Help with Haltie

[nicinoo]

Hi everyone

I have read numerous threads on halties but I can't find my answer. We adopted a gorgeous 3 year old bull mastiff 2 weeks ago. The owners never spent any time with him and he hasn't been properly trained. My husband and I walk him on a lead with a choker chain and he is absolutely perfect, stays right by your side, doesn't pull etc. However if a dog runs to the fence and barks, he just loses it and rushes the fence. He pulled me clean of my feet so my husband has to walk him now and even he has trouble pulling him away from the fence. We were told to get a haltie which we did we got size 5 which is the largest and used it for the first time today. Well needless to say he hated it, but Jay said it did work and wouldn't allow him to pull towards dogs however my question is all he does is take a step back flick his head around something shocking and the haltie comes clean off. We followed the instructions and put it on properly it just keeps coming off, does anyone else have this problem- are we doing something wrong. I'm just at a loss now as to what to do as Jay totally lost the plot cause it didn't work.

Second question we have just gotten a 11 week old female bullmastiff pup so we're wondering do we try her with a haltie or if we train her with a chocker chain from the beginning - will that be enough.

Cuda is just such a beautiful strong boy - we really want to be able to walk him but this haltie seems to be flawed when it comes to him as it just flicks off.

ANy suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Nic : )

[ladybug1802]

Hi....are you using a full choke chain? If so these are not advocated on here....there are several articles I believe as to what can happen when these are used, and its not pretty. Especially with a dog that is lungeing like that. Also, haltis can be good if used correctly, but i am a little concerned that it sounds like you are using the halti on its own, with no lead attached to a harness for example - is that correct?

You say your dog throws his head around until the halt comes off.....this is pretty dangerous for your dog as it is quite possible your dog could injure his neck (at best) and even break his neck by flailing around with the lead attached to just the halti. I would suggest putting a good well fitting harness on him.....one with a front ring as well as a ring on the back....you can then have 2 leadas, or a double ended lead, and by having a lead attached to the front ring it means the dog cant really pull forwards. Plus then there is no potential for damaging his neck.

I personally think you need to do some work with him to help his reaction to other dogs. What is he like when he sees another dog just walking along? Is it a simliar reaction?

With the puppy...no please do NOT put a choke chain on her at 11 weeks old!! And no to a halti either! If you work with her and train her to walk on a loose lead from day 1 you wont NEED any of these 'aids'. There is a pinned thread in the Articles section i believe on training on a loose lead.

[nicinoo]

Thanks for your response, no we are not using a full choke chain we attached the halti like the instructions and attached it to his lead and collar as a "back up" like the videos etc say. I watched a video on youtube with a saint bernard doing the same thing when the halti was put on throwing it's head around to try to get it off but with the continual giving of treats it stopped. So I think we might try that?

Great advice for the puppy I appreciate it - so just attach her lead to collar - and with treats teach her to heel and come?

I've been watching heaps on youtube, I think we rushed it rather than taking it slow and letting him sniff it etc before putting it on, hopefully once we do put it on, by giving him lots of treats will make him more comfortable but I am veyr happy to hear other suggestions.

: )

[nicinoo]

sorry just to confirm we have put a normal collar on him now rather than choker which he came with and attached the haltie and lead to that. So no, no more choker chain

[ladybug1802]

The thing is with a halti you should always use a lead attached to a harness (ideally) or at least a collar, as WELL as another lead attached to the halti...that way if he flails around you have control of his neck/body and not just with the halti attached to his nose which could easily damage his neck.

When he sees other dogs walking, does he react the same, or is it just when a dog rushes at the fence?

[nicinoo]

Yes we do, we have a lead attached to the halti and collar, exactly like the instructions and videos say.

If other people are walking their dogs towards us he does react the same way BUT.... not quite as bad

[nicinoo]

I'm confused now, are you saying we should have 2 separate leads?? We have the lead attached to the halti AND to his collar - as per instructions that came with halti

[ladybug1802]

So am I right in reading you have a double ended lead....so one end attached to his collar and the other end attached to the halti? If so then this is good! sorry - I musthave misread!

If he is still reacting to dogs in other situations, it could well be he is actually scared of the other dogs and this is his way of trying to get them to go away from him. If I were you I would start working with him to change the wayhe sees other dogs....so find the distance that he can be from other dogs without reacting, and at that distance heavily treat him with yummy treats for being that distance away from anothert dog. But do not get any closer at this stage....so this will mean crossing the road or turning round and going the other way for now if another dog is coming towards you and needs to pass you. As he gets more relaxed at this distance, you can start decreasing the distance, but very slowly. It does take a lot of time....i have been doing this sort of thing with my dog but for strange people, and after many many many months he is fine being really close to strangers. The key point is to not push him closer to the other dogs than he is ready for.

[Soapy]

We got a halti to help with Pan's pulling. We found that the size recommended for Border Collies was actually far too big for him so he could easily pull it off by looping his paw through it and the safety lead that attaches to his collar. The size down from that fitted much better and he was no longer able to pull it off easily but there was room for him to open his mouth/pant etc. He still attempted to get it off but it stopped being so easy for him (once he was no longer able to get it off easily we started working on bribing him with LOTS of sausage. So while everyone's advice about how to deal with his behaviour is good too, the reason why the halti just comes off might be as simple as it being too big for him.

[Erica]

You do have to consider, though, that bullmastiffs have a very differently shaped nose than a border collie. Zeus, the mastiff I walk, has a properly fitted Gentle Leader that will slip off of his nose if he stops to sniff something vigorously. BCs have very thin, long muzzles compared to chunky, fat mastiff snouts!

[nicinoo]

So am I right in reading you have a double ended lead....so one end attached to his collar and the other end attached to the halti? If so then this is good! sorry - I musthave misread!

If he is still reacting to dogs in other situations, it could well be he is actually scared of the other dogs and this is his way of trying to get them to go away from him. If I were you I would start working with him to change the wayhe sees other dogs....so find the distance that he can be from other dogs without reacting, and at that distance heavily treat him with yummy treats for being that distance away from anothert dog. But do not get any closer at this stage....so this will mean crossing the road or turning round and going the other way for now if another dog is coming towards you and needs to pass you. As he gets more relaxed at this distance, you can start decreasing the distance, but very slowly. It does take a lot of time....i have been doing this sort of thing with my dog but for strange people, and after many many many months he is fine being really close to strangers. The key point is to not push him closer to the other dogs than he is ready for.

Great advice, I will try that thanks ladybug Watching instructional videos it said to take 6-10 days before walking him on it so we certainly rushed things there..... we're learning. So we will start from scratch and get him used to the lead and wearing it before we actually try to walk him, but will definitely try your suggestion. Thanks heaps. I just confirmed with my husband exactly how he attached it as we don't have a double ended lead, he said you clip the halti to his normal collar, then the lead to his halti (so it looks like it does on the instructional pamphlet). So is this wrong, should we get another type of lead? Sorry for all the questions but want to get the best for him

[nicinoo]

We got a halti to help with Pan's pulling. We found that the size recommended for Border Collies was actually far too big for him so he could easily pull it off by looping his paw through it and the safety lead that attaches to his collar. The size down from that fitted much better and he was no longer able to pull it off easily but there was room for him to open his mouth/pant etc. He still attempted to get it off but it stopped being so easy for him (once he was no longer able to get it off easily we started working on bribing him with LOTS of sausage. So while everyone's advice about how to deal with his behaviour is good too, the reason why the halti just comes off might be as simple as it being too big for him.

Thanks Soapy, I think you are right, we measured around his neck and it was 22inches adn the halti was 25, so will need to get the next size down. Fingers crossed that will work

[jackieann71]

Hi, I have 2 Dalmatians, who use haltis. Jessie is okay with the halti, but Shelby, he is a nightmare walking with or without! he pulls with the halti on as much as he does without! He is only 1 year old, but he used to be a joy to walk, but I dread walking him, as he yanks and pulls, even though the halti get uncomfortable!
Just feel like i'm at a dead end with walk aids, I have used a harness with Jessie in the past, but didn't get on with that at all.
Has anyone got any suggestions which could help with Shelby's pulling?

Thanks

[JudyN]

Hi Jackieann71, and welcome to the forum

There is a long thread on loose leash walking here viewtopic.php?f=20&t=858 which may help you. However, I wonder if your problem may be more to do with Shelby's general energy levels - if he's too excited and aroused, it's not going to be easy for him to walk calmly. If you post in the Dog Training Advice section giving as full details as you can about his normal day, including exercise, play, and training, plus what food he eats, you should be able to get more tailored advice.

Hope that helps!