Come talk to me about canny collars/haltis

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

I am currently using an Easy Walk harness with my extremely bouncy nuts adolescent spaniel. He walks well on it, but I've found that under his armpit on the side where the harness tends to ride up he has some small, red lumps (I think from chafing). I've looked at other harnesses, but suspect I'll have the same issue. He runs like a freaking bullet when off lead, and it's all too much rubbing. I've never tried a head collar, but have heard good things about the halti and canny collar. Do you use either collar, and how do you get on with them? And can you reassure me that they're not cruel .

Right. So, we will do the normal school run, which allows the dog to get some of his 'OhMyGodEverythingIsAmazingIMUstSniffItAndWeeHereAndJumpOverThatAndChaseThisSquirrel' out. Then, when we get home and he's a bit more chilled, we will spend 15 minutes in the garden using just his collar and lead and practise lead walking. I'm not sure about the slip collar, I'm a bit wary in case I hurt him, so will try and get him to walk nicely for more than ten steps. I have inadvertently taught him that when I say 'good boy' when he's walking to heel, it means 'now run like a bastard'. Not sure how I did this, but it's always how he responds to praise for heel walking.

Slip leads won't hurt him if they're put on the right way round! Don't be wary of them. I promise they won't hurt him. They do give a fabulous amount of feedback though between you and the dog!

And it sounds as though you'll have to find something other than good boy to praise him Keith's,

Good luck.

Chickens - mine does that too! If I say 'good girl' she thinks it means 'I can do what I want now' and bolts so I have to praise her walking well with other words.

Daisydotandgertie - I think I might try a slip lead on my dog too - what gauge would you recommend? She is a medium sized dog, about collie sized, not heavy set, but very strong - I suspect a staffie cross.

That's it, Beamur. Somewhere along the line I've taught him that 'good boy' is an ending to training. So then he goes 'wahey!' and off he fucks., a red streak over the horizon.

I've tried a halti but found it rubbed too. We changed to a gentle leader - same sort of thing - and found it excellent.

We use a canny collar and it's excellent and if I know he's going off lead he has a Doxlock harness. We tried Haltis but find the canny much better . My dog actually walks quite nicely now ( after the initial mad rush ) but cannot be walked on a collar for medical reasons . A slip lead/ collar would be completely unsuitable for him .

beamur - For the sake of your hands, I'd suggest a 10mm slip lead - maybe even a 12mm. Anything with the pulling strength of a Staffie will muller your hands. Gloves are the answer for training if it's just too much .

I like a slimmer lead because they're easier to stuff in a pocket - but it's a personal thing tbh.

Well, that went well. Not. The walking bit wasn't too bad, but we met a chocolate lab and he jumped up in its face and made 'rahh' noises. Lab 'rahh'ed back. Why oh why is my dog such a shit? :( Other dogs hate him. They either cower in terror or there's lots of noise and rolling around. I've socialsed him since he was 13 weeks old (when we got him) and always tried to encourage friendly play. But he's a bastard. This is a dog that needs to run, and if he starts being more aggro with other dogs I don't know what I'm going to do.

Mine is just the same Chickens. And there is absolutely no excuse, except he was turned on a couple of times when a puppy.

Nearly had a heart attack at lunchtime when I was on the playing fields, just us, lovely, when a boxer appeared (they are his nemesis). At least his recall is fab and I was able to put him on the lead and keep out of the way. I specifically go to places where I know there will be few people.

I think some dogs like some people are just not that social, we got ours at about 16 weeks and went to puppy socialising, puppy parties and puppy training and although he is not remotely aggressive he is just a bit of a loner. When he's off lead he is just not interested in saying hello to any other dogs and has never played with anyone despite all my efforts .

Thing is, the only place to exercise him off lead around here is used by all dog walkers. He doesn't bother with other dogs, but if they approach him it's all 'rahh'. Just noise, thank God, but Christ it's so embarassing. We met a lab and his owner this morning and the lab was shaking at the sight of him :( I like the social aspect of walking a dog :( People are going to start avoiding us.

People avoid me. And when my DH has taken the dog out people recognise my car and realise it is that BastardSpaniel.

He is all sound and fury with no teeth, but he scares a lot of dogs shitless and I am subject to much tutting at the least and tirades of abuse at worst.

Some days I cry, most days I just walk on by. I have said before, I used to love meeting other dogs so he could have a good run. Now we run in the opposite direction.

But I lurve him deeply, and no one has ever loved me as much as he does.

Is that him on your profile? Looks like butter wouldn't melt.

By the way, do you have chickens? They are another of my dog's faves that we have to take great care to avoid.

I suffer with anxiety, Exit. This is just about the worst behaviour for it tbh. I've had it today :(

We do have chickens. He has learned to ignore them, mostly. But I wouldn't trust him if they were loose. They are safely behind weld mesh.

Sometimes I just throw a ball for him in the garden. Especially on summer evenings when I know the canal towpath and the riverbanks will be full of other people walking their dogs.

Bloody spaniels.

Gentle Leader head collars are excellent. I've used Canny collars too, but by far think the gentle leader is best. I have 2 springers and walk them both on a gentle leader. I have to disagree that this is a training issue as my dog will heal off lead, but are just too excitable on lead. The younger one howls with excitement when I get the lead out.

I need to be able to walk the 2 of them safely, whilst carrying my 16 month old son. I got tendonitis in both wrists after the birth of my son and using the head collars has definitely helped with this. We also tried a halti stop pull harness on the younger dog because he hated the other head collar we used so much he managed to destroy it whilst wearing it. It worked for abut a week. Got him a gentle leader and we haven't looked back. I think because the design is so simple it doesn't pull their jowls about as much!

With regard to his behaviour towards other dogs: is he entire? You may see an improvement if you have his nuts off.

His nuts went bye bye at 6 months. I dread to think how he'd be if he was entire :(

Spray collar? Is he sensitive to noise? Probably not as a gun dog, but you could try training discs for when there's undesirable behaviour. Actually there was an aerosol hissing thing that they used to use at a dog training group I went to which my dog hated.

Ah chickens you've had a crappy day with your dog haven't you.
I've had mine for about 7 years now and am slightly hardened to her behaviour - she isn't aggressive per se with other dogs, but she is not well mannered and I too this morning took her for a walk which ended up with an otherwise well behaved little dog taking exception to mine and there was a 'raahh' moment.
I have to say, I don't particularly enjoy my dog - she is lovely in the house and great with the kids, but she is so highly strung and excitable that walking her is always challenging - she too needs to run and be properly exercised, but I always feel a bit tense when we see other dogs - mine has also been known to go awol too when she knows she's too far away for me to catch her! Her recall is good - unless she has the scent of something and then she can just bugger off!

Oh Beamur

Chickens - roughly where do you live? just roughly?

Midlands, Daisy. Very close to a famous brewing town

Even my goldfish has attitude
And the gerbils are hoodlums.