Me again! I give up with the pulling

[NewMeNewUs]

Hey me again!
10 month old lab, she pulls me so badly when out on a walk, she is so strong! Has pulled me over numerous times.

ive tried slip lead, different harnesses, and of late spent £250 on a trainer for lose lead walking.
nothing works!!!!
its like she just loses her head when we go out, she doesn’t know what to do with herself. She’s over excited, high energy, jumping from side to side, walking in all kinds of directions, lunging and trying to run…. and of course pulling.

i hate walking her! Which is so sad. Last resort is the halti round the mouth lead but I feel like I’ll just be masking the problem…..

I started walking in tiny steps barely moving.. Ddog got the message. Huge rottweiler.. And a Halti worked wonders too.

Just use a halti, I used one with my golden retriever and it works brilliantly, he’s 5 now and I can walk him without it no problems. It’s normal puppy behaviour but you need to be consistent with your approach to training otherwise it will continue. Lots of good training videos on YouTube, TikTok etc.

Start with training in the house then in the garden. I use a dogmatic when out. Also play/train/brain games before going out to take out some of the energy. Could also book a safe space to give you both a day off the lead.

Also recommend a halti.

try using 2 leads, the halti halter, and clip 1 lead under her chest. So you can tighten the mid back lead and the chest lead as you need. Finally, get a padded waistband clip on hands free belt. I walk my neighbours dog who used to pull me uphill on the ground after knocking me over. No more of that now. I clip him on, and pull chest lead and a waist as I need. If he pulls , it’s at my waist, and I win weight wise.

What did the trainer say about the loose lead walking? Did they give you activities / games to do to help work on it? What methods did they suggest? Loose lead walking is a long slog for many dogs / owners and something that has to keep being worked on.

could you practice in the house and garden off lead - rewarding her for walking at your side? Lots of changes of direction to keep her focus and rewarding her when she is walking next to you.

What’s your reward structure like? Are you using high value reinforcers when training the behaviours?

Do you have a clear marker word (or clicker) that she knows a treat will follow as she’s done something good?

You could try giving her a kong, lick mat, snuffle box or sniffing activity before going on a walk, or playing the ‘find it’ game while on your walk. Choose places where there’s not too many exciting things to distract her attention from you, and have high value treats when you are practicing the LLW.

10 months old is an age when their hormones are a bit all over the place and they are starting to feel more confident and want to push boundaries and be a bit bolder.

Get a Halti, or a Figure of 8 collar - they knocked the problem on the head with my 5 month old puppy (Old English Bulldog). She is so strong - literally yanking and dragging me the entire walk - I dreaded walking her. Breeder suggested the Fo8 collar and its been a game changer. Not masking the problem - its teaching them when they pull, their head gets pulled to the side, so they have to stop pulling to walk comfortably. Like the stop/start approach, they pull, we stop. Same thing.

We had a halti for a while - he's a hound and his nose gets the better of him - but we've recently swapped to a "too posh to pull" one and it fits far better than the halti ever did.

One of my old dogs ruined his neck vertebra with a head collar, he was in pain for the last five years of his life, I vowed never again.
my dog now that pulls has a halti body harness that clips at the front. She won’t pull at all while clipped at the front. Shes like a different dog

Will Atherton Canine Training on YouTube has a lot of loose lead videos, which I found very helpful.

How much off lead time is she getting?

This may not be appropriate but I had a revelation when walking my dog earlier. She's a 19 month old rescue Lab x lurcher/greyhound or something and whilst she does walk Ok on a lead, she kind of leans on it - i have her in a harness with lead clipped on the back. If I stop walking because she is pulling she steps back and lets the lead release but mostly she starts pulling again as soon as we set off. However, today I realised that when I slowed my walking down, she stopped pulling. It was almost as if she feels that because I'm walking fast (naturally fast walker plus trying to get her to the park during lunch) she has to walk faster and its a vicious circle. So my mission now is to calm this walking thing down a bit and see if that helps with the pulling!! Would that approach help your pup?

You can't train loose lead walking out and about unless you've proofed it in the garden first. It just won't work because the dog will be too highly stimulated.

Personally I would never recommend any kind of head collar as they work by causing discomfort to the dog - they are considered aversive as a result.

A good quality, "X shape", two clip harness with a double ended lead should give you plenty of control and won't cause any damage to the dogs' head, neck or joints.

I second the Halti. It goes around their nose so they turn themselves around when the pull. My dog is enormous (malamute/newfoundland cross) and she pulls me behind her like a kite.

Just a word of warning about putting the lead around your waist - don't! If you want to do that, get a padded waist belt that evenly distributes the force of the pulling dog. As suggested by Lyracappul.
My back is still not recovered from when I thought it was a good idea to put the lead (a rope -shaped one silly me. No spread of the pressure at all) around my waist to save my shoulders when walking one of my borrowed dogs (cinnamon trust ) who has never been trained and pulls constantly.

If you are within an hour of Winchester, message me and I'll help you.

Another halti fan here. I used it on my 32kg giant breed dog when he was still young. It does not mask the problem, it makes it manageable and allows you to implement boundaries while the dog is young that you would achieve from a harness on a smaller/ weaker dog. I'm sure some people have success with lose lead walking who have lots of time to put into this (absolutely hats off to those that do!) but with a young energetic dog it's very challenging. I continued distracting my dog with treats as we passed other dogs to enforce the ignoring / calm behaviour but I had the reassurance of the halti if and when the treats failed. You can't account for other dog walkers and I found more often than not it was other people's un trained dogs with no recall coming up to my dog that was the issue and where the halti really helped. My dogs is one of the friendliest dogs I've met but there size and exuberance meant they could very easily accidentally hurt other smaller dogs! I went from absolutely dreading walks to being able to enjoy them again.

To give you hope though my dog is now almost three and I no longer have a need for the halti harness, it's hung up gathering dust. I can walk past a marching band if dogs with a treat in my hand now, no lead required without so much as a head turn to the other dogs no matter how close they get. You'll get there in the end with consistency 😊

I have a 13 month old golden retriever. At about 7 months she became DREADFUL at pulling!

This Facebook group had tonnes of guides, and the “loose leaf walking” ones were just so useful. The training is very slow, but it absolutely helped.

When we are in a rush, though, I use the front clip to the harness. It’s a bit of a “quick fix” but it helps break the habit for those times we need to get from A to B.

Practice in the house, and especially practice the stop and sit beside you manoeuvre. When she stops and sits beside you- praise. Do this in the house/ garden and practice numerous times a day. Reward for her walking beside you

When on walks, stop and get her to stop and sit every time she starts to pull.

The only thing that eventually worked with our lab was a head collar and, most importantly, lots of tiresome short walks where we would stop dead when he pulled even slightly and go back. Rinse and repeat everyday for about six weeks.

He’s 4 now and great fun to walk but for years it was horrible.

My sbt is a terrible puller. We have the harness with a front clip so it's attached to his chest which takes a bit of the strength out of the pulling.
I also have changed tack and walk slower, I am one for a fast pace but I think it makes him worse. So we stroll slowly and I let him sniff lots.

This! The only thing that will work is training

Training, training and training! Proof off and on lead heel walking in garden first.
Your dog needs to know where heel position is first.

Haltis work on pain. The dogs nose us the most sensitive part of its body with so many nerves. Haltis literally work by putting lots of pressure on this highly sensitive area.

We used a halti head collar for our retriever he was just too nosy he’s calmed significantly now though at 3 he has a perfect fit harness also. Have you been to classes? My sister is a dog trainer and he walks perfectly for her and for my niece.

he also walked perfectly in the garden. It’s distractions that cause the pulling so working on him having his attention on you will help, it’s hard work though. I play games with my boy lots of positivity and praise which builds a good relationship between you and your dog, they know how frustrated you are on walks and that perhaps you’re annoyed with him or negative body language/behaviours. Is he stressed while walking in certain areas - mine isn’t a big fan of heavy traffic so we avoid busy roads. I can tell by his face and body language when he’s unhappy and the pulling can start again.

Perfect Fit harness. Sorted ours out.