Puppy Pulling HELP!

[buxtontheblue]

Hello, so we have a 14 week old Boston Terrier X Jack Russel who is a nightmare on the lead! We named him Rocket and he's certainly living up to the name

I know it's really early days but I guess I want reassurance it'll get better (lie to me if you have to)

At the moment I'm trying the stopping every time he pulls. I tell him to wait and after a few seconds he will stop pulling and sit and then I treat him. The trouble is the second I step forward he pulls again. Plus he's way more interested in everything else going on and would rather pull and sniff than have sausages! I've not had a moment yet where he has just trotted beside me.

So I have Questions!

Should I carry on with the stop start even if that means we're out for ten minutes and have only moved two steps?

He currently has a lead and collar and I'm reading mixed reviews about harness etc and wondered what others opinions are.

Also I've ordered him a training lead one of the 50ft ones, my mobilities not great so I'm worried if I let him off lead that I wouldn't be able to catch him. I figured he could have a good run around in the park with the training lead then maybe he'd be a bit more knackered and lose lead training would be more successful after?

Would love everyone's thoughts and experiences.

I've been so excited to walk him, I knew he'd be a good incentive to get myself outside and moving, my mobility issues mean I tend to drive everywhere as I've lost some confidence with Walking. Tonight though we did a brief walk round the park and I even left my walking stick in the car. It was brilliant and would be even more brilliant if he wasn't pulling and choking himself the whole time!

Any tips or reassurance that it'll get better if I'm persistent would be greatly Appreciated!

Congratulations on your new arrival!

Yes, keep going with the stopping/treating. It really is the best way. Are you clicker training? I always find it speeds up the process. You can supplement the training by working on a "static heel" when you're at home. Lure him into a heel position and sit him at your side, then when he's sitting click and reward. When you're sure you're getting the luring right, you can start to add the command word (e.g. heel) to the process.

Are you enrolled in puppy classes? A good trainer will be able to help you with this.

A harness will almost certainly give your pup more strength to pull against. I think you can get anti-pull harnesses which do up at the side, to stop them being able to pull forwards easily. You can also use a head collar like a halti but it needs to be properly fitted, and most dogs don't like them!

With recall, I've always said the sooner you get them off lead the better! He'll only get faster as he gets older, and the longer you leave it the more of a novelty it'll be when he does finally get off lead! We used a training line with our girl (resuce) and it was really handy. She was 2 years old and had zero recall (and had been badly abused so was very nervous).

Best of luck with him!

Thank you!

I'm happy to let him off when my other half's with me as he can chase and bring him back! I'd say his recall is about 80% which isn't too bad but I'll use the training line when I'm on my own just incase.

Yeah I've got a clicker so I'll guess I'll keep at it and hope he gets the gist of it soon

Be careful with the chase game! Puppies LOVE a good game of chase. Just make sure HE chases YOU.

Good god, 14 weeks? You've got months of this! And just when you think you've cracked it he'll hit his teenage phase and promptly forget everything you've ever taught him.

The stopping and turning around thing is good. As soon as he pulls, whip round and walk the other way. It takes aaages, and you'll feel silly doing it so practise somewhere quiet so you're not put off. Every single time he pulls turn and walk the other way. When he pulls again turn back. And so on. Keep doing it until he realises that pulling makes him go the other way and you remove the reward for pulling, i.e. him getting to control the walk. He has to learn to follow your lead.

I did this with my old spaniel. One day we spent about fifteen minutes just doing it up and down the garden path. We never got out for our walk because I ran out of time. It does take some perseverance though. And practise, practise, practise. You've got to be consistent and it will take a while. 14 weeks is still a baby. He should still have that puppy desire to follow you at this age though so he shouldn't want to go too far from you.

Harnesses do not encourage pulling, pulling and lack of training does!

OP look into getting a Perfect Fit harness from Dog Games and google the '300 peck' method of teaching loose lead walking.

Lil what was trying to say is that putting a dog that pulls into a harness will likely allow it to pull harder, as the harness is pulling on it's shoulders / upper body rather than round it's neck. Not that the harness causes pulling.

Thanks for all your replies

The trouble I'm having is he doesn't even not pull for a second so we never get to move off the same spot Haha and if I try turning round and going in the opposite direction he immediately pulls again so I'd end up just going round in circles on the Spot.

I was armed with the tastiest of treats today and my faithful clicker but he didn't give a chance to click as every single time I went to take a step he Pulled!

Wondering if it'll be easier when he's older and a bit more Chilled. Oh god who am I kidding Boston Terrier X Jack Russel is never ggonna be chilled!

Maybe practise somewhere less interesting. The garden? Or House? Vary treats constantly so it's a surprise. Also teach him the 'watch' command. Use a high value treat, and when there are no distractions, get him to sit. Say 'watch' and hold the treat to your face. If he looks up, click and treat. Build up to 5 secs, then 10 secs of watching. Then, get him to do this before setting out on your boring walk in the garden. The moment he pulls, stop, get him to sit, and don't continue until he 'watches' you again. This really slowed my dog down and got him to pay attention to me rather than blindly pulling. After a while, if my dog pulled, I would stop dead and not move until he returned to heel, and then looked at me. Without any command. He had to work it out for himself. I could be stood dead still like a crazy lady for ages, before he would look up at me. Click, treat, move on. He got it quite quickly. Don't get me wrong. He will still lunge out at other dogs cos he loves them, but it slowed him down and means that generally, he walks ok. Work in progress!

Thank you that sounds like a great idea and something to add to our training! Tried garden walking today and for some reason in the garden he just rolls on his back chews his lead and won't get up

I have found that a lot of training tips are really hard to implement too! Your dog will always do something or refuse to do something they should! It is early days. I have tried a variety of harnesses and head collars in an effort to stop mine lunging at other dogs when they pass. A front fastening no pull harness is quite good as if they pull, they tend to just pull themselves round. A halti head collar does the same, but wound my dog up so much, it was counterproductive. A canny collar worked better but can easily come off the nose. In the end, my dog learned techniques to still make the lunge whatever the attachment, so I'm just using the 'watch' technique to distract him.

I think the watch one will be great to try with Rocket. He's a funny little sod sometimes. Just refuses to do a simple command like sit and stares at me like "Yeah? Whatchoo gonna do eh?" Plus he loves treats when we're home indoors and will sit, lay, stay, bed, high five etc but once outside he's so distracted anyone would think he was a dog or something

If constantly turning in circles stops him pulling then constantly turn in circles. You have to try! Dog training can be hard bloody work sometimes. Some dogs just don't get it and take a bit longer.

You really need to find a dog trainer or training club. The trouble with doing it on your own is that there's no one to point out when you're doing it wrong.

I've found a puppy class so will definitely give it a go!

It really helps having a practised eye watching you. Also they can monitor your progress week to week. They can show you exactly how to do everything and will make sure you've practised at home too because they'll be able to tell if you haven't!

Just make sure they don't mention Cesar Milan or pack theory. They're both disproven and outdated advice.

We had a trainer come to the house before he was old enough to go out. She was great with helping us deal with his biting and chasing the kids! She runs a class so will definitely go along to it.