Collar for a lively Labrador puller

[crazynell]

Hi I'm looking for advice on collars to train our 15 month old lively Labrador out of pulling on the lead.

We've been recommended a rope half slip collar, I'll post photo, or a half check collar. I'm worried that these collars could damage his windpipe or oesophagus

What collars do people use for pulling dogs?

His harness, btw, is a Halti no-pull, but I have never used the front loop. Previous to that he had a Heele one from Amazon, which I also had for my springer (he has it on the front loop as I didn't train him thoroughly enough).

Completely disagree with you. Slip leads are ideal for training and gundogs are only ever trained with slip leads. I've trained 5 dogs with a slip lead and none have ever pulled.
However ultimately it is the time invested into training that matters and makes the difference.

So utterly depressing to see how many people cannot be bothered to do the most basic training with their dogs

it will take a couple of hours of consistency to stop a dog pulling

and then follow it up with consistency on every walk

you don’t need to wait for a trainer

put the dog on a lead now, walk outside and every time EVERY time it pulls, make it sit

labs are smart. It will work out within a short space what you are doing

stop being such lazy fuckers relying on a halti/choke chain

Round here loads of working gundogs are trained without using a slip lead. But you are entitled to your opinion, a courtesy you don't seen willing to extend to me.

Yes I am and nowhere have I insulted you or been discourteous, I merely said that I disagree. I am allowed to disagree with you as you are allowed to disagree with me 🙄

I use a ruffwear front range harness with a bungee lead attached to the front and the back. Works really well.

If your starting point is a harness, you’ve failed before you’ve started

Pulling is something a dog should do once and then have immediately trained out

I’m completely staggered people are acting like it’s a normal thing that dogs do

Er hello I said use a slip lead?! I don't believe in harnesses and I train all my dogs to walk properly to heel before they set a foot outside the garden....

Sorry, it clipped the quote

@Spanielsarepainless was suggesting ‘starting with a harness’ which is just lunacy

i agree with you - normal collar and lead or slip lead and do some bloody training!

Ha ha no problem 😊. Totally agree with you, training from Day 1 and then every day until it is fully embedded

A slip lead will not choke a dog if used correctly! My dog pulled and pulled.... I spent hundreds of £'s on different harness' and collars until I thoroughly researched using a slip lead: I now have a completely different dog who walks by my side

Round here loads of working gundogs are trained without using a slip lead. But you are entitled to your opinion, a courtesy you don't seen willing to extend to me

Slip leads have not featured on any of the gundog training courses I've been on. I have a dog who has competed in novice working tests who was initially trained in loose lead walking and walking at heel wearing a harness. If you acknowledge that it's training that's needed then collar or harness makes no difference. Assuming a piece of equipment is the key is where most people fall down.

I've seen as much misuse of slip leads as correct use, we actually left a puppy class because of the slip lead 'corrections' a trainer was making on a little 5 month old collie.

My dog wears a headcollar. I have a Dogmatic for him not but used a basic Halti for a long time.

I haven't found a harness that he can't escape from but they're also good for pullers. He wears a double lead with one clip on his collar (martingale collar, because flat collars slip over his head) and one clip on the headcollar. (see also the tape on his lead clip!)

As long as you put the time and effort into training, it doesn’t actually matter whether you start off with a collar and lead or harness. In fact with very young pups, ideally you start off without a lead and train close walking in the first instance.

OP asked for advice about which collar to buy, not how to train LLW. For all we know, they could be getting some help from a gundog trainer, hence the slip-lead advice. Some posters have pointed out that if he already pulls like a train, any collar/slip lead could damage his neck. OP still needs to be able to walk him while they are working on his lead manners, hence people’s concern. Using a harness doesn’t preclude using a slip lead or flat collar once he’s able to walk on a loose lead. I recommended a type of harness I have seen help people whose dog is already a strong puller, while they are training lead manners. Personally I use both a flat collar and a harness interchangeably depending on the situation with my dogs.

The collar vs harness vs slip lead debate has been around for a very long time, different trainers have different opinions on it. The vast majority of positive puppy classes are happy with either a flat collar or well fitted Y harness, because the focus is on training focus/attention/position and if you put the effort in and get the training right, it makes no difference where the lead is connected.

I have a personal dislike of head-collars and do think they are often (not always) used as a shortcut to control in the place of appropriate training, others feel the same about harnesses and others about slip-leads. What matters is that people understand that no ‘tool’ is going to fix a pulling issue. It’s a training problem and can therefore only be fixed through training.

I don’t think calling people lazy or worse, is necessary. Sometimes training goes wrong. Not everybody is an experienced or competent trainer, things don’t always go according to plan and in those situations it’s ok to use a training tool (as long as it isn’t punitive in any way) to manage the issue while a remedial training programme is actioned.