Relentless pulling on the lead

[irisgoogoo]

I have not long taken in a 2 year old lab.

She is a nightmare on the lead, constant pulling for the entire walk. I stop whenever there's tension on the lead and reward when it's loose but I have seen no improvement at all.

It is actually hurting me to walk her, she is so strong and pulling me all over the place.

Does anyone have any tips please? I so desperately want to be able to enjoy walks together.

Stop, turn around and walk in the other direction, then turn back when she's at heel
Or get a slip.lead and make a figure of 8 over her muzzle when she pulls

www.gundog-solutions.co.uk/product/figure-of-8-slip-lead-12-m

Have you tried a harness or double lead?

Also definitely change directions when she pulls to get her attention and refocus her energy.

I use a dogmatic.
Start the loose lead training in the garden or somewhere equally boring!

This. The moment she pulls, about turn. Even if you only go 5 metres in either direction on the walk she needs to be aware of where you are at all times.

Following because I have the exact same problem with my lab. We've tried the turning round and changing direction but we can't do this all the time or we'd never get anywhere! Also tried a harness and a Halti which is like a figure of 8 thing, both useless!

I dread taking him out, and my kids who desperately wanted the dog have no chance of walking him!

I have tried a harness with no success.

Will this eventually train her to stop pulling, or will it be how our walks will look like from now on?

We use a Gencon head collar which goes over the nose and is very gentle. It instantly changed my dogs pulling and he is now a joy to walk. Search Gencon on Amazon

Will this eventually train her to stop pulling, or will it be how our walks will look like from now on?

Turning and redirecting should absolutely get her to eventually walk nicely without pulling but it's not a short term fix and you need to be religiously consistent with it, results are slow but given time and consistency she should get the idea.

Have you tried a behaviourist?

Yes, I still use halti on my two at the beginning of the walk (3 hours running free, then no requirement at the end 😄)
It's been a Godsend. Completely comfortable and cruelty free.

@NotPennysBoat a fo8 isn’t a halti, a fo8 isn’t fitted and so it tightens when a dog pulls, making it uncomfortable which ultimately lessens the pulling. It is a training tool though, it won’t fix the pulling without the training alongside it, or it will but the second it’s off your dog will pull again.

some dogs are more stubborn than others, I have 2 that walk lovely on a lead, trained my 3rd the same way and she’ll pull me the entire walk so she wears a fo8 alongside the training, she’s 15 months now and has had it on since around 9 months and is getting their slowly. I hope in another 3-4 months she’ll have it mastered as I hate using them long term. That said, it is better than having my arm pulled out my socket!

Harnesses are designed for pulling so will make your issue worse. Think police dogs, search dogs etc all have them on strongest part of the body and are all encouraged to pull.

Second what PP said above, slip lead and turn every now and then left turn right turn change direction keep the dog guessing this stops the pulling.

I also have used this it was the one it thing that made it possible to walk my spaniel through three pregnancies!

Urgh, typed long post and got lost. Cut a long story short. After years of experience with many many rescue dogs, The stopping and turning makes the vast majority of dogs eventually look at you and think ‘What the Jeff are you doing?’ And it’s that focus that you need to change the behaviour. Smart Harnesses, dogmatics etc might ‘work’ to stop the dog doing the thing physically but they engage them mentally which is what you need to change behaviour long term. And yes, stopping and turning every few steps does make you look like a pillock, you need to get over that pretty quickly 😂

Urgh, DONT ENGAGE!!

The stop and turn/change direction worked for my mum’s retriever. You won’t need to do it forever. These days if he does pull a simple walk nicely will do it.

You have to pick a method and be really consistent. It can take weeks or even months with some dogs.

We used the "stop and wait until they release the tension" with our beagle and I've successfully used the same technique on dogs I walk.

If they pull, I stop still and wait until they relax - say "back" and carry on. After w while I can just say "Fido, back!" and they know to walk loosely on the lead, and eventually they do it without promoting!

You can make up games to help with this too, just keep switching direction (Steve Mann advocates walking like you are drunk). Anything to make the dog keeping checking in on you rather than keep charging forwards. I still do this now. But she also understands if I stop and say no pull we aren't moving until she eases up a bit.

Ditch the harness, they just give the dog more pulling power. I have a giant breed and settled on a half check collar and normal Halti lead. Changed direction every time she pulled, with the command 'close'. Take some treats and reward him every time he looks at you too. (I was given the Primula cheese tip (tube type) and that was a huge success and kept my pockets clean!) Halti and Dogmatic dog collars are good but you have to get dog used to them first. Start in the garden/somewhere quiet. Good luck.

Lez graham has a good technique for teaching loose lead walking if you are atall interested in the pet Gundog books/courses.

Personally I find harnesses a nightmare, my dog hates getting them over her head and it gives her so much control to pull around. A figure of 8 is much more 'aversive' to her than he slip lead, she paws and scratches at them to try and get them off.

Also have a good think about when you are praising, it has to be very well timed. The treating when staying by our side didn't work for our dog and we eventually found something that worked for us with a Gundog trainer.

I disagree with several points raised on here

Harnesses do not teach a dog to pull - some harnesses are safe for a dog to pull in eg canix cross or tracking harness - they will be different to a dog walking harness

Lez Graham is very dominant based training.

The turning around or stopping method can cause a lot of frustration to the dog and the owner! If it worked for you you have more patience than me

Hence it tends to take ages to see a big difference and as the owner gets frustrated they let the dog pull for a bit and then go back to turn around or wait etc so quite inconsistent training for the dog.

Have your dog off lead.

If you start at home indoors and literally have your dog at your side and treat in the position you want the dog to be in. Initially treat continuously and take a few steps and stop. Use the dogs food allowance for this.

For a while always treat at the side of you rather than in front of you. We treat with the dog looking at us a lot. Now treat at the side in heel position.

Make the side position a good place to be.

When the dog is happily aware that treats will come from the side you can then go into the garden and take a few steps and treat at your side.
Do not be tempted to move your hand forward if your dog moves forward say nothing just show the treat and get them to come back to position to get the treat.

Over time you can take more steps and less treats. When the dog is happily coming back to position for the treat then you can add in a word eg "heel" "with me" use a different word to one you have used previously.

When the dog is doing this happily you can then do a fewsteps outside using the word. It may only be 5 steps. Do this on the way back from a walk when you are more likely to get success. Over time build up the length of time you do this and decrease the treats.

It will take a coupe of weeks to get the behaviour and word connection.

In high distraction areas you will need to increase the treats flow but in low distraction areas you can lessen the treats. Over time you will need no need for treats regularly but it is still worth treating on occasion.

If you have the luxury of walking the dog off lead whilst training this that is great if not just make sure you do not use the new word whilst the dog is pulling

What worked for us was just stopping. The minute she pulls, you stand still. You don't take a step until she's waiting nicely. Then if she pulls again you stop again. You feel a bit of an idiot but it works- you have to be completely consistent. Took about 2 weeks to stop our dog pulling and it's never come back. It's also very gentle as there is no pulling against them at all.

Whatever makes you feel better, Lez Graham's dogs probably aren't dragging her around on the end of a lead.

I don't actually think she is a very dominant trainer, she is balanced and fair and assertive and that is what most dogs need. She does use positive reinforcement btw. No doubt positive reinforcement adds a behaviour, but it doesn't teach a dog what not to do.

My dog is a much much more balanced and calm dog now that she can walk nicely to heel, she can actually slowly take in her environment instead of dragging on her lead at 100mph.

Massive Halti fan over here. Dreaded walking my Weimaraner every morning, then once our baby was born we bought the Halti purposefully so she wouldn't pull me over with the baby. With the Halti she walks by my side and/or the pram without any pulling whatsoever. She doesn't love it but we give her a treat once it's on.

@irisgoogoo how are you getting on? My rescue Lab also pulled like a train and I've been doing variations of the change direction and stopping which is finally starting to work after 2 months. Only in familiar places though. I have to start over if we go anywhere new.