Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 3:18 pm Post subject: pulling on the lead!
Hi,
I have a 5 and a half month old black lab. When I take her for a walk she pulls really hard. Bearing in mind shes a big dog for her age!
Can anyone help
You can buy Anti-pull harnesses and leads etc, that fit around either the kneck or the head.
It can help reduce the pulling.
The other option is to start training everyday. Training your dog to each walk "nicely" or to walk to "heel" Or both.
It's not hard, esp with a puppy, as they pick things up so quickly and are always very eager to please.
Some nice treats and a lot of patience and you'll be well on your way.
I had my pup trained to walk nicely on the lead at a very young age. By about half a year old he was walking to heel on command.
You just have to stay commited to training and be patient and not expect instant overnight results.
Personally, i dislike these anit-pull harness things so i would always go for the training to walk nicely on a normal flat buckle collar and leash, but its down to your own personal choice.
Goodluck x
I started training stormy early. Getting a dog to walk to heel is one of the hardest things to do in dog training, but well worth it in the long run. If the dog pulls, you stop straight away and wait for the lead to be slack before moving on. You may find using a treat to lure the puppy back to your side where you want it will help. I did this with Stormy and he walks so lovely now. The main thing is to be consistant, so allow plenty of time on walks and most importantly be consistant. Many times it gets so annoying when we have to keep stopping, but stick with it. I remember with stormy to get him to sit at a kerb, many times it would take 20 attempts to get him to sit at each kerb. This was so frusturating, but I stuck with it and now he sits on the first command, sometimes now even without the command. Practice in your living room off lead, in your garden on lead, when you are in the park and so on, so the pup gets use to walking to heel wherever he is. I found stormy was good in the training hall and the house as a pup, but once outside it was a different thing, so I started doing a bit of heel work wherever I went and he soon got the message. It is harder outside as there are so many temptations for them on their walks, so having a supply of treats or a favourite toy helps to keep their attention. I use to feed stormy his breakfast on the first walk, so he was not getting too many treats.
Charlie took a while on this, but now that he is almost two he does walk quite well to heel a lot of the time. However, those who see us at GTs etc. might just see a dog who gets very excited and starts leaping around, pulling again etc., but I have worked hard on Charlie, often using mostly the methods suggested, and he is an improvement on what he was, though not perfect. Much mor manageable though.
I am not totally convinced on the anti-pull devices such as harnesses, as harnessed dogs can often pull even more (you harness them to pull carts, sledges etc.). I did have to use a halti/gentle leader for just over a year though, because Charlie would have to walk beside my young daughter's pushchair and I couldn't risk him pulling there. He did not like it and never truly got used to it, but it did work. Now that I am hardly using the pushchair I am concentrating more on proper lead walking and trying to get him to heel in much the same way as Jill talked about.
Hello again,
We tried that approach and she seems to understand that when you stop so should she but as soon as there is a distraction she will try to run off.
one thing we did try and seems to work alot of the time is to give her one of her toys like a ball to carry when we go out so shes got something in her mouth.
We had that with Stormy initially. He was good with no distractions, so good in the house and garden, but not outside in the street or fields, so I just took him out more where there were distractions and worked at it keeping him on the lead. For example he wanted to run and play with the kids that run in the street to school, so I avoided taking him out until they were at school. It use to worry me, incase he jumped up them being a big powerful dog. Then I decided a few months ago that I need to get him use to people running as when he is off lead, I have to be able to control him. I then started going out as kids were going to school every day for a walk and now he ignores not only kids running, but kids kicking their footballs, bikes and other dogs. You will get there too
Today my trainer said from next week she wants me to do all our lessons in future with Stormy off lead in class whilst the other dogs in our class are on lead as he is ready for it. I would never have dreamt of being able to do that a few months ago. I know from doing agility in that class that he never runs off, so I am confident that he won't run over to another class. I do find with training in the fields at training class rather than in a hall has helped stormy so much. We did clicker and puppy classes in a hall and he did well at home and the garden, but not outside. Now we have been training for a year in the outside where rabbits, foxes and horses have been and now he is excellent in the park. Practising where these smells are works well as they are a big part of their distractions. As your pup is still young it would be a good time to do that. Keep him on lead though where there are distractions, until you know he returns everytime. We have to become the most exciting thing in our dogs life when in the fields, so keep a variety of treats and a fav toy with you, so you always have something he will want.
Last edited by craftee on Sat Jul 15, 2006 3:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
we live next to a canal where alot of people walk there dogs and theres loads of wildlife aswell so loads of smells to! tilly is ok at coming back if theres a bribe involved but shes got selective hearing! so sometimes to get her back if she wont come i run of in the oppostite direction squeezing her squeaky toy! works every time!!!!!! only problem is you look a right tit doing it!
sorry to be a pain but also could you reccommend a dvd to teach me how to whistle train her when she gets a little older?
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