Walking on the lead

Hello,

Any tips on how to stop the dogs pulling on the lead? I have two and cant walk them round the block together at the moment as they will just send me flying!

Thanks x

You'll need to train them seperately to start with. A good way is as soon as your dog starts to pull, say "heel" and just immediately turn in the other direction. Don't wait for your dog, just continue walking the opposite way, maybe giving a little tug on the lead as you turn. Every time the dog goes in front, repeat. It takes a while to get anywhere, but it does work - eventually the dog will be fed up with the change of direction & will start to watch you & slow down a bit.

Try to get each dog to walk on one side of you only, one on the left, one on the right & use a different command for each. You could say "heel" to one, and "close" to the other.

Once they will walk well seperately, you can start to walk them together.

The turning around method works best I think. Also make sure everyone that walks the dogs enforces the no pulling.

Yes, and be prepared to be dizzy. It can be exhausting, but it is so worth it when you can finally go for walks and have peace.

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Oooh your quite close to me! Salisbury!

I would go with the advice Caryll has given, patience is definately needed here and good luck!

Hi,
My Vinnie is almost 4yo and STILL pulls badly on the lead. He only does it on the way to the park, never on the way back! I've tried the 'change directions' method but all I got was dizzy. Also he goes absolutely mad when he knows it's walkie time. He smashed into my knee the other day and now I have a lump and a big bruise. As soon as I pick up his lead he goes into a frenzie. I've tried turning my back on him and ignoring him until he calms down but he just doesn't calm down at all. Any ideas??

i started using a sporn no pull harness, which puts tension under thier front legs when they pull and found it made a HUGE difference.
walks are much more pleasant and my young children can even walk her now which would never have been possible before. ( im always right next to them though because if she spies a cat she'll still make a run for it! LOL)

Good luck

Thanks, I've tried a harness before and also the nose strap, both of which didn't work. I'll try the one you suggested though. Fingers crossed!!

vinniethedog wrote:Hi,
My Vinnie is almost 4yo and STILL pulls badly on the lead. He only does it on the way to the park, never on the way back! I've tried the 'change directions' method but all I got was dizzy. Also he goes absolutely mad when he knows it's walkie time. He smashed into my knee the other day and now I have a lump and a big bruise. As soon as I pick up his lead he goes into a frenzie. I've tried turning my back on him and ignoring him until he calms down but he just doesn't calm down at all. Any ideas??

The changing direction method will only work if you keep it up until they actually start to repond - it could take anything from a day or two right up to a month of constant repetition. However, boring and time consuming as it is, it does work eventually & you'll end up with a dog that actually wants to walk with you!

The excitement when you go out is quite easily remedied. Every so often throughout the day, put his lead on, let him drag it around for a minute or two, and then take it off again. It sounds cruel, but he'll soon get desensitised to the lead & won't make such a fuss when you pick it up. Then, once he will let you put his lead on without a fuss, try picking it up & going towards the door. If he kicks up rough again, then take the lead off & go and sit down!

Ok thank you I'll give it a go. I know he's going to go mad when I put the lead on and he will run 100 miles per hour and smash into the door but anything is worth a try. He's such a chilled dog apart from this problem!

vinniethedog wrote: I know he's going to go mad when I put the lead on and he will run 100 miles per hour and smash into the door

That's exactly what you want him to do. Eventually he'll get fed up expending all that energy for no result, and it'll die down.

Good luck!

If all else fails shontelle has reccommended the gentle puller head collar lead thingy. Ive just ordered 2 for my boys! I can honestly say i have tryed solidly since we got both the boys to train them not to pull but no luck! Like i said its a last resort but necessery for me! Obviously much better to train them 2 walk to heel with lead and collar

blaze wrote:If all else fails shontelle has reccommended the gentle puller head collar lead thingy.

love the description!

It's a Gentle Leader!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_5_14?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=gentle+leader+medium&sprefix=gentle+leader+

I would also recommend the dogmatic!

http://www.dogmatic.org.uk/

Thanks everyone. I've tried the gentle puller head thingy (I don't know what it's called either!) but he still pulled badly and ended up with the strap that goes around his nose cutting in and he had a groove around his nose for ages!
I've ordered the sporn no pull harness today so I'll give that a try when it turns up in a few days.

Great, goodluck!
From all the posts on here it sounds like different things work for different dogs, so hopefully this will work for you and Vinnie.
Might be worth trying to drain a bit of energy before the first walk with either some obedience training or off lead fetch.
Good luck, let us know how it goes!

blaze wrote:

Rocchet wrote:Great, goodluck!
From all the posts on here it sounds like different things work for different dogs, so hopefully this will work for you and Vinnie.
Might be worth trying to drain a bit of energy before the first walk with either some obedience training or off lead fetch.
Good luck, let us know how it goes!

If a head collar is no good, how about a harness where the lead attaches to the front chest plate? When they pull, their body turns around and it completely confuses them. One type is called the sensation harness I think. There are others that work in the same way.

Update: Well I took delivery of the Sporn No Pull harness today (I only ordered it yesterday!) and what a difference. We walked to the park without me getting my arm pulled out of it's socket. The first few minutes Vinnie was confused about not being able to pull and kept on looking back at me. Then he settled down and just walked normally. He still pulled slightly a few times, especially when we were nearing the park, but all in all it was a great success. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Love this website!!
Jo

Fantastic! Great to hear they're doing well. At least your arms will both be normal length now!

Great news, glad you found something that works for you