How to train to not pull on a walk

[NewMeNewUs]

Hi all
really working on training with our 8 month old lab.
we did puppy classes but as of recently it all seems to have gone out the window!

recall I’m good with how to train for (got a long line, high value treats and a clicker)

but could someone give me some advice about training not to pull on the lead? We’ve tried numerous different leads and harnesses (haven’t tried the round the mouth figure of 8 ones yet though) thanks in advance

I've always done the old fashioned method of stop start or stop and turn in a circle as soon as they pull.

It's worked for all of my dogs since childhood as they soon get bored of having to stop or turn around.

Halti head collar and ‘heel’ command worked so well when training our lab that she now just trots along to heel on command, even if off lead.

Start by teaching where heel posotin is off lead ie in garden. When dog can stick to heel off lead then add in the lead. Once this is secure you can start outside the house. If dog has already learned to pull then this can take a while.
It is incredibly mentally hard for a dog to walk to heel nicely so only ask for it for short periods of time otherwise you will undo all the work. Don't ever continue with a walk if dig is pulling otherwise you are rewarding the pulling.
It doesn't matter whether you use harness/lead etc, it is the technique that matters,not the equipment

My German Shepherd is almost 10 months and now walks well on her lead around 75% of the time. She's very good on road walks but loses her mind a bit still if we go to the park. She was a rescue and had no training when I got her and was awful to walk.
What worked for her is a slip lead and then everytime she pulled I would stop put her back in to heel position and make her sit and make eye contact with me before we walked again. Sometimes we'd only get 3 steps and repeat, they were very slow walks. I still need to do this sometimes early on during walks when she is excited but she knows the drill now so it only takes a couple of times for her to settle.

Have you tried clipping the leash to the front of the harness.If they pull it turns them around to face you. You need to make sure it's a well fitted harness, naughty labradors will wiggle out backwards and hare off after whatever interesting thing made them pull in the first place.

I’ve had dogs all my life. Our last dog was a puller and we tried everything to stop her. The only thing that worked was a Halti.

I trained my dog, every time she pulled as a puppy I stopped and made her sit before moving on then praised her. I also kept her on a short lead until she walked properly, and sat at the side of the kerb, waiting to cross a road.

Heel is effectively a stay in motion. Like @twistyizzy says, it's really taxing mentally and takes a lot of self control. Your 8 month old is an adolescent and their teenage brain will be a construction site right now so this stuff is super hard for them.
Teach and reinforce with the good treats what heel position is, in regular short bursts in easy environments at first (eg in your kitchen every time you boil the kettle) then take it to increasingly distracting places. Build up the duration slowly and expect to have to reduce the duration initially each time you increase distractions. Go back and forth over the same ground, make lots of turns, vary the pace to keep it interesting and fun, put sniffing on cue as a reward instead of food sometimes.
Timing matters - reward when they are moving forward with you, not for coming back into heel position otherwise you can accidentally teach that what you want is actually "pull and dart forwardbe called back to heelget a party and reward for coming back!"
Be consistent and don't move forward when the lead is tight, so they figure out that they get access to forward motion ie what they want only when the lead is loose.
Lots of people will use an equipment cue for when heelwork is expected and we found that v helpful. The idea is that the lead goes in one place eg on the collar for the short bursts of heelwork training, then onto different equipment eg harness back clip, when you have to get from A to B or have both run out of energy for heelwork training. This allows you to stay consistent, and still get on with life.

*"pull and dart forward - get called back to heel position - get a party and reward for coming back"

My young Weimaraner became really distressed with the halti. She just couldn’t bear it. She’s very strong though and not only wouldn’t walk to heal with all of the other methods mentioned above, but would lunge forward whenever she saw anything that excited her, very nearly pulling me over.

A Police dog trainer put me on to a slip collar. It’s crucial to use it correctly. It needs to be positioned high under the ears, or they will pull anyway and choke themselves with a risk if damaging their trachea. Placed high under the chin and ears, it gives the human serious control. If the dog lunges or pulls ahead and couple of short tugs is all that is needed to get them to listen and behave. You shouldn’t pull hard or long. You should have the stopper adjusted so that you can get two chunky, or three regular fingers under it and that the ‘pull through’ bit goes down toward you, so that it releases properly after a tug and the dog is then walking on a loose lead, all be it that the collar only has an inch of play at most. I had some worry that it would be uncomfortable all the time for her, but it clearly isn’t as she is quite happy for me to put it on. She can’t pull me now and we can enjoy our walks 🙂
https://julius-k9.co.uk/dog-training-collar-with-safety-stop.html

We did what twistyizzy and Eatenbythe Yule cat said

Started off walking to heel in the garden by being lured with a treat. Then spaced out the treats so it was an intermittent reward for staying in position and then took it out and about but be warned it was not in any way an instant or complete fix.

We had lead clipped to collar as the cue to walk to heel and lead on harness as free to sniff etc.

It is hard work for him (and for me) for him to walk slowly by my side as he is a big dog and his natural pace is a fast trot so I don't make him do it for long periods only when I need him to in busy places or going past people. I also don't expect it first thing when he goes out of the door or right by the entrance to the park. I use different entrances to the park and different routes to stop him associating one place with excitement and pulling.

Hi all.
just an update today on our walk. Was difficult at the beginning as she was so over excited to get out and wasn’t listening to me at all.
But after a while she settled down and was listening.
Every time she pulled I stopped, gently pulled her back to beside me, made her sit and make eye contact with me. Gave her a piece of ham and then started walking again.

after a while she was walking beside me and looking at me for some ham, she actually picked it up very quickly!

when other dogs or people passed it was a bit hit and miss but I said her name, when she stopped, made eye contact I gave her some ham- distracting her from the passers by…..

will keep going! Thank you all so much for your tips and advice x