My dog has just gone bananas!!

[superlambanana]

My rescue Rottie is six and we've had her for 18 months. When we first got her I took her to classes and she did pretty well, but then we moved and I haven't found any round here yet. She is good a basic sit / stay / paw commands, can look at a treat or food until told to eat it, but she's a devil at coming back if there's something more interesting and does have a tendency to pull. She's much better with DH but when I'm walking her on my own she really pushes her luck (which is doubly annoying as I was always the one who took her to training!).

I'm pregnant with our first and I can't afford for her to pull while I'm pushing a pram, so we decided to start using a Halti. It's brilliant in that she never, ever pulls while wearing it, but she hates it. We give her treats / ball with it and she's better at letting us put it on (although we do still have to chase her head round a bit!) but every time I take it off she goes utterly mental.

She is currently curled up on her bed feeling sorry for herself, covered in mud and gravel and with a bleeding, grazed nose because she wouldn't stop rolling over and over the second I took it off. I managed to get her inside by putting my hand on her side while she was writhing around and talking very calmly to her, but it has really upset me and I feel like the worst owner in the world! Poor thing has got herself into a complete state

Any ideas how I can remedy this? She does it a lot but this is the worst time!

How pregnant are you? Do you have time to try training not to pull.

My story is I have a Golden Retriever and DD is 5.5 months. I knew a Halti would be a no go with my boy so I got a perfect fit harness with a D ring on the front to give extra control. DD gets carried in a sling.

It's going well so far.

I second a perfect fit harness with front d ring. The fact that the clip is on the front means that when the dog pulls, their own weight turns them round to face you, rather than making faster progress. It doesn't take long for them to realise it's pointless to pull and you can use this while simultaneously working on her loose-lead walking/heelwork.

We tried a halti with our collie cross years ago and had the same problem. There are better headcollars on the market that are much more comfortable for the dog. I believe haltis are really not suited to short-nosed breeds.

The Canny Collar has both a Rottie and a Bullmastiff on their testimonials page.

I would try a front-clip harness in your situation though, as she may be super-sensitive to wearing a harness of any kind if she's reacting that badly to her halti.

I would also do lots of heel training her off lead (at home with no distractions to begin with, gradually building up the distractions as she improves). Use super tasty treats (liver cake, sausages, fresh cooked chicken etc) and reward every step that's she's by your leg to begin with. It's much easier to teach heel walking off-lead without the complication of having to juggle treats and lead to begin with, then move on to teaching it with the lead once they understand what you want them to do. Once she's walking nicely by your left leg off-lead, carry on going an add in a cue word, like 'heel' or 'close' as she's in position and reward. Then you can start adding the lead into the mix, start again rewarding every step to start with and gradually increase the number of steps before you treat and begin to use the cue word to remind her what you want her to do. It takes time and patience, but it's possible.

If you really don't feel like you can do it, could you perhaps find a trainer look on the APDT website in your area and book a couple of one to one sessions?

She still won't get up. It's been over two hours and she won't come in the living room. She never stays on her bed on her own!

I was also going to say try a canny collar , my terrier hated the halti type headcollar but the canny was fine . He walks beautifully now on a Doxlock harness , not through any particular training ,he's just improved as he grew up.

Poor girl, but don't blame yourself. Mine used to drag her face along the ground desperately trying to get the halti off and we couldn't get her to walk at all.

Do try the perfect fit harness. They are super fast with delivery, so if you order one today or tomorrow it should be with you at the beginning of next week. In the meantime, get your dh to walk her this weekend, perhaps just on her collar and then come Monday, give you both a break and do a bit of training and playing with a toy instead of a walk until her harness arrives. You being stressed is likely to affect her as well, so better a clean break and start again when the harness has arrived.

My Lab hated the Halti but she is fine with the Canny Collar. She doesn't love it but she doesn't go bat shit crazy and try to get it off at all costs.

Another one recommending Perfect Fit, not a Magic wand though, you'll still need to work on loose lead walking.

Typical. DH has just taken her out on the Halti with no issues whatsoever!!

Thanks for the pointers, will look at the perfect fit harness.

I have never tried it but someone I know swears by the SWAG head collar:

www.southwestagilitygoods.co.uk/swag-headcollar/how-to-use/

That looks very similar to the Gencon.

I think that halti collars are the work of the devil, i walk my mum's dog and i refused to walk him on it and also a rather lovely pointer dog who i sometimes walk, i wont walk him with the halti on - he walks like he is walking his last walk with it on, the minute he is off it he is like a different happy dog. They cause problems with posture and neck issues - please just dump it.

I do feel your pain re walking the rottie with a pram though - its hard work (i have that particular t-shirt - rescue rottie and newborn - it was interesting!)

What do you currently do to try and prevent her from pulling? I found the stopping method worked,, every time he pulled, i'd stop, yeah i looked like a right idiot but it worked in the end. He wasn't perfect but he was managable when i walked him on the lead with DD in the pram. His recall was reasonable so i could let him off lead in quiet areas.