Desperate to stop 18 mo dog from pulling on the lead

[PamBeesly]

Hello, I have a beautiful 18 month old Collie X he has a great temperment and he is brilliant with people and other dogs. He is a generally chilled out little fella. However, I never persevered with any methods of trying to teach him how not to pull on the lead. I walk him in town on my break from work (he comes to work with me) This is getting more tricky because I'm 25 weeks pregnant and he pulled so hard last week in the rain that I fell and really hurt myself. I blame myself for not training him properly in the first place, but genuinely I found nothing worked, he is 17kg and I'm panicking now about trying to walk him and push a buggy at the same time. Off the lead when we are at home is fine but in town he eeds to be on the lead.
Any advice would be welcome TIA :)

[belindarose]

I think you need to get to a good (positive methods, no choke chains) training class ASAP and follow their instructions. Stick with a method until you've cracked it. Our puppy is young and we taught him using a stop start method. Everytime he pulls, you stop. You don't go again till he's sitting with a loose lead. Another method is to swiftly turn round every single time he pulls, so he learns he doesn't get where he wants to go unless he's walking nicely. But you need a trainer to explain these properly.

[miacis]

You could try a body harness - that helped us plus some of the methods described above

[Slubberdegullion]

[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueE1S1k74Ao&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This]] is a good you tube clip of clicker training for loose lead walking.

If you can afford it I would go to the APDT website and look for your local trainers who can come and do a one to one session with you. It's important imo to start this training in an environment with as few distractions as possible and then to build up slowly to situations where your dog is likely to be more and more distracted by things but still be able to focus on its position next to you.

I had a puller but with lots of work on my dog is about 95% perfect. If however we go to a totally new environment, with lots of people and dogs about then she has a canine brain short circuit and she will pull. In those situations I have a harness which certainly reduces her pulling, and if she does pull ensures she does not suffer any neck injuries.

Good luck . It takes time but is so worth it in the end.

[jellybrain]

I have the same problem here too Pam, same size dog and colliex too. I'm really not consistent (which I know is bad) and tend to walk her mainly off lead. I have considered only doing lead walks through town until I've trained her to stop pulling but, that feels mean. I did try a head collar which she hated and clawed at so much she cut her face so, that went in the bin a long time ago.

How do you feel about posting progress/ whats working etc. once a day on this thread and I'll do the same for a bit of mutual support.

[PamBeesly]

Definitely jelly I'll post, my husband is just gone off with him, we're at work in town and he practically tore the arm off him trying to get out. I think the body harness seems like an easy one but I'd hate for him to be uncomfortable (slave to my dog)
I've tried (but given up too easily I think) the stop start method, he didn't 'get' it and the minute I moved he ran off again. I was at fault of course, I tried it even in the pouring rain I didn't want to give up, I did despair and at the time we thought not so much of it as he was much smaller but now he is so strong. He is such a good boy in everything else I never get cross with him, and we're very affectionate.
I live in Ireland and they do have Dog Agility classes but I read some awful reviews and don't want to 'screw him up' by someone else shouting at him
I'll definitely try the stop start again and then look into the body harness, maybe in combination.
Thanks everyone for your replies:)

[belindarose]

You really do have to be consistent with whatever you choose, but you know that. We did the stop start thing constantly until he got it. That meant a few days of walks (his first ones though, so no ingrained habit to fix!) we're literally just up and down our road because we couldn't get anywhere. We avoided any situations where we couldn't do this - still do actually. So I won't do road walking with him and toddler on my own as dd needs too much attention and I can't focus on the training. If it's just me and dd, we go in the car to the woods for off lead walks.

[KatharineClifton]

And further down the page there is somebody who has found a Great Dane and is just gonna pass it onto anybody who PM's her if the owner isn't found. Fucking fuckers.

[KatharineClifton]

Damn, wrong thread - sorry.

[PamBeesly]

Katherine I caught the gist of your comment, thats awful, how can you just give a dog away to someone you don't even know.

belinda I really will have to be consistent and we're very disappointed in ourselves that we didn't persevere when he was younger and smaller.

[Booboostoo]

Have you tried a Halti or Gentle Leader? It works really well with some dogs but introduce it slowly and positively.

The stop/go in the opposite direction method works really well but you need the patience of a saint! You need to keep it up, consistently for a couple of weeks and then you'll have it cracked. This is how I do it: the moment the dog moves ahead of you stop. Do nothing, say nothing, wait. When the dog (eventually) gives you any kind of attention, treat (I click and treat but if you're not into clicker you can just treat), turn in the opposite direction and walk on. Repeat ad nauseum! You probably won't get any actual walking done for a wee while.

Another idea is to use targeting. Teach the dog to touch something like a hair clip with his nose. You teach this at home by repeatedly rewarding the behaviour (first time present the hair clip close to his nose and most dogs will turn around to at least look at it, if not touch it, reward this behaviour and go from there). When he is confident touching it, start moving it and asking him to keep touching it with his nose. When he is confident with this clip it on your trousers at the level of his nose. Now he is heeling without realising it as he is repeating the targeting behaviour. Treat very often to reinforce the behaviour!

[minimuu]

There are 100s of ways to teach a dog to stop pulling but the main thing is to be consistent.

I don't like the stop and go method much as you and the dog gets so frustrated and that actually can make the pulling worse for quite a while then the owner gives up.

You do need to make sure your dog knows where you want him to be, so many people are saying "heel"" or "with me" and the dog has no idea where that is.

So I start at home in the kitchen! Have a piece of yummy food and lure the dog into the heel position and click and treat if using a clicker or just give the treat. When the dog begins to do this readily add a word eg heel, close with me etc.

Then build up to taking a sideways step and ask the dog to heel, - if the dog knows the position he will step to your side - if not carry on a bit as above.

When he can step to your side you are ready to take a forward step whilst saying heel. He should stay next to you again click and treat.

Gradually increase the number of steps and give treats at random intervals eg after one step, then after three steps.

Now move this outside into the garden - when you can walk for several minutes in the heel position you can take out on the road.

Be prepared to have to work harder outside than in your house but if you are consistent he will get it.

Interestingly you can tell the ages of my dogs by their heel work - the older ones who were puppies when I had babies always tend to walk slightly further forward as they were heeling to the pushchair and pram!

Hope it all goes well

[CalamityKate]

Oh god... loose lead walking.... I truly think it's one of the hardest things. Mainly because you have to be absolutely consistent. If you let them get away with pulling JUST ONCE, it's even more reinforcing than if they pull all the time.

I use a Gencon now, which she doesn't mind at all.

I'd honestly rather teach ANYTHING than LLW.

[Piffle]

I use a dogmatic headcollar from when they are young, by the time they are 2 they rarely pull - I walk them without it but always carry one so I can whip it back on itf needed

[PamBeesly]

I've just googled the Gentle Leader, Halti and Gencon but it wraps around his face? I think it would really irritate my little dog (again I am a slave to him...my problem I know and I'd be afraid he'd think it was a punishment)
I'm going to try the treat strategy minimuu suggested.
I am in so much pain in my thighs today and my pelvis is aching (I hope its not SPD) that I haven't walked him, he is gone off lead walking with his dad :)
Thank you all so much for the advice, I agree with Calamity I find LLW very difficult

[Booboostoo]

Halter type leads are NOT designed to irritate the dog. You need to find one that fits (different brands may fit different breeds better, it's a bit of a trial and error) and then you need to introduce gradually with a lot of positive reinforcement. After that halters don't irritate dogs any more than headcollars irritate horses, but like headcollars they allow you to turn the head sideways and easily control the animal without trying to pull against all of its weight.

Best of luck whatever you try!

[PamBeesly]

Thanks booboostoo

[Piffle]

The dogmatic is fantastic, both my girls are not overly keen on wearing it do rub on me a bit, they both accept its use and it means I can walk 3 large breed 35+kg dogs together

www.dogmatic.org.uk/

[chobbler]

I second the dogmatic. I managed a 40 kilo and 30 kilo dog on each side. spring lead and weight belt for control around the middle and baby in Mountain Buggy. and then a friends greyhounds either side too.

[fishie]

my dog is 34kg and a frisky 15mo. It is a nightmare if he decides to pull. I tried a dogmatic and it worked brilliantly except the poor dog hated it a lot. So now I've got a trixie harness, it looks like the puniest thing ever but it is fantastic.

Still a lot of work to be done on pulling in general, but interestingly he doesn't do it when I run/he trots, I think it is just very hard for him to walk slowly.

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

I've been trying the stop/start method with my pup. If I stop, he stops, looks at me and sits. But the second I step forward, he's trying to tow me again. The treat method might be less irritating for us both.

[fishie]

harness a woman in a pet shop in Norfolk (Land of the Dog) looked at us and said you need this. She was dead right.

[Booboostoo]

ChickensHaveNoEyebrows when he looks at you do you treat him? It's important to reward good behaviour. When you 'say step forward' do you mean it literally? You are not supposed to step forward you are supposed to turn around and go in another direction. This shows the dog that if it pulls it does not get to go where it wanted to faster, rather it goes somewhere you wanted to and it means you restart with the dog in the right position (behind or next to you rather than in front of you).

[Piffle]

only issues with harnesses are they do not control the head and with a 35kg + dog, who wants to playfully greet other dogs, I need the head under close control.
I do see them working well with smaller type dogs though

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

Ah, Boo. No, I haven't been treating and I haven't been changing direction Thanks for that, I'll practice in the house.

[TwoIfBySea]

The pups I've trained for GD have either responded to the stop and go, although it is a pain in the backside and takes ages but does get results with perseverance. It does teach both manners and sitting which is handy as whenever I stop (at traffic lights etc.) then my dog plonks his bum down. He's a bit lazy though!

I've found the changing direction one to work for older and bigger dogs as it lets them know that you are the one who decides which way you are going and how fast.

I had a GSD once who would roll on the ground and do all sorts of theatrics to get his halti off. Stop and go ended up being the cure for that.