lupin my lab x collie bitch is 6 months old and is a lovely natured girl. she was quick to accept the lead and i never used t have any problems with her at all on walks. her recall is very good and consistant, she will stop in her tracks and come back to me, even if she was about to meet a dog.
i have however come up against an unusual problem and i dont know what to do. about a month ago lupin was very ill with gastroenteritis, she was vomiting for 4 days and was very miserable. under vet treatment and with love and warmth she pulled througth and in fact after about a week you would never of knwon she had ever been ill at all.
during the time she was ill i walked her in a harness becasue she was gagging a lot , the vet said she may have a sore throat from the retching,m but that it would be fine after a few days.

the harness was fine to begin with, but ad time progressed and i was sure her thorat was no longer causing her problems. i decided to go back t the coller. simply becasue she was starting to get strong in the harness and had started to pull almost crawling up the road thowing her weight into the harness. i put her back into her normal leather coller and she was very jumpy in it.

she was fine when off the lead, but as soon as i went to walk her in the coller she started to pull againt me liek she did in the harness and started to choke and scare her self.

i decided that the way forward woudl be an easy walker harness, but as soon as i pout it on her sge just reverted to crawling up the road with me again. almost on her side.

she does get very excited about walks. however it is starting to get very impractical. i can get her attention ti heel, and off lead she is fantastic. but it is not practical to walk her with out a lead.

any ideas?

Back to basics I'm afraid with the whole collar and lead scenario.

She clearly thinks she has to pull hard to get walking so it may be best to get her back into her collar and do the stop start method, stop when the lead goes tight start again when it is slack or the turn about - change direction every time she pulls.  It could take a week before she realises it is not going to benefit her pulling especially as she is now seemingly getting to a more testing stage of development. 

I would do all her lead training without the other puppy present.

Collars should be worn high up the neck so that there is no pressure on the throat. Use a half check or flat collar that can be fixed quite snug, allowing for two fingers to fit underneath. This should help alongside the use of either a toy or treat to keep her attention. Good Luck.:-)

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I agree she seems to have frightened herself with the collar.  A half check correctly adjusted so it NEVER goes tighter than a normal collar, and worn LOW on the neck (too high up, under the ears, can cause damage to the trachea and would probably frighten her even more :( ).  Worn low, the muscles in the neck help to protect the windpipe.

I would also concentrate on rewarding the times she IS close to you frequently, - say every other step to start with until she's watching your every move, waiting for the next reward, then increase the distance between the rewards.

I'm sorry I have to disagree here. The throat is half way down the neck. Worn up highish there is no tightness round the throat. If worn further down then the dog puts the whole weight of his shoulders into the collar and pulls causing more choking and discomfort. Obviously where ever the collar is worn, if the dog is allowed to pull there will be pain and panic will set in, which is why food or toys are used to keep the dog by your side. Always stop if the dog surges ahead and re-position before the dog gets to the end of the lead, call and encourage back to your side with a light voice and a treat/toy. You can always call the dog by a recall to sit in front and then start again at heelwork. Hope this helps. :-)

No need to apologise ;)  My dogs throat starts under it's head and goes all the way down the neck.  If there is no tightness - why the need to wear the collar high anyway?

Technically, the throat is the entire length of the front of the neck; the higher the more sensitive and easily damaged.

Hm I just know that the lower the collar is the more the dog is inclined to choke and pull causing more problems. :-) I agree the collar dosen't need to be tight if the dog doesn't pull. It is just more comfortable if the collar is tighter preventing rubbing.

True, dogs will pull more when the collar's low - because the muscles are stronger the closer you get to the shoulders. High behind the ears is very weak and extremely sensitive; great pain can be caused by pressure there.