My 2 year old dobe wears a half-check chain, and when we street walk he wears a halti.  When in the park I like to just have his lead on.  He is actually quite good on the lead, but the problem with him is that when he only has the half-check and no halti if he sees something (squirrel or cat etc), he will pull, he now weighs 42 kilos, he could actually pull me over.  I really put the halti on so it makes it easier for me to control him.  He hates the halti and constantly keeps rubbing my leg with his face, he has had the halti for about 7 months now, is there anything else I could use on him rather than the halti.

I would persevere with the halti - we had the same problem with one of our dogs, and hubby, being a soft touch, would take off the halti and clip the lead to her collar meaning she could pull as much as she wanted.  She never tried to rub the halti against me, funnily enough, as she knew I wouldn't take it off.  She doesn't try to rub it off against hubby now either - he started to be firm and ignored her when she rubbed and it seems to have worked!

I've done the Halti and Gentle leader so know what you're going through :rolleyes: :D

Obviously he doesn't like it so I don't see any point in persevering, after-all, you've given enough time ;)

My dogs can still be pullers when they set their minds to it and between them they weigh 100 kilos so I tried a Harness, only for road walking and there was an immense improvement because they were far more comfortable, so were more in the mindset of co-operating :rolleyes:

Not saying it'll work but I'd be inclined to give it a go. ;)

Have you thought about a saddle :D

:-D

I used a halti and... well... EVERYTHING with my last dog who was a BC.  And in 'EVERYTHING' that includes training clasesall his short little life.  With the Halit he could soon just lock his neck and pull and the 'walkright' type  harness did work very well but it just depressed him and why take the dog out at all if they wear something that makes them hate the walk.

Anyway... whatever tool or method we used a whole day out taking turns in holding the lead was a test of endurance!  I just got there with him when he died. I tried a new way of training him and  just suddenly clicked in him that I actually didn't want him to pull! I asked the pet shop for a ball and chain or a cart full of bricks!  I think I was always in a rush... rush rush rush! And so although  though I was training him to walk well I was actually teaching him to rush! And I would use his breed as a excuse and tell myself the BC wasn't designed to walk sedately on a lead! 

So with my two dogs I have now ( who are again a pastoral working breed ) I decided to use no training aids ( because they make me lazy and avoid sprting out the issue ) and so just to start as I mean to go on and  insist on 'no pulling.'  With a big dog I think this is especialy important... and with two I'd be sunk if they pulled.   It is hard work and needs patience ( which God forgot to give me much of ) but I think insted of physical strength if we fully use our own strength of mind voice control and outweigh them in stubbornness and then they can learn quite quickly that we are in control. You sound like you are getting there as it is. We just ( lol just :rolleyes: ) need to anticipate what will get them to suddenly pull and correct them before they do it..  Mine are only 12 months old ish but we are making good progress. They are far from all the time perfect though but I do believe I will get there in the end and then of course they will walk lovely all the time. ... :rolleyes:

Oh...one thing I did also learn from my last dog. My lad was 9 and I only let him hold the lead in the park with a halti on the dog.... but the lad would let go of the lead so I told him to tie the lead to his arm! Okay... so obviously not the right thing to do... and I'm sure you can picture the poor lad being dragged through the mud by a halti wearing BC!  So no matter how desperate you get please do not try tying your or anyone elses children to the dog to slow them down! ;)

I agree that no walking aid is a substitute for good training. I understood that the OP was asking for advice regarding what she could try to make her and her dogs life easier for road walking. :)

I also have 2 pastoral working breeds that were originally bred to "steer" livestock from the front. In their native Country they are known as the "leader". Meaning they always have to be in front. This in turn makes my life that little bit harder.:rolleyes: I've had other pastoral breeds before that were simple to heel train in comparison.

With my now youngest one we are still at the stage of "when you pull, we stop". Unfortunately, being very true to her breed, she still hasn't caught on to the fact that my strength of mind and voice will eventually out-do her stubborness :D That word was created for my breed. My walks with her now only take 2 hrs instead of what was 3 and cover very little ground. :D Like you I wasn't blessed with huge amounts of patience and now realise the meaning of it being a virtue ;)

lol! Great.  You know I think people like us normal people ( assuming we are all 'normal' ;)   ) should write dog training books... becausae the books and magazines make it all look so easy... if you do this your dog will do this... and if your dog does not you are not pack leader and must start to eat biscuits in front of your dog and then the dog will walk nicely by your side. In reality it just takes time. Affter 18 months of halti, walkright, stopping sitting and seemingly walking my dog backwards and never getting to where I was gouing an old chap was stood in the street watching me and said: 'not working is it.'

Well you've got the right idea. Have the 'don't-want-to-walk-want-to-run' type pastoral breeds and then better still find that too easy so go for  pastoral  breeds that is even harder to teach this to!     Oh well...  I do love these shepherding breeds. ( love all breeds of dogs though and all the ones inbetween!  )

Hi Debbie, I'm working on this with my almost 10month GR puppy right now. He's good about not pulling unless he sees something he wants. I could call, yodel, squeal and jump around like an idiot and he wouldn't look at me (maybe that says something about my normal behaviour). I'm trying something now that seems to be working. I bring a plastic squeeky toy and keep it hidden away. When he's pulling I squeek it and he looks every time. When he turns around to look for the source I reward him, put him in a sit and keep his attention with lots of praise and rewards. So far so good.  Milo doesn't ever get the toy except out on walks. Does your dobie respond to any noises like that?