Springer puppy pulling on lead till paws sore :(

[SpringerWoes]

Am sat at a bus stop on way home from school trying not to cry.

18 week old Springer and she is just impossible.

I spent hundreds on 121 training lessons from 8 weeks and she just won t walk nicely.

He paws are literally scraped raw in places.

She pulls so much she is gasping for air from her collar choking her.

Does anyone have any techniques?

She's a lovely dog but the biting, pulling and toilet training are getting nowhere and I'm fed up tbh

Surprised at the recommendations of a head collar for an 18 week old pup. Awful idea for a young, growing dog.

I agree with the suggestions of a double ended lead and a well fitting harness with chest and back d-ring connections. Distribute pressure evenly and no pinching or tightening actions on soft young bones.

Pulling isn't just the problem with spaniels it's the fact that they try and trip you up as well @biteyshark omg yes, I'm convinced my 1y/o cocker is trying to bump me off 😂

Exactly Bitey that is why the training should start in the house.

There are only three things you ever need to teach a dog and the rest will be easy to sort out.

Reflex to name
Focus on owner
Reward for being near owner

If this is started at day 1 of ownership heel work recall and everything else is a breeze to teach to dogs.

If individual exercises are left until the lead is put on or recall is required it is sooooooo much harder.

Classical conditioning is the way to go

Vallahalagonebutnotforgotten the OP is feeling overwhelmed at the moment and is probably a bit fed up of 'training' if you read her opening thread.

Sometimes it's just better to get something like a harness to manage the behaviour for a bit before revisiting training later rather than be told If this is started at day 1 of ownership heel work recall and everything else is a breeze to teach to dogs which is a bit like saying well it's your fault your dogs rubbish. Not very helpful when someone is struggling not to cry don't you think?

I wish there was a block option on this site. Certain people in the dog topic would have gone 'poof' long ago.

Seems it's a common problem with spaniels, trained or not.

I'll try the halti for now :)

OP I used to go to gun dog training where they split up the dogs into their 'breeds'. All the spaniel owners used to laugh cry when it came to 'walking nicely' .
Mine is 2 years old and he is still a nightmare at times but actually for a spaniel not too bad. We have just started to look again at some training for loose lead walking as he is much calmer and more in tune to listen rather than walk hunt with his nose.

Honestly if you look at some literature you would think that you needed to cram in training in a few months when actually it's across their lifetime and old dogs can definitely learn new tricks.

Hope the harness helps. I found the d-ring on mine at the front meant with a double lead it unbalanced him when he pulled which definitely helped and in times when he is super excited I can control him better.

@SpringerWoes I feel your pain. We have a lovely 10 year old springer that we’ve had since she was a pup and I am ashamed to say we have never mastered this.

She is trained - she sits, waits, comes to recall, brings and drops her ball, she will even sit and wait until she is given the signal to go to her food but pulling, no - not a clue.

We have tried haltis and harnesses but not the Victoria Sitwell method. Tbh, we have just adapted now and only walk for short distances off the lead.

Good luck.

I’ve said this before (I keep banging on and on about it because I’m traumatised by it ) but it’s taken over a year for my dog to be able to make eye contact with me outdoors. It’s slowly, slowly coming but we had to find a temporary fix or life would have been miserable for us both. Harness with lead on the front and attached round my waist doesn’t stop him pulling, but it makes it bearable.

Maybe we should have a 'spaniel' survival thread with lots of and

And anyone with 'spaniel' types can hide there

Bitey harness will NOT stop pulling luckily training will - it is the only answer.

No point in giving false hope or wasting money if it will not help the OP.

If it were that easy to pop a headcollar or harness onto your spaniel you would not see all the pulling spaniels

What worked for my dog wasn't walking backwards, but just making him sit when he was pulling. Every time he sat, he got a treat. Then we'd keep walking. If he pulled again - make him sit, he got a treat.

It stopped it being a battle of wills, made him focus on me, slowed him down and now he walks perfectly.

You definitely have to keep at it though - every walk, every time, and everyone who walks him needs to follow through (my husband, it turned out, was just letting him pull...)

Normal spaniel thing I'm afraid. You need a halti which goes over the snout to stop the pulling x

Vallahalagonebutnotforgotten as a lot of us on here are saying it can help 'manage' the behaviour of pulling.

Thanks guys.

Halti came and DP took her for a walk and declared it 'a bit better'.
Am going to look into training techniques also.

Dpup came home from her walk with a poop in a bag....then proceeded to piss on the floor. She just doesn't get peeing outdoors

The joys of puppyhood.

Good job she is super cute.

It does rather sound like you need to go back to basics with toilet training. Do you have a garden for that? How are you training the pup to pee outside?

Ref the Halti, have you watched the video on how to use it? I would be careful going straight into a full walk on a first attempt using it - you need to lesrn how to operate it first, as well as the dog!

I take her out on the lead for the toilet as she gets too distracted off lead in the garden. Or for a walk.

If we walk she will do a pre if she needs to but in the garden she just holds it in.

If she pees in the house we don't react at all. But we've been doing that forb2 months now.

Lots of praise if she pees out side "good girl!! Wee wee!! Wee wee!!"

Are you taking her out on a routine? Have another look at command word training for toileting - praise needs to come after the command word (I think!), but others may correct me on that.

www.bluecross.org.uk/pet-advice/toilet-training-puppy

Maybe start again as if you have a new dog, if the current regime is failing?