[Kinley804]

Hello,

My dog is about 6 months old and she cannot walk-on a leash. I have her in a harness but she still pulls me all over the place. We went on a 10 min walk and my hand is covered in blisters. If she starts pulling too much I will make her stop and wait before we start walking again and she will just pull so much she will end up with her front paws off the ground but still moving b/c she's still trying to walk. I will take ANY suggestions b/c I cant do walks if I'm going to come back with swollen hands.

[lange]

What kind of harness do you use? Some harnesses actually encourage pulling.

Have you ever tried turning around and walking in the opposite direction every time your dog pulls forward? It takes patience but eventually your dog will start getting the point; it pulls forward, you'll turn & walk the opposite way he wants.

There's also gentle leader headcollars that control the head and gentle leaders harness that clips to the front of the dogs chest so you have better control of their body. Try a search on youtube to get an idea of how they work.

PS Non of my dogs where good leash walkers at 6 months. lol You'll reap the rewards in the future with patience & a plan. And if you need to, wear some gloves to protect your hands. Strong dog can give you blisters. I know!

[Lunareclipse]

I own some very large dogs. I taught them from the day that I got them that the safest place to be on a leash is behind me. My male saint bernard can pull 2000 lbs by himself. He drug me across the street once and I almost got hit by a car. So I bought a 6 foot leather leash and when I walk him I hold the leash in the middle and when his nose goes past my leg, I flip the end of the leash over and swat him in the nose with it. Do not do it hard enough to hurt your dog! Just do it hard enough to startle him and teach him that in front of you is a bad place to be and behind you is the safe place. Since I started that method, Buster has not pulled me across the street and he behaves extremely well on a leash. I haven't had to correct him for over a year.

[threenorns]

yeah - harnesses DO encourage pulling bec a dog's natural instinct is to act in opposition to a force (this is why if you want your dog to sit, you pluck up on the fur at the base of his tail or else hold a treat above and in front of his nose and move it straight back toward his tail: both of those actions cause the hind end to drop and then it naturally carries down into a sit).

my dog used to pull, too. i spent a wracking fortune on every flipping collar, leash, and "system" on the market. the gentle leader/halti was the most spectacular: the saleslady and i got it on him, then it took three of us to get it off because he went *nuts*. i mean, in less than 1min, i ended up with a vet bill for sprained neck and shoulder because he fought it so hard in a complete blind panic - we had to wrestle him down to get it off. the saleslady looked me wild-eyed and said "NEVER put that on him again!".

my mom recommended i try tamar geller's "the loved dog" only to read a good way into the book that her system is great for average dogs but not great for highly intelligent dogs like border collies. so that went on the shelf.

cesar millan worked. dandy stopped pulling and dragging to the point it was a danger to me and my daughter (in addition to pulling, he would dart here and there and often we'd get the leash tangled with the stroller - if we hadn't been living on a mostly dead country lane, at least a few times could've been tragic because he'd seen something across the road and charged for it dragging the stroller with him).

now he walks wonderfully *unless* he smells something and then he turns into a giant black nose and here we go again. i finally found a very simple solution: since the only reason he's pulling is to get somewhere he wants to go, i immediately turn around and start walking away in a totally random direction. i keep walking until he is once again trotting along nicely on a loose leash and then i turn around we make our way back. pull - we go away. no pulling - we will get there and you can sniff your little border collie brains out.

walking is becoming a real pleasure - it's always been enjoyable since he stopped the charging around but there was always that worry that he's going to bolt off unexpectedly and i'd drop my phone, spill my coffee, etc.

btw: the instinct will be to walk him less because it's such a hassle; you need to walk him MORE. at one point, i was walking dandy 10k/day - seriously - just to get him unwired enough to be easy in the house. get yourself a ***set in stone*** walking schedule - every day, no excuses, you will walk the dog. rain, snow, hail, you walk the dog. flood or fire - you run.

[Kinley804]

I ended up getting her a easy walker harness and it works WONDERS. she walks right next to me. No more dragging me across the yard. Thanks for the suggestions!

[threenorns]

that is a tool - it doesn't replace training. the object is to be able to walk her on a normal leash without the assistive aid.

the point of training your dog as opposed to using tools to control the dog is that you are asserting your mastery over the dog. that's when a dog stops pulling - when he respects you as a leader.

you still need to practice off-leash walking - use the aid when you simply have to get him out so he can do his business and you have no time for anything else. but at least once a day, you need to walk him on a normal leash and work with him.

[lange]

yes, I agree that it's a tool. But its a tool in training still. It'll still help whenever you want to do loose leash walking since it builds the habit of him being more aware of you and keeping pace. You can even use both a head harness and a 2nd leash connected to the collar simultaneously, without actually controlling the headharness (e: giving it more length than the leash around the neck). Then you would bring in (closer) the leash of the headharness if you ever really needed it. Anything that builds habit, understanding and collaboration is training in my eyes.

I'm glad it's working for you. It means more walks I'd bet.

[Kinley804]

I live in an area where she can do off the leash walking. its way too busy. The easy walk is training her. its teaching her to stay near me

[DobermanGuy]

Originally Posted by Lunareclipse

I own some very large dogs. I taught them from the day that I got them that the safest place to be on a leash is behind me. My male saint bernard can pull 2000 lbs by himself. He drug me across the street once and I almost got hit by a car. So I bought a 6 foot leather leash and when I walk him I hold the leash in the middle and when his nose goes past my leg, I flip the end of the leash over and swat him in the nose with it. Do not do it hard enough to hurt your dog! Just do it hard enough to startle him and teach him that in front of you is a bad place to be and behind you is the safe place. Since I started that method, Buster has not pulled me across the street and he behaves extremely well on a leash. I haven't had to correct him for over a year.

I would feel comfortable using your method if I was using a regular leash with my girls and they were still learning the rules. Your advice would work well and keep everyone safe!

I usually walk both my girls together and they could easily rip my arm out of its socket if they wanted to...

The Pinch Collar worked well for me. Dobie 'cruise control'... They learn quickly that pulling is a BAD idea and they stop. I have never had any dog become injured in any way using a pinch collar.

I have not needed to use a pinch collar on either of them in over a year now. They learned quickly and there is NO pulling going on. Most of the time I use FlexiLeads with my girls and allow them the freedom to run around and do as they wish. (I have no issues with them walking up front so long as they come back when asked) A regular leash (of a short length) would never be able to give my girls enough room to run any. I can't keep up with all of that! LOL! :mrgreen:

For me, The pinch collars also worked to teach the girls exactly 'how long' their FlexiLeads are. We regularly play in the yard or at the park (leashes required there) and the girls will be running their tails off while playing. I went with the longest leads available at the time and it worked out great for me. The dogs quickly learned their boundries and limits when using the pinch collar with their FlexiLeads.

The leads I use are only rated for a 45lb dog... My girls passed that LONG ago but they still do not damage their leads or harm any of us humans here with excessive pulling.

Working/Training away from the pinch collar was super easy. I would still rattle the collars and watch the girls come running for a walk but instead of attaching the lead to the pinch collar I would attach it to their primary collar. After a few weeks of the girls never actually having their pinch collars 'attached' to the lead and able to provide any sort of correction we stopped using them completely. Dogs had to prove themselves first and they did...

[threenorns]

i went through pinch collars - his fur's too thick. by the time it registers, it's so tight he's choking and then the fur wraps up around the collar and it won't loosen - i have to physically lean over and loosen it for him.

i just use a length of rope with a big carabiner clip as a slip. the weight of the clip drags it back down so it's self-loosening.

the funny thing is, he can get out of it any time he wants - he knows if he does a quick double backstep, the clip will drop to the ground and he can just drop his head and he's free. he just doesn't.

[DobermanGuy]

Originally Posted by threenorns

i went through pinch collars - his fur's too thick. by the time it registers, it's so tight he's choking and then the fur wraps up around the collar and it won't loosen - i have to physically lean over and loosen it for him.

.

A properly sized and adjusted pinch collar can NOT choke a dog. I am guessing you did not have enough links in yours and that it was the wrong size.