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oldbagwantsanewbag

chokes are fine if you know how to use them properly however most people don't, which is why people tend to dislike them so much, people put them on the wrong way and they pull the dog when the dog is pulling which makes the dog pull even more You don't pull an already pulling dog as you just just end up in a tug of war that you won't win and is frustrating

ours only have to hear the noise it makes as you give a gentle check and they are back in line right at heel but using a choke takes a lot of time and patience
it taken me months to get it totally right

You might find as well that when she goes out she is excited hence the pulling but once she has calmed down she dosnt pull as much

My youngest one Dude is like that for about 5 mins which seem like forever when you have a 10stone dog pulling you
so i try to not get him excited before i take him out i.e. don't say walkies ect because this just excites him and makes him pull

i make him sit whole i put the lead on and then wait for 30 seconds before i take him out

Charlearose, I'd love to see all your "little soldiers" waiting to cross the road!

Have ordered a large Halti for her and will try that. I just couldn't bring myself to use a choker chain on a puller. We ended up buying a semi-choke collar for Frank as he kept slipping his usual collar on walks and running off by reversing and wriggling his head out. He doesn't pull now when he walks so it only tightens when he tries to do a runner. But Doris pulls ALL THE TIME!

Will try the Halti when it arrives and will keep you all posted.

Thank you again for all your helpful advice.

I have an 8 stone rottweiler, and was in a similar situation. I couldn't walk him, he was like a kangaroo on speed. He pulled me over several times and no amount of treats distracted him! The DH bought him a Halti, and OMG the difference - even my 6yo DS can walk him now!

Obviously I can't say it WILL work for your DDB, but I think for the sake of a tenner, its worth a try!

lol i know where your coming from Hooker is very laid back but he is very very strong and although he rarely lunges when he dose its a killer He actually put my dh shoulder out one time and dh is 6ft 3 and 16 stone

Our biggest one Hooker is 13 stone and we use the old fashioned choke chains on them and use horse leading rope as a lead ( I know that some people don't like choke chains or say that they are cruel but when used properly they are fine, but they do take time to get use to which is why people don't like using them ) But having had an ordinary leather collar and nylon collars break we prefer the old fashioned choke chains

(and pm if you want one and cant buy them because i probably have a few that i can post to you as we can buy them where we live )

we have knots in the horse leads so that should they pull out of hands we have more chance of holding on to them because of the nots plus leather leads burn your hand

When we got Hooker at 1 years old he had never ever been on a lead, he would sit down and refuse to move but within two weeks or so we had him walking perfectly Same for our girl Hussey who had never been walked outside of her house

Dh used lots of treats ( cut up cocktail sausages) to keep there attention and walked them everyday 3 -5 times in short bursts to get them use to the leads and traffic
then he would walk them with the older dog who is very well behaved to show them how to do it ect

You might want to try lots of short walks 10 mins with treats so that they associate walking with treats, when you get them doing what you want you can gradually reduce the treats that they have

DH & I just clicks our fingers and says down and they all sit like little soldiers at the traffic lights
I will admit though that dh dose most of the training for them and he is really really good with all of them so i can just walk them and they behave themselves with me but they do relapse sometimes in to being total nut cases and when that happens i tell dh to sort HIS BlOODY DOGS OUT (LOL)

You've got some good advice here. Have you seen Kikopup's videos on teaching loose leash walking? They are great. (e.g. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFgtqgiAKoQ).

My tip applies to big dogs that might make a sudden, unexpected lunge and you have to hang on to them. Tie a knot in the leash, somewhere near the base where it will be handy to hang on to. You'll need a longer leash to do this (a 2ft lead would be too short to have space for a knot). Then if you end up in a situation where the dog starts pulling and you have to hang on to the lead, you have something easy to hold on to. Your hand won't get burned from the lead slipping through it or crushed from having the lead wrapped around it.

Obvoiusly it is far far better to train your dog so it won't lunge like that, but I'm just sayin', as it's a useful stop-gap to save your hand from a burn or bruise.

Thanks for all the replies!

The collar we have for her at the moment is a wide nylon collar. Similar to this one and the lead is short, less than two feet long. Bought a short lead in the hope that it would keep her at my side. I find it easier to walk her on the shorter lead than the longer ones we use for the other dogs but it doesn't help when she wants to dash off.

I hadn't even considered a gentle leader type collar for her as we tried two different ones for the younger Staffie when we first got him and he would not keep it on. Getting it on him at all became impossible in the end despite trying treats. He'd just run when he saw it and if we could get it anywhere near his head he'd wriggle and struggle. A four stone ball of muscle that won't keep still is quite hard to control! Anyway, I persevered with "heel" and stopping everytime he pulled and giving a cocktail sausage when he walked nicely and he picked it up really quickly. But, just because a gentle leader didn't work for Frank doesn't mean it won't work for Doris so I will order one for her.

Wish us luck!

Have you tried a head collar? Kisi do them bespoke made. You can choose your colour / fabrics. They mail order but they are so helpful, give them a call and discuss your needs.

As with anything new its time and patients. If you do decide to get one, or anything different to what you have now, short bursts of exposure with maximum reward. For example, during the ad break have your dog try it on while you reward with cheese / sausage / something v v yummy. Your dog will associate the harness / head collar with a positive thing.

Next step would be walk around the house with it. Again with a high value treat. Then move out to the garden. And finally a short walk. Should take 10 days to fortnight.

Good luck!!!

I did this with a foster American bulldog who came with no training on or off lead. With a collar and lead she nearly had me over, and my shoulder was hanging on for dear life! We got a headcollar on day 2 from kisi. The difference was amazing. She went from being a nervous aggressive panter to a well behaved heel walking, calm, bomb proof beautiful girl. She has now been rehomed and she is doing really well.

I tried halters but my girl just pulls more with any pressure against her chest. Head collars didn't work until I got a gentle leader. She doesn't seem to be able to pull on it but it also appears to calm her down.

We've spent months trying to train her to walk without pulling and whilst she's much better, if something catches her eye, I didn't stand a chance so need to stick with the gentle leader.

Your girl is still very young and exuberant so I'd try various head collars and halters as simply training her to walk nicely won't give you confidence to deal with her just yet.

Friend of mine has a lab, who used to pull, she got a halti harness and it cured her problem. I have used halti head collar, gentle leader and halti harness for pulling dogs all with success, may be try one of those?

What kind of lead do you use? Maybe a halt or gentle leader type collar might help?

It's ok, I worked out you meant the dogs were big and strong and not the owners, lol.

What are you using to walk her?

Is there nothing at all you can bribe her with?

Hmm, perhaps title should read "Owners of big/strong dogs."

Oh, and ignore that correction . 17 months + 6 months = 23 months. She's not quite two.

I think I should go to bed!

Sorry, she's just *over two that should say.

I have two Dogue De Bordeauxs. An almost four year old neutered male and a spayed female who is less than two. The male we've had since he was six months old and the girl since she was seventeen months. I think we've had her for just over sixth months now.

I have always had a dog and currently we have six. The two DDBs, two Staffies, a King Charles Cavalier and a Papillon. I say this so that you know I'm an experienced dog owner.

The female DDB is bonkers! While she is awake she is like a kangaroo on speed. That's fine as the younger Staffie likes boinging around the house with her but I can't control her when we're out and I've now stopped walking her (DP takes her for all walks now). At almost 10 stone she's heavier than me and when she decides she wants to go somewhere I can't hold her back. Our male weighs over 12 stone but he's so laid back and lazy it's actually getting him to walk that's the problem - I once had two police officers trying to help me get him to walk when he sat down one day and wouldn't budge and often he'll stop outside next doors drive and refuses to go any further.

But Doris is a whole other kettle of fish! She won't walk to heel, she won't come back if she's off lead and you call her and I'm not sure what to do. All our other dogs are pretty well behaved. They just seemed to pick up what they're meant to do really quickly with the help of mini sausages .

We've talked about enrolling her with a trainer. It'll be DP that takes her but he's so busy at the moment that it'll be a few weeks until that gets underway. In the meantime what can we do? Have any of you had experience of training a headstrong kangaroo that weighs a ton?