Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 10:56 am Post subject: loose lead walking
right i have decided that i well and truely need to crackdown on max's pulling on the lead. i have been using a halti training harness and he just pulls into it. i have done the stop/ turn around. he just wont walk nicely he will pull and i will stop and call him back to me and treat when hes at my side but as soon as i start to walk again hes pulling. im just not getting anywhere and i know this is all my fault because i have let him get away with it for so long. i could really do with some encouraging words of advice. should i just do away with the harnest as it doesnt help and just use his normal collar and lead or try a half check collar or some other gadget?? i really need to get back to basics with this,although when i have tried in the garden my loose lead walking hes really good at it but as soon as we are out the door hes a train!!
If it was me I would do one of 2 things; Depending on what you want to try and the dog...
Either, clicker train the loose lead at home and then take it outside and continue in short bursts, starting with an easy thing i.e. no other dogs around etc etc and build up but by using the clicker and food rewarding the wanted behaviour to reinforce the desired action outside your garden.
Or, go for the tough guy approach, get a thin stick (preferably a fresh non dead one i.e. when you scratch it it is green, so you would need to take one off a tree). When he pulls get the stick and whip YOUR leg (you will want to be wearing boots or it will hurt!) so it makes a horrid noise, most dogs will look at you with alarm that you just hit yourself and take a step back wondering what you are doing praise, reward and walk on. Short bursts on that one too! Haha.
It doesn't mean you can let him pull in between the short bursts but that you are better with him then off lead.
I personally am not a fan of the harness, gismo, gadgets, I like a dog on a slip lead. You will need to build up to it though.
2 very different techniques but that would be what I would do.
Think I should whip myself with a stick for being so stupid and letting it carry on for so long Thanks I will have a look for a clicker and give that a go.
Haha - try the clicker and if it doesn't work, the stick does work well, it is the noise really. But you def need wellies or leather boots. You can always try something a friend use to do which is a tin with coins in which makes a horrid noise and rattle that. I would find that easier than being yanked along.......he will get the hang of it, consistancy is the key
Di wrote a thread about lead training somewhere.....might be worth looking for.
This is not meant to de-motivate you Amanda, but hopefully to comfort you if the training does not at first go to plan.
Barney too pulled like a train and the only way I could take him out on a lead was a harness when he was younger, going onto a Halti (which he absolutely hated) as he got older. I used to get quite upset with myself, he was my first dog and I thought it was all my fault etc. I found it very embarrassing to be pulled down the street by a dog who would not do what he was told!
By probably 18 months to 2 years he gradually stopped pulling and we managed without the dreaded Halti. Then we went through a stage when he would only pull if excited or stressed.
Now he is 3 and much calmer and rarely pulls.
I really hope your training with Max is successful, it makes such a difference when they don't pull and the first time they walk quietly by your side is wonderful.
Thanks. It's frustrating because I have just gone in garden with him just with collar and lead and he walked either just behind or at the side of me.why won't he just do that when we are out!!!! I know he's excited when in the big wide world and there's lots to see and smell. Need him to be more interested in me though and not everything else or where he's going(usually the park for an off lead run)
Thanks Sara, it is quite embarrassing being pulled along especially when I see other owners with there lovely behaved dogs I think the thing that really made me think is because we saw another(very well behaved) lab at the park the other day and seeing max next to this two yr old dog he's half it's size and I just thought"god,if he's pulling me now how will I control him at that size" so I need to slap myself with that stick And sort myself out. Because ultimately I know it my fault and not max's I've just not shown him the right way to do it yet.
Something else I would do when you go out, is wear him out in the garden the first few times and take the edge off, then get him walking at heel in the garden and just head out with him already doing it.
Need him to be more interested in me though and not everything else or where he's going(usually the park for an off lead run)
Therein lies your problem. He knows he is going for a lovely run in the park, even if he pulls. So it's sort of self rewarding for him.
For the next couple of weeks, instead of thinking you are going to take him for a run, every time his lead is on, you are both TRAINING and that training doesn't stop until you take his lead off and release him.
From now on, if he doesn't walk nicely, then he DOESN'T get his run in the park, simple as that.
In fact for the first week, I wouldn't even think about taking him on his usual route to the park, as the habit of pulling you there is no doubt firmly ingrained by now. Choose another route and build up to walking towards the park. It wouldn't do him any harm to walk straight past the park some days too, without getting a run, even if he is walking nicely. He needs to know having a run is on YOUR terms, not his.
For now just concentrate on getting him walking on a loose lead, just for a few mins, even if this means getting no further than the end of your garden path (been there, done that a good few times). Get him thinking walking on lead is about walking on lead, not trying to get where the fun and games are as quick as possible.
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he will pull and i will stop and call him back to me and treat when hes at my side but as soon as i start to walk again hes pulling. im just not getting anywhere and i know this is all my fault because i have let him get away with it for so long. i could really do with some encouraging words of advice. should i just do away with the harnest as it doesnt help and just use his normal collar and lead or try a half check collar or some other gadget?? 
i really need to get back to basics with this,although when i have tried in the garden my loose lead walking hes really good at it but as soon as we are out the door hes a train!!
praise, reward and walk on. Short bursts on that one too! Haha.
Thanks I will have a look for a clicker and give that a go.
