Hi I have two 6 month old English Setter pups, who are fantastic but both pull so much on the lead to the point they are almost always on their back legs. I use a harness on both of them, but with this method there is lack of control.
I have read different threads on the subject of Gentle Leaders, Halti's etc but just do not know which way to go.
Anyone with any suggestions, who may also own Setters gratefuly recieved
Lead Pulling
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Hiya
There are lots of different harnesses and headcollars. Trial and error is required here Im afraid.
Some harnesses will encourage a dog up onto his back legs - some will rub under the dogs armpits and also over the ribs - id avoid these like the plague as also in the long run they do long term damage to the muscles there.
Headcollars can be good when you do need control of the dogs head, for instance in a dog who likes to stare at others and spark off aggression - if you have the head under control you can steer the dog away from t hese staring matches.
Sometimes though dogs will just fight the headcollar, and in these cases you are going to struggle to teach the dog to walk nicely and calmly, if the dogs whole being is shouting 'fight fight fight'.
The harness i currently use is the Halti Harness, it goes around the dogs belly, with the working part across the chest. Theres nothing between the legs, the lead clips to the middle of the chest strap.
This way, the dog cannot pull you as he simply pulls himself around - theres nothing to fight against either.
Long term though, you will not train two puppies to walk to heel by walking them together on any kind of harness.
Harnesses or headcollars may prevent pulling, but they will NOT teach a dog to walk nicely.
I use them when i dont have the time to train, if i have to get from A to B quickly, a harness goes on.
On training walks, dogs go out individually, in a flat collar and lead. We walk forwards briskly when the dog is by my side, we stop dead or turn around and go the other way the split second the dog barges in front.
At first, we dont get to my front gate in under 10 minutes! But with time and consistancy (ie NEVER allowing the dog to pull), we can now take my silly collie x boy for a long walk and he will walk nicely.
Now we are introducing walking him with another dog, and the excitement of htat means he tries to pull again - but as we have trained him not to pull, and he knows what Heel means, we can start to sort that out.
Two pups of the same age are really hard work - one reason why a great many breeders wont sell two together. You will have to put in extra work doing individual training as well as group training, and you will ahve to accept that things will take longer to sink in.
Em
There are lots of different harnesses and headcollars. Trial and error is required here Im afraid.
Some harnesses will encourage a dog up onto his back legs - some will rub under the dogs armpits and also over the ribs - id avoid these like the plague as also in the long run they do long term damage to the muscles there.
Headcollars can be good when you do need control of the dogs head, for instance in a dog who likes to stare at others and spark off aggression - if you have the head under control you can steer the dog away from t hese staring matches.
Sometimes though dogs will just fight the headcollar, and in these cases you are going to struggle to teach the dog to walk nicely and calmly, if the dogs whole being is shouting 'fight fight fight'.
The harness i currently use is the Halti Harness, it goes around the dogs belly, with the working part across the chest. Theres nothing between the legs, the lead clips to the middle of the chest strap.
This way, the dog cannot pull you as he simply pulls himself around - theres nothing to fight against either.
Long term though, you will not train two puppies to walk to heel by walking them together on any kind of harness.
Harnesses or headcollars may prevent pulling, but they will NOT teach a dog to walk nicely.
I use them when i dont have the time to train, if i have to get from A to B quickly, a harness goes on.
On training walks, dogs go out individually, in a flat collar and lead. We walk forwards briskly when the dog is by my side, we stop dead or turn around and go the other way the split second the dog barges in front.
At first, we dont get to my front gate in under 10 minutes! But with time and consistancy (ie NEVER allowing the dog to pull), we can now take my silly collie x boy for a long walk and he will walk nicely.
Now we are introducing walking him with another dog, and the excitement of htat means he tries to pull again - but as we have trained him not to pull, and he knows what Heel means, we can start to sort that out.
Two pups of the same age are really hard work - one reason why a great many breeders wont sell two together. You will have to put in extra work doing individual training as well as group training, and you will ahve to accept that things will take longer to sink in.
Em
I used to have a site in my favorites that shows how to calmly solve this problem it's all to do with the leash,they use a extra long leather leash,
what they do is similar to above but they turn unexpectedly and run the other way the dog stops then the lead makes a slapping sound when it goes taught and the dog runs to catch you up .
I'll see if I can remeber the site I think it was in the u.s.
what they do is similar to above but they turn unexpectedly and run the other way the dog stops then the lead makes a slapping sound when it goes taught and the dog runs to catch you up .
I'll see if I can remeber the site I think it was in the u.s.
found it
http://www.dogproblems.com/
the lead pulling is available as pdf download file.
it's on the bottom of main page.
http://www.dogproblems.com/
the lead pulling is available as pdf download file.
it's on the bottom of main page.
