Tips to get a 1 year old Labrador to stop pulling!

[GoodnightJude1]

Our 1yo Lab is amazing. Such a lovely dog and great with the kids. Never had a problem with sleeping, chewing, being left alone…all round great dog.
I took him to puppy classes and did all the right things. Lots of less work when he was little. All well till he hit 1yo. Now as soon as he’s on the lead he pulls, SO hard. I’m not petite and I’d say I’m quite strong but there has been times in the last week or 2 that he’s nearly pulled me over. I’ve tried turning him in a circle when he pulls. I’ve tried making him sit and wait when he pulls but neither make any difference.
I understand he’s full of beans and excited to get out on his week and down to the field where he can run off lead but he’s making the walk there awful 😢

Any tips? Thanks!

Halti head collar. Our lab was trained really quickly with it so then walked to heel on command, even without the head collar on and even off lead.

Halti harness helped ours.... he HATED the head collar so just use the harness for side by side walking

But what helped the most ....literally overnight.... was the snip! Castration

less interaction and more results? I’ve found a sharp pull or sudden halt checks him better than me pulling him in and telling him to sit- attention and all that.

I also found spinning away in a different direction helps. He never gets where he intended to go! But fast and sharp, don’t signal what you are doing. You need to surprise him.

We have these leads for our flatties - they can be used as a figure of 8 around the nose and neck or as a normal lead. Last really well and stopped the pulling immediately - they were recommended by our dog trainer.

https://gencon-allin1.co.uk/gencon-all-in-1-range/

Head collar!!!!
I had a huge crossbreed who can yank your arm off with a normal lead. Headcollar could walk him with one finger.

Thanks so much for the advice everyone! I love walking him and don’t want it to end up becoming a chore!

Second the figure of eight worked wonders, immediately, for our Border Collie and my DB's GSDs

Figure of eight lead.
I’ve had profession trainers and it hasn’t made the kindest bit of difference. My dog doesn’t want treats, she wants to yank me to the park!

We tried a halti and sadly the cheeky blighter ended up just learning how to pull with a head collar on. He injured himself on it. :(

We ended up doing a lot of 1-1 training with a good behaviourist. It took ages. But now much better and almost (!) well behaved.

IMHO you need two leads, one being a flat collar, the other being anything different (I used a harness).

With the flat collar you have to devote time. Every single time the dog pulls, you stop. Reverse a few feet, when the dog is level with you and stopped, and the lead is loose, you can start again. As soon as it pulls, do the same over and over again. The dog absolutely does not go forward while it is pulling. You don't need to say anything but a 'good dog' said quietly when the lead is loose will help, and a quiet 'no' when it pulls too.

The harness is for days when you need to walk but don't have time to keep stopping and starting and need to get a walk done. Essentially the dog is allowed to pull when in the harness, but not on the flat lead. That way the dog knows which lead is for which purpose and you won't undo your good effort when you don't have time to devote (which will inevitably happen sometimes).

Be prepared that you will get results where you live, and take a step backwards when you go somewhere new. You'll have to generalise this behaviour just the same as for everything else.

Wait seven years and try not to put your back out/ spend all your disposable cash on solutions meanwhile (sorry).

A double ended lead attached to front and back of harness has worked wonders with our lab cross. Allowed me to walk him whilst training. My partner no longer uses it but I still do as we haven't fully cracked the frustrated greeter problem yet 🙈 and I feel the double lead gives me a bit more control when he decides to try lunging after other dogs.

Hold treats close to you?

Haltis and other head collars are technically aversive tools as they make it uncomfortable for the dog to pull.

Personally I don't like head collars on dogs - I use a double point harness with a double-ended lead. One end clipped to the chest and one end to the rear of the harness to prevent pulling and then just work on training.

Whatever method you pick, you need to be really consistent - it can take months to fix pulling as it's a naturally self-rewarding behaviour.

We tried everything, then got a halti within a week he was walking nicely next to me.

Better still now I just carry it in my pocket and show him if he starts getting a bit pully... He decideds that walking next to me isn't so bad after all :)

My cross breed rescue was walking perfectly to heel in no time with a head collar. And as for it being aversive training, it was far safer than risking losing control of him if he lunged at a motorbike or on the few occasions had a go at another large male dog.
We used dogmatic not halti and it honestly changed my life. I'd keep him on the short lead with the head collar until we got to the enclosed exercise area where I could let him safely run off lead.
He went from being a lunging, pulling, occasionally aggressive dog to a calm and settled non-reactive good walker who we were blessed to enjoy for the next few years before he went over the rainbow bridge.

My cross breed rescue was walking perfectly to heel in no time with a head collar. And as for it being aversive training, it was far safer than risking losing control of him if he lunged at a motorbike or on the few occasions had a go at another large male dog.

I was just letting OP know it was considered aversive for her own knowledge - people are free to use whatever legal equipment they like on their dogs.

@margotrose

I understand. I don't think my dog really saw it as any kind of punishment he seemed to feel alot more secure once I had taken control and stopped kicking off at everything. And of course he got spoilt rotten with lots of treats :)

@Wavescrashingonthebeach it obviously works for lots of dogs and I have seen it work myself (I work with dogs) but it's not a piece of equipment I would buy or use on a dog.

My dog used to a bit. She’s clever so it didn’t take her long to get out of a halti. We just did if you pull, you sit and wait for a while to calm down. Also lots of heal walking.

The dog trainer whose classes we went to was a fan of using a normal collar as opposed to a harness or halti. Mind you our dog is nearly so it was a while ago!!

Sometimes teaching to pull on command can help, we used to do bike jorring with her, when she could pull to her hearts content (except for steep uphill's when she stared at us, wondering why we were going so slowly!).

I have 2 labs. Double point harness and double ended leads worked well for me. I personally don’t like head collars or figure of eight leads for pulling dogs, but a single point harness which attaches at the back just gives them more traction.

Find a good padded harness with a front, side and back attachment point, and then practice. I did training classes, KC good Citizen etc to reinforce it. I think mine was Fit in every way?

They both walk well on lead and collar now; given that together they weigh more than me, it’s important that I can control them.

I know getting them to walk at heel with or without a lead is the best thing and my flatties will do that at/when training/when there are no distractions/ etc. They KNOW all the commands!

And the bitch is 100% reliable as her focus is on me but the dog is stronger than me and despite all the training in the world still isn't 100% on recall if he sees another male dog so I won't risk it in a public space/near roads as he is VERY interested in playing with other male (and only male!) dogs (am sure he is gay!). So I use the figure of eight and then as others say, I can walk him on a loose lead with no pulling.

I have tried everything and when he was young sought help from male friends who have superbly behaved dogs and are police dog handlers or have working gundogs and they say we can stop him for you but with a bolshy dog like that it won't be pretty - I just can't do it! 😳

In all other respects he is a lovely and much admired family dog from a litter we bred so I have trained him from the start - and I have had a male golden like this many years ago - but now and again he just decides not to obey/listen 😡

I won't get a male dog again!

Search for "Will Atherton pulling" on YouTube. His simple exercises are quick and effective.

Hi, we adopted our lab just before he turned 1 and he had no idea how to walk on a lead. This was made worse by the fact he was a show-line lab and weighed about the same as a small horse.

Double ended lead with a double point harness (we use perfect fit) helped us get initial control (so he wouldn't drag us into the road). Then we used positive reinforcement training, namely the 1-2-3 game to make us more interesting than whatever he's trying to drag us to. I think you can find explanations of the method online, but basically you say one, then two really flat, then lift your voice on three and give a treat. You do this quite quickly to start with and then space out the numbers, but a treat every time you say three. When walking we used squeezy cheese to save on nibbled fingers and we started indoors first and then tried outside. We'd walk along and every time I got to three, he'd get a lick of the cheese. Eventually you don't need that anymore and they trot along happily.

He walks perfectly now, with the added bonus that I can now shout '1!' at him and he comes back as he thinks he's getting a treat when I get to 3!

I like Will Atherton, but he does advocate prong collars which I like less. I guess any tool in the hands of a professional is a good thing, but in the hands of a novice can do real damage.

All the rest is great though.