to do 2 trips lol!!:)I bought them a leather harness each and they were very hard work on them!!

We have always walked our border collies on collars and have always trained with collars. But at the end of the day it is down to training no matter what equipment you use. If you let a dog pull in front then they will pull. The answer is not to let the dog get in front in the first place. So, when the dog does get slightly in front, before the lead goes taught, do an about turn and let the dog catch up and praise in the right position. The dog finds the pull rewarding because it is getting to where it wants to go. The owner has the lead and must be the leader and only let the dog go where the owner wants to go. Sorry to sound bossy but at the end of the day imo harnesses and haltis can cause damage if not fitted correctly. I know some of you will now say that collars can be uncomfortable aswell, but if they are snug and not loose making the hair wear thin and chaff around the neck then this should not be a problem.:-) We only use collars in classes and all the dogs walk well after the initial first couple of weeks of being shown what to do by the trainer and owner.